Information Technology
THE LIFE of an IT director can be fraught with pitfalls. The helpline that's no help. The service agreement that gives lousy service. The network that becomes fragmented.
Information technology experts at Bond Pearce are commercial and contract law specialists who anticipate what can go wrong.
Partner Julian Hamblin who, with Gareth Jones, leads Bond Pearce's team of IT lawyers says. "We ask: 'What if...?'
"The penalty for getting bad legal advice can be severe - inefficient risk management, inefficient IT systems, service levels that aren't robust."
Bond Pearce's team has built its formidable reputation on a thorough understanding of a wide variety of projects from complex payroll software projects to web analytics.
The Bond Pearce team boasts legal experts on IT procurement and outsourcing, e-commerce and privacy, including data protection and Freedom of Information. And the team's advice is sought by private and public sector clients, including major retailers, government, universities and software companies.
One High Street chain sought Bond Pearce's advice on A multi million pound purchase of a new wide area network to cover all its stores.
"The contract had to ensure rigorous performance standards were maintained across the network, taking into account the nature of business-critical data to be transmitted," Julian says. "Negotiations were complicated by two rival bidders for provision of the service - at one stage, negotiations were being carried on in tandem."
Another nationwide retailer agreed a £12m outsourcing deal for software services but expected the Bond Pearce team to be involved early in the negotiations to ensure that the agreement was drafted and agreed on terms that would ensure all the strategic objectives of the outsourcing would be able to be achieved.
"The drafting needed mechanisms - contractually enforceable - to take account of the flexible partnering agreement that was envisaged," Julian says. "The level of detail in the contract was very high. And the operational schedules had to cater for many issues anticipated throughout the life of the contract.
"We've also been busy with website compliance work and data protection advice" As senate members of IMRG, the industry leading e-tailing organisation, Bond Pearce helps formulate policy and influence legislation in the fast growing arena of e-commerce.
