4 Reasons Why Cloud Services and Law Firms Belong Together

Cloud environments provide a lot of advantages no matter what industry is served. But, law firms especially benefit from specific features and services that cloud hosting can supply. These four big reasons make it clear that law firms and cloud services belong together:

1)      Email hosting

What would happen if your email host experienced an outage? How much would that affect your ability to work with clients? Beyond that, do you know for sure that your email encryption is strong enough?

The cloud eliminates both of those worries in one fell swoop: It makes email hosting reliable and secure. Attorneys and other employees will be able to access email anytime away from the office, and it is as safe and as dependable as it would be if they were sitting at their desks in the middle of the business day.

Cloud hosting also means that your firm is not storing files on any device, which is a key provision to the Health Care Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In fact, if your law firm services clients that need HIPAA compliance, a cloud environment like Legal Workspace can make that ordinarily cumbersome process easy.

Finally, you have no need to worry about losing email data. Even if a natural disaster or a theft occurs at your law firm’s physical space, your information is safe.

2)      File storage and virtual servers

All of the advantages of email hosting in the cloud apply to file storage in the cloud. Nothing is hosted on your law firm’s devices, so compliance with regulatory oversight is a snap. The storage is reliable and secure.

Cloud providers use virtual servers. That means law firm management can stop thinking about server maintenance, worrying about technology upgrades, and stressing over potential down time. When you take advantage of cloud services, you will always be using the latest and greatest technology.

It also means attorneys and employees have access to the same files, software, and other data any time and anywhere. They may be in court or mediation. They may be traveling or working odd hours. With a cloud environment like Legal Workspace, attorneys can have the exact same work experience in court that they would in their own offices, for example. It saves time, increases productivity, and makes work more convenient.

3)      Back-ups

You can’t predict the future. And, no matter how well you prepare or work to mitigate risk, it is still possible that your workspace will be struck by natural disaster or burglary. Maybe you’ve thought of that and are already doing regular data back-ups…or maybe you’ve let that fall by the wayside.

When you use a cloud environment, back-ups happen automatically. Instead of natural disaster or theft causing business interruption, you have zero downtime. Legal Workspace keeps two weeks’ worth of back-ups, and they store data in two geographically diverse locations – so even if something happens that affects one of those facilities, the other has you covered.

4)      Simplified routine office tasks

You can think of the cloud as your all-around IT solution because most cloud services ensure that your office technology is working, too. That means phones, networks, printers, and scanners stay up and running, and if something goes south, you know who to call.

Law firms that use a cloud environment can concentrate on what they do best: practicing law. When you make the decision to go with the cloud, email services, file storage, security, reliable back-ups, and a simplified office routine are all yours.

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Future-Proof Your Law Firm

Use the Cloud to Keep Up with the Pace of Technology

It’s no secret; technology has accelerated the pace of change – in work and in life. There are a few ways that your law firm can go about adapting to these changes.

You could:

1. Bury your head in the sand and insist on the traditional ways of doing things.

2. Throw money at the problem, amassing all the new software and gadgets available and hiring experts to teach you how to use everything.

3. Make a simple change to the way you do work and handle your data.

Of course, the third option is making the change over to using a cloud environment, such as Legal Workspace. Using the cloud is an easy way to set up your firm for any future tech innovations, in addition to the other advantages it promises, like security and flexibility.

Why the cloud allows for rapid change

When a law firm operates from on-site servers, it lacks the kind of agility that using a cloud environment can provide. For example, what would happen if your biggest client suddenly placed regulations on your firm? How would you go about making sure you could meet those requirements? How much time, effort, and money would it take to give them what they wanted?

And if you were able to pull it off, would the client still be there, waiting for you to bring your security to their level?

Taking advantage of law firm cloud services removes that worry. Legal Workspace, because it was created specifically for law firms, utilizes military-grade security for all of its clients and can accommodate special requests from firms who use its services. HIPAA compliance obligations and any other high-level security requirements can be quickly applied to ensure that your clients’ data is protected.

That kind of behind-the-scenes agility is important because it also allows you to make changes to the way you do business. For example, if you’re not already taking advantage of legal document generation automation to streamline your attorneys’ workloads, you can select one of the applications that is compatible with Legal Workspace, work with its team of experts to customize the program to your preferences, and increase your efficiency.

Beyond that, the simple fact is that workplace culture is changing. Many attorneys are putting in the same number – or even more – hours than they ever did before, but they’re not necessarily doing it from the office. A cloud work environment, like Legal Workspace, allows attorneys to access their workspace from anywhere, on any device, at any time. If an attorney has a big realization while watching their kid’s soccer game, they can grab their smartphone and get moving.

