What’s the true cost of desktop practice management software?

On occasion we get pricing questions from people.  Their point of view, a very valid one, is the following: “Your product looks great, but with what I pay in a year for Rocket Matter I can buy some licenses for desktop software and we’re finished.”

The following is our response.  Keep in mind that what we do is replace your IT guy.  

Think of all the costs involved with installations, upgrades, and training, and realize they go away if you use Rocket Matter. The true cost of a traditional legal practice management system, once you approximate the functionality of Rocket Matter, is very high.

For example, let’s say you want to run Amicus Attorney in a multi-user environment and you have 5 people in your firm.

For new licenses for Small Firm edition, they charge $499 for the first user, and $399 for additional users.  There are annual maintenance fees of $295 for the 1st user, and $95 for each additional user.  For training, it’s $399 for a bundle for 5 online training webinars.  So for an average firm that would be $2,494 for the initial licenses and training, plus you would be paying $675 annually.

However, the story doesn’t end there.  

This does not include the installation of Amicus Attorney, and for a firm of average size you will most likely need a dedicated server to be setup and configured. Each workstation will also need to be configured.  To approximate Rocket Matter’s functionality, you will also need secure login ability, remote access, a backup strategy, and someone to import your existing data. All of these items have initial and potentially ongoing costs.

Most Windows Network IT people average in the range of $75 per hour, and Practice Management Software specialists charge anywhere from $120-200 an hour.  

So on top of your initial $2,494 and $675 of overhead and annual recurring fees, to set this up you will likely pay anywhere from $2K to $10K depending on the consultants you hire.

So does $50 a month and $15 for support staff sound so expensive after all?