In Challenging Times Should You Move To The Cloud?
Thursday 19 March, 2020
To discuss your requirements for legal software, please click to book an online demo or contact us on 01252 518939 info@insightlegal.co.uk
Thursday 19 March, 2020
To discuss your requirements for legal software, please click to book an online demo or contact us on 01252 518939 info@insightlegal.co.uk
Today, Law Firms, like other businesses are facing an unprecedented situation. COVID-19 has meant we are having to make dramatic changes to the way that we work, communicate and go about our daily lives.
This is one area in which technology can really help. Having a cloud-based practice management, legal accounts and even case management system can provide workers at Law Firms with incredible flexibility of where, when and how they work. However, there are many things that a firm should be aware of before making the transition to the cloud.
Firstly, this is going to be a partnership that may last many years. Is the cloud supplier you are considering to partner with trustworthy? Where will the data be held? Is it really secure? Are they tying you into a long-term contract? Can you easily get access to ALL of your data? Make sure you are making a wise decision rather than a quick one.
With any system you implement, data security is of extreme importance. There is an old saying when it comes to data security that the three most important things are; backup, backup, backup. This is as true with a cloud-based system as it is with traditional on-premise data. It is absolutely essential that you can get a backup of your data and any documents either on demand or on a regular basis. Without this you are entirely at the mercy of your cloud supplier. A cloud-based implementation also has some other factors which must be considered. Where is the data held? Who has access to it? Is it encrypted both at rest and whilst it is being transmitted? These are questions that you must ensure you have really good and not just adequate answers to.
Even with a cloud-based solution there are lots of reasons why you might not be able to access your own data. For instance, the data centre might go off-line or the supplier fails to paid their bills to the data centre and they get turned off, your internet connection might fail and Open Reach might be unable to fix it in a timely manner. Add into these, the possibility that you might get into a contractual dispute with your supplier because they have doubled their prices knowing that you have no choice but to pay. Without access to your data, whether it be accounts, case data, documents, emails, etc. your practice will struggle to operate effectively or at all. If that happens, no matter whether you are regulated by the SRA or another body, they are not going to care that it was the fault of the data centre or your software supplier or even BT. All they will care about is any failure of your service.
Here is a check-list of what you should be asking of your cloud system supplier;
By using this checklist and posing these questions to anyone you are considering helping you on your journey to the cloud, you should be in a much safer and secure position to make a good decision on their suitability. There are specialist legal software suppliers that can offer you all of these things. Even if you are already partially or fully cloud-based, checking you have answers to these questions will put you in a more safe and secure place. If there are shortfalls in your current configuration, this will be a good time to address those.
So even if you need to move to the cloud quickly, make sure you do it smartly and safely.