How A Law Firm’s Network Secured Their Data And Enhanced Client Trust

Public education is the passion and purpose of Walsh Gallegos Kyle Robinson & Roalson P.C. For more than 40 years, the Austin-based law firm has served school districts, charter schools and other educational and government institutions in every aspect of educational law.

Today, Walsh Gallegos has clients in 500 school districts across Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. As the firm’s IT and Facility Manager Steve Koenig put it, “We’re a small operation, but we have a big reach.”

Growing that reach from three offices to eight would have been impossible on their previous network. Outages and capacity issues caused frustration and anxiety among Koenig’s team. “We never knew what to expect,” he said, adding that they had near-zero visibility.

The firm handles sensitive student data, so having a secure, reliable network is fundamental to the firm’s work—and its reputation. Deadlines can also be tight, and network outages used to hamper productivity, presenting another risk to their reputation.

Despite the high stakes, Koenig remembered a “whatever” attitude from Walsh Gallegos’s two previous service providers. Eventually, enough was enough.

“We were tired of mediocrity,” he added. Moving to a different provider was an opportunity “to shape our destiny.”

Finding Expertise And Scalable Solutions

A Lumen rep’s deep knowledge is what initially attracted Koenig to the technology, followed by their dedication to solving Walsh Gallegos’s needs. “We chose to partner with Lumen because of their commitment to security, innovation and a customer-centric approach,” Koenig explained.

Other providers are quick to say one solution fits all, but Lumen tailors the technology to the customer. “Lumen is very good about looking at where you are and what you want to do, and helping you develop the roadmap to get there,” Koenig elaborated.

After repeatedly hitting their heads on capacity ceilings, Walsh Gallegos knew they needed a provider that could reach across multiple states, allowing them to scale further.

“Lumen had that ability to go with us wherever,” he said. “We decided to give Lumen a chance and, boy, talk about the right choice.”

Lumen has continued to deliver scalable, reliable solutions for Walsh Gallegos. Their current Lumen solution stack includes:

• Lumen^® Managed Security, including firewall management
• Lumen^® IP VPN with built-in protection
• Lumen^® SD-WAN and Lumen^® SASE Solutions for enhanced visibility and resiliency

“I have visibility into things I never had before,” Koenig enthused. It’s a big change from the days when he had to beg service providers for information about the firm’s network. And because Walsh Gallegos now employs backup circuits with automatic failover, an outage barely registers. “When you have that kind of redundancy built in, it’s like bullets bouncing off Superman,” Koenig said.

Reliability, Productivity And Security Boost Client Trust

Koenig calls Walsh Gallegos’s partnership with Lumen “transformative.” Lumen has delivered cybersecurity, visibility and performance, and the increased reliability has improved workflow continuity.

“We don’t have to worry about disruption all the time,” Koenig said. One of the firm’s partners even thanked Koenig for the consistent quality of their network, saying, “It’s so good, I take it for granted, like the sunshine.”

Walsh Gallegos can meet deadlines amid trying circumstances, such as the pandemic or severe weather, and the firm remains unaffected by the security breaches that hit other law firms daily.

“A significant reduction of our network downtime translates into increased productivity, billables and customer satisfaction,” Koenig said. “This not only safeguarded data, but also boosted our clients’ trust.”

Enhanced security and resiliency impact more than just internal customers. The actions of Koenig and his team can affect schoolkids in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, and they take that responsibility seriously. Koenig has a small team, and leveraging Lumen’s management services means they have increased bandwidth to work on more projects to achieve their mission.

“Partnering with Lumen Technologies was absolutely the right decision,” Koenig concluded, adding that he would recommend us to “anybody and everybody.”

For Walsh Gallegos, Lumen has proved to be more than a service provider. We’re a strategic partner dedicated to the company’s long-term growth and success.

Security isn’t one-size-fits-all. Take our short questionnaire to find the right solutions to secure your workforce.

Current Lumen customer compensated for their endorsement.

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