Meeting real estate client needs by adopting clean lean technology services.

Despite COVID, the real estate market in SW Ontario has not slowed down at all. With all the paperwork and additional distancing steps to keep clients and staff safe, the real estate lawyers who handle the house closings have been feeling the pressure to keep the documents flowing and their clients front of mind. The real estate team at the law offices of Paquette Travers Professional Corporation in Waterloo, ON took some progressive steps to improve their IT systems two years ago that has helped them stay strong in the current environment. Gridlocked by old server hardware and a spiral of IT issues, they needed a new strategy. In Just Fix IT they found an IT partner that had experience setting up a clean lean IT infrastructure that could grow as their business expanded. “We got tired of not knowing when our old tech support company would respond, and whether they had the skillset to fix it.” Diane Fisler, Office Manager at Paquette Travers had tried a lot of options in the past. “I didn’t have any of those issues with Just Fix IT. They had tried and tested solutions for our IT, and they listened to our needs.

Paquette Travers faced additional pressures during the peak real estate season, when extra law clerks were brought in to handle the summer volumes. They chose a fresh approach to IT services called Zero IT that allowed lawyers to work across multiple office locations. Each user has a secure computer profile accessible from any office or at home. The private cloud environment keeps the data and important documents secure with zero residue of left behind files after the user logs off. The Remote Desktop session is stored in the server memory so they can continue right from the point they left off, and case files can be readily available. Diane Fisler described the benefits, “I am impressed by the security of the JFx Zero IT environment, as we take our privacy and client responsibilities very seriously. As office manager it also means it is much more flexible to onboard.” Tomis Saric, Business Development Manager at Paquette Travers was initially surprised when he saw the Zero IT workstations – small, lean Intel-Compute sticks, about the size of a credit card, and yet they can deliver the office apps and provide a standardized Windows desktop experience. “When you first see it, you can hardly believe something that small can do the job. We were pleased that the staff desks weren’t cluttered with large workstations, and the hardware refresh cycle is so simple. For a new user, we can plug in a Zero IT stick and the desk is ready to use, with no wait for ever increasing laptop ship times. And for our clients, they see us at our best.”

The surprise benefit was how fast the team could adapt when the company came under COVID health restrictions. The office was reworked to accommodate social distancing, but staff could stay connected from home or one of the office locations. Tomis Saric put it this way: “When the dates are set for house closing, we had to ensure that we could deliver on our client needs. They needed to know they could count on us, and that we were the safe and solid rock during the uncertainty of COVID. Having IT that could pick up and go, meant that our business kept running through lockdowns and through the craziness of 2020”. Paquette Travers is a boutique law firm, offering you friendly, affordable and trustworthy professionalism. Experienced real estate partners Don Travers, Bryan Mayes and Nathan Spaling, along with their professional team, understand the legalities specific to buying and selling a home, condominium, property or commercial building in your area. Practicing across Ontario, they are pleased to be able to serve you, virtually! To find out more about Paquette Travers real estate and corporate law services, visit paquettetravers.com or call 1 (877) 744-2281