Levin and Pangilinan PC Teams Up with Sagacent for IT Managed Services
Levin and Pangilinan PC is an elite immigration law firm based in San Francisco, California. For close to 30 years, they have helped their clients navigate the complex immigration laws in the United States, providing a variety of services for businesses, families, and foreign nationals; as well as helping overseas professionals gain visas, lawful permanent residency, and eventual citizenship.
As a full-time lawyer and principal, Don L. Pangilinan oversees the IT function for this boutique law firm, that currently has 8 employees. This includes day-to-day operations and security, as well as looking to the future for things like AI and other emerging technologies.
“As a law firm, it is particularly important that we keep our information secure, and we also need to stay relevant and up to date,” Don says. “We have gone from a 100% in-office firm to having everything in the cloud. Because clients are increasingly sophisticated, we need to ensure our security posture, policies, and procedures (e.g., data security practices, cybersecurity safeguards, and disaster recovery) are up to date. Also, the California State Bar recently added a new continuing education requirement regarding technology in the practice of law. My expertise is in immigration law, not technology, so I appreciate being able to rely on our IT managed services partner to help keep our data safe, to respond to client inquiries regarding our security posture, and to keep us aligned with industry best practices.”
Time for a Change
Prior to 2023, Levin and Pangilinan PC worked with two small IT services companies but, as the firm grew, the needs of the firm changed. “As immigration attorneys, we don’t know what we don’t know about IT and security, and these are both critically important areas for our business,” Don says. “We started to look for a company with a strong track record and the expertise we needed: one that could address our needs quickly, and also one with a proactive IT/security stance that we could grow with over time.”
Why Sagacent
Don had met the president and founder of Sagacent Technologies at several industry functions and was impressed with his presentations, particularly Sagacent’s laser focus on security. When Ed Correia started Sagacent Technologies in 2000, a founding principle was to offer small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) a best-in-class IT partnership. “My biggest objectives for our clients are: number one, cybersecurity first; and number two, making sure that our services are aligned with real business goals. If we can help our clients with that, regardless of industry, their systems will be secure, and they will be able to outperform the competition.”
After a series of discussions to understand the law firm’s requirements and what Sagacent had to offer, Levin and Pangilinan PC asked Sagacent to sign on as its IT services partner.
The Journey Begins
“One of our early wins with Sagacent was having their team come out physically to review our security/IT posture and then meet with us about best practices and standards,” Don says. “They introduced us to CIS Controls and Benchmarks, the globally recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data. They also educated us about the Sagacent Technology Alignment Process. That’s not something we had heard from any other vendor.”
“Sagacent’s been a great partner in helping us get to our current IT position. And I think they’re going to be there to help us move to our future IT positions as well.”—Don Levin
Technology Alignment
The Sagacent Technology Alignment Process starts with an engineer going onsite to audit current practices against CIS framework. This helps identify gaps and create a roadmap for needed actions and improvements. The key objective of this framework and methodology is to complete an analysis that assesses and then implements actions that bring the firm into cybersecurity compliance and CIS alignment. The assessment phase examines current practices in relation to CIS best practices, and all this is summarized in a Technology Alignment Report that lays out requirements and timelines for needed actions.
Recently, Don and Sagacent’s Client Success Manager, Maurice Unglik, walked through this report together, making sure there was a mutual understanding of the current state, those things that needed to be addressed/corrected, the urgency and recommended order of each action, and the resources and time horizons that will be required. Some will be short-term, while others will be longer-term or ongoing efforts. As plans are solidified, Sagacent will help Levin and Pangilinan PC determine an estimated timeline for each of these safeguard implementation efforts and help oversee each project as it progresses.
Security
Increasingly, Levin and Pangilinan PC receives security questionnaires from clients and potential clients that are designed to assess the firm’s security procedures and practices. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable answering these questions on my own,” Don says. “Now, as security questionnaires come in, I can work with Sagacent to get quick and confident responses back to our clients.”
Achieving Peace of Mind
To find a partner that’s a good fit for your business, you need to look at a few key elements. Does the partner you’re considering have a strong track record and complementary capabilities in areas that fit your business? Do they have good communication skills and up-to-date skillsets? Can you carefully define roles so that each party is able to do what they do best as you outsource critically important IT areas?
Having partnered with Sagacent over the past year, Don says that their partnership ticks all of those boxes. He can leave IT to the experts, letting them stay up to date on the latest technologies and cyber risks, while he remains focused on immigration law and his other responsibilities. It’s a lift off of Don’s shoulders that Sagacent is continually assessing and finetuning Levin and Pangilinan PC’s security posture. Don has also found the Sagacent team “exceptionally responsive, even for the small issues, and their willingness to go that extra mile is fantastic.”
“When you come to work with Sagacent, just know that security is always top of mind for us.” Maurice says. “Even very early on in the relationship, the client success team is going to engage with you and your company to ensure that you are positioned to meet the laundry list of regulatory requirements relevant to your industry. Not only will all of your systems be patched and protected, but you’ll also have access to a support desk and hardware upgrades as needed. Perhaps most important, you will be going through an all-important technology alignment process with Sagacent that puts you on a solid, well-defined, continuous-improvement track—wherever you started on the security spectrum.”
“As our practice grows, we need a partner who is well-informed about tech and our business so that the two things can be woven seamlessly together. We’ve found that partner in Sagacent.” —Don Levin
What Comes Next
The next step will be looking ahead to 2024 to understand business objectives and how IT needs to fit in with those changes.
The alignment journey with the CIS framework will continue, along with focusing on tactical and strategic initiatives identified by Don and his team—including the prospective adoption of AI tools to help streamline the company’s workflow and make staff more efficient.
As with other industries subject to ever-changing regulatory requirements, Levin and Pangilinan PC maintain constant vigilance regarding compliance matters. In recognition of this, Sagacent maintains a state of readiness to help the firm make the necessary technological changes and adapt to these requirements quickly, all the while ensuring efficiency and security best practices.
The Sagacent Story
Sagacent has 23+ years of making IT safer and easier for its clients. It is not only unique because of its expertise and customer relationships, but also because of its stellar track record and team of highly skilled IT professionals.
Because IT operations and security need to work together, the Sagacent team combines high levels of IT management and cybersecurity expertise. They thrive on change—always learning and growing to stay ahead of an industry that continually reinvents itself. And they really care about doing right by their customers.
“If someone came to me and asked, I would absolutely recommend the Sagacent team,” Don says. “I’ve seen the way they managed the transition from our previous vendor, keeping us efficient and our systems secure. As a law firm, security is always something that we worry about, and Sagacent has demonstrated its ability to cover all our bases. If you’re looking for someone to help partner with you to oversee your whole approach to IT and make sure your systems are secure as the world of IT evolves over time, Sagacent is an excellent choice.”