Cloud-Based Tech Helped Many Industries. It’s Legal’s Turn

Cloud-based technology has made an impact and, in many ways, revolutionized how people share both personal and professional information. Think of platforms like Slack, Okta, or Box that allow users to send and receive files within secure password-protected environments.

Similarly, platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn have made it very easy for any individual with an account to share updates with friends or followers. Plus, with one direct message to a specific point of contact, you can pass along important files relevant to the conversation.

Modern technology has made connectivity easier than ever before. Yet in some industries, such as the legal professional community, innovation has not been so openly embraced. The question is: why are so many law firms still relying on clunky old software or, even worse, binders to store, manage and share important documents?

Some law firms worry about security and cybersecurity

Some of the reluctance by law firms to embrace cloud-based entity management solutions is the fear of being hacked. To be honest, those concerns are not without some merit. In a recent survey of 450 UK-based companies, two thirds of respondents admitted they were the victims of a cyber attack in the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, cyber hacking isn’t exclusive to cloud-based servers. Large organizations with on-premise servers are still the victims of cyber attacks. While on-prem and cloud-based servers are both targets for malicious acts, cloud services like Google, AWS and others have thousands of PHd-level security teams working to keep those servers as secure as possible. Most law firms are limited to a small team of cybersecurity experts, making resource allocation at law firms a very real challenge to protect those on-prem servers from potential hacking.

Additionally, physical binders stored in the office itself are susceptible to fire, theft, unintentional misplacement, and other causes of loss or damage. Any of these misfortunes, accidental or otherwise, could compromise the security of those files and potentially risk exposing secure client information.

Finally, cloud-based security is more vital than ever as coronavirus forces more firms to embrace remote work as an acceptable norm. Cloud-based entity management platforms allow colleagues and clients to share confidential information without the risk of exposure.

Why law firms should embrace cloud-based solutions

Aging technology has made on-premise servers more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Cloud-based solutions use more sophisticated technology that includes additional layers of security to protect your clients’ rights to privacy. Nevertheless, we can acknowledge that there are no foolproof solutions when it comes to security, so let’s focus on value. The irrefutable fact is this: firms that use cloud-based entity management platforms can improve their bottom line, streamline their operations and create economies of scale to facilitate faster growth.

Cloud-based servers are cost-efficient

On-premise servers are expensive to maintain and, as previously noted, most law firms only have a limited number of professionals who can keep those servers secure. Not only are you paying for the server hardware, but you have to factor in salaries, maintenance, and other capital costs to keep them functional.

By migrating your files into the cloud, you can scale down or, if you choose, eliminate those on-prem servers from your office. All of those operational costs to maintain the servers can be reinvested back into the business in favour of growth-based strategies.

Cloud-based technology makes it easy to access all relevant documents

The day to day tasks for law clerks, paralegals and other professionals are often repetitive and time consuming. This is all the more challenging when clerks are required to manually input data or other relevant information into minute books and other documentation from both online and offline sources.

Using cloud-based solutions, you can make this entire process more efficient. All minute books, contracts, and noteworthy records are stored in one secure and convenient cloud-based database. Any clerk with access to the platform can go into the account and pull all relevant files to a particular case within moments. This is a highly efficient way to make a clerk’s time more productive so that they too can get back more time to contribute to the growth of the firm.

Lower costs and more efficient operations create economies of scale

This is the key reason why you should embrace forward-thinking solutions. Lower fixed and operational costs mean you’re spending less money to maintain your business. More efficient productivity from clerks and other professionals on your team make your firm more structured, streamlined, and well run.

Add all of those benefits up and it amounts to the economies of scale that enable any law firm to set the foundation for high growth results. You can devote more time (and billable hours) towards providing true value to your clients, and spend less time on the day to day tasks of storing, securing, sharing, and updating minute books. In the end, that’s your ROI to make an investment in cloud-based solutions worthwhile.

Ready to make your firm more productive and more efficient? Join the MinuteBox revolution so that you can create an environment that is guaranteed to create the optimal conditions to scale the growth of your business.