The future is in the cloud

When you migrate to the cloud, a big chunk of worry falls away. No fretting about your data security’s adequacy. No concern about making the right software and application choices. No restrictions for your attorneys with regard to when and where they choose to work.

Now, which of these three options sounds like the best strategy:

1. Stick to tradition and hope your firm remains viable?

2. Throw money at the problem and try to do it yourself?

3. Or, lean on experts to take care of your technology issues by using a cloud environment?

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Top 4 Problems The Cloud Solves

Imagine that you could make one decision – adopt one new technology – and four serious issues for your firm are alleviated. You make this decision and suddenly your firm is winning more clients, increasing productivity, managing turnover, and controlling costs.

You don’t have to have a wild imagination to picture this outcome; it’s possible – right now – if your law firm begins using the cloud. Here’s how it works.

 

  1. Winning Clients

This one is a no-brainer. Most law firms want to win more business and employ countless complex strategies to accomplish this goal. Clients can be skittish about testing out a different firm and may have concerns about security. With law firm data breaches making headlines every day, clients naturally focus on making certain their law firms – and all of their corporate data – are safe.

Your law firm can become the go-to practice for safety and security by using a secure cloud platform such as Legal Workspace. The fastest and simplest way to bolster your security is by selecting a cloud solution that was created specifically for law firms. Legal Workspace knows how important it is for law firms to maintain privilege – and their reputations. Every Legal Workspace client’s data is placed in a military-grade cloud built exclusively for lawyers.

You can use your firm’s data security as a selling point. Legal Workspace provides security information that you can use to win deals by proving that you can meet – and usually beat – all of your prospects’ security requirements.

 

  1. Increasing Productivity

No law firm wants its attorneys twiddling their thumbs as they wait for the server to come back online. The cloud means zero downtime for attorneys.

A cloud environment also gives attorneys the ability to work from any device with internet access. It’s after hours, and they get a call? They can immediately record their time. They’re stuck in the airport across the country? They can access the data they need. They’re in court or a satellite office? They have exactly the same access they would have if they were sitting in their offices. Not only that, but the environment from which they’re working is secure.

 

  1. Managing Turnover

Gone are the days when employees would take one job and turn it into a career that lasts until their retirement. Law firms know that it can be difficult to attract and retain good talent. One perk that appeals to talent is flexibility. Your firm can provide attorneys and administrative employees with the ability to work from home (or anywhere, really) when you use a cloud environment such as Legal Workspace. No hauling files to and from different locations, no thumb drives to misplace, no insecure file sharing. When your workers have access to the Legal Workspace cloud environment, they get the same secure access to files, legal applications, and workflows at home as they would in the office.

And, no law firm is static; as your firm grows and changes, Legal Workspace makes it easy to add and remove users.

 

  1. Controlling Costs

Some budgets are variable, no matter how hard you may try to stabilize them. If you rely on servers, then your IT budget falls into that category. Servers frequently need updating and patching – and that’s not something you can assign just anybody to do. Unique skills are required to work on legal applications, too. You never really know when something might go wrong or how severe the problem will be.

Using a cloud environment eliminates IT budget variability. Law firms never again have to worry about the price of repairs or the steep cost of expert knowledge. You pay a monthly fee, and that’s it. No more outages or downtime, no worrying about disaster recovery. It’s all taken care of for you.

It’s rare to be able to solve four problems by making one simple decision. Adopting a secure cloud environment can do that. Using a cloud environment such as Legal Workspace can change the way that you approach managing your firm and allow your attorneys to have both more freedom and more security.

 

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Boost Law Firm Productivity & Revenue

Law firms and technology have made some giant leaps in the last decade or so. Now, there are applications made specifically for law firms that track time, facilitate billing, generate and manage documents, and even help you manage your practice.

We know that you want to take full advantage of the efficiencies and transparency that legal applications can provide to a law firm. That’s why, at Legal Workspace, we make it a priority to host and support the most popular and most effective legal apps on our cloud environment.

 

How it works

Because Legal Workspace was created specifically for law firms and their unique challenges, we understand that firms need certain legal applications to be available anytime and anywhere in order to be able to function at full capacity.

Working with Legal Workspace provides law firms with the opportunity to migrate their existing legal applications to the cloud – or to strategize and make new decisions about what technology they want and need to make work and life easier (and more accurate).

Legal Workspace’s engineers are certified in the top legal applications, so they can provide support if and when it’s needed. They can also consult with clients to identify which apps might work best in their particular situations.

And, Legal Workspace can even license certain legal apps, which simplifies billing.

 

What apps does Legal Workspace host?

Legal Workspace hosts a wide variety of legal applications. Law practice management software includes Amicus Attorney ®, Time Matter®, Needles®, Practice Master®, Thomson Reuters ProLaw®, Juris®, and LawBase®.

Legal document management software includes Worldox® and Microsoft SharePoint®.

Time and billing software includes PCLaw®, Timeslips®, Tabs3®, and Quickbooks®.

Legal document generation automation includes Hot Docs®, ProDoc®, and Amicus Attorney®.

You can find out more about how you can customize your Legal Workspace cloud environment with a variety of legal applications and software here. 

And, what if you have your own proprietary software that you use for practice management, for example? That’s no problem. Legal Workspace can host the software law firms develop.

 

Cloud benefits

When you work with a cloud environment that hosts the legal applications you need, you are using technology to your advantage. And, you get so much more from using the cloud.

Your attorneys and staff can access the programs and data they need from any location at any time. Remote access isn’t the only benefit: You’ll save money on hardware – and its set-up and maintenance. Instead of laying down big money to get started, you’ll have one simple monthly bill.

Your data is continuously monitored and protected. Beyond that, working in the cloud means that recovery of data – if a disaster were to occur – would be that much simpler.

Working with a team like Legal Workspace’s enables you to get the most from your technology. The legal applications that it hosts can propel your law firm to new levels of efficiency and accuracy. With Legal Workspace’s engineers’ help, your law firm can take another giant leap by allowing technology to work for you – so you can concentrate on the business of law.

 

 

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Ideal IT Framework for Law Fims

Money is one important element in the cost of IT, but building and maintaining a system also takes time and knowledge. The Legal Workspace cloud provides firms with the IT infrastructure they need without the guesswork and expense that comes with maintaining an IT department.

The Money: Traditional versus Cloud IT Infrastructure

An average firm building a traditional IT infrastructure from scratch can easily spend $22,000 for the initial set up and $45,000 for annual maintenance and licensing.

Here’s how:

Hardware (average lifespan 3-5 years):

  • — Server and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS): $11,000-14,000
  • — Backup Appliance with offsite Data Recovery: $5,000

Software:

  • — Windows Server: $2,000 annual licensing
  • — Exchange Server: $4,000 – 6,000

Personnel:

  • — IT support: $43,000 -52,000 per year. Standard IT companies charge $175/hour. It takes about 250-300 hours per year to support hardware.

 

The cost spirals out of control quickly. An outmoded or overloaded infrastructure can seriously hinder a law firm’s success by reducing efficiency and limiting opportunities. High-profile clients in regulated industries often perform cyber security audits and require security certifications before hiring legal counsel.

Legal Workspace operates on a pay-as-you-go model, so customers escape upfront costs. Per-user pricing allows for straightforward scalability — new users can be added in less than 24 hours. Legal Workspace includes hosted Exchange and email, preferred Microsoft Office suite version, data and app storage, nightly redundant backups to US-based tier III data centers, and unlimited tech support between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mountain Time.

Legal Workspace continually updates software and hardware so firms are always working with the most secure versions. Redundant enterprise-level firewalls, encryption, and secure, temperature-controlled data centers with generator backup make data security stronger than a law firm could implement locally.

 

Eliminating headaches

Problems with IT happen because of equipment failure, lack of know-how, or just plain human error. These brief examples show how using the cloud eliminates bad technology situations:

  1. — Ransomware encrypts computer files so users cannot read files without paying a ransom fee. Legal Workspace retains at least two weeks of backup files so firms infected with ransomware can simply delete infected files and restore backups.
  1. — Legal Workspace clients, such as Berry Odom, report moving to the cloud has reduced their time spent worrying about IT by 75%. That means more time practicing law and less time on the phone with IT.
  1. — Workers are putting in more hours at home and on the go. Legal Workspace’s cloud environment allows users to collaborate safely and securely from any device. If devices are lost or stolen, data is safely stored and protected in the Legal Workspace cloud.

 

Positioning for success

Legal Workspace removes technological barriers so firms can spend more time landing top-tier clients and less time managing IT.

  • — Legal Workspace is a complete cloud solution created exclusively for law firms
  • — Full IT management and maintenance offered
  • — Enterprise-grade security to protect against cyber threats
  • — Access Legal Workspace from anywhere using any device
  • — Military grade data centers located in the US
  • — Host all of your legal and business applications, no on-site servers required
  • — 99% uptime guarantee

 

Legal Workspace is a pioneer in cloud-based work environments and data storage designed specifically for law firms. Learn more or arrange a free demo at 877-713-8302 or sales@legal-workspace.com.

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