Law Practice goes to the Cloud
There seems to be a continuing trend of different industries moving to Cloud computing primarily because of the need to lower operational costs and improve the flexibility of delivery of service. It is understandable why the finance, legal, and healthcare industries may find it compelling to use the Cloud platform; but for specific professions to go into Cloud? Do not look so surprised because many professions are finding immense benefits with Cloud computing. Let us take a look at the benefits law practitioners gets from this cloud platform.
Reluctant Move
It is common to establish that professional lawyers did not actually welcome cloud computing with open arms. The reluctance it seems is anchored on the fact that many practitioners were stuck with the idea of using color-coded paper and pen in keeping track of personal records.
However, with the introduction of cloud computing making huge amounts of data available simpler, reluctance quickly changed to acceptance. Flexibility is one of the benefits that made more traditional law practitioners accept the reality of the Cloud platform.
Working with Legislation
The work of lawyer involves following existing legislation, with emphasis placed on “existing”. This is pointed out because legislation will forever be changing based on the priority and vision on the current government.
With the advent of computing, many applications were developed to make sure that your business (including payroll processing) is up to government standards. Any change in legislation meant manually updating of applications.
Cloud computing increase law practice efficiency through online delivery of application updates. Users were no longer hassled by slow or inefficient IT staff, or late delivery of updates from the software manufacturer. If there is an update or patch needed for the software, it would be ready at an instant; sometimes with the law practitioner not even noticing the update and allowing them to maintain compliance with legislation.
Dealing with Errors
Law practitioners can relate to the experience of using different types of forms based on client’s data. The difficult thing with this method is that forms are often lost or there would be times when the wrong form is presented for the specific case. Can you imagine how stressing this procedure is for law practitioners?
To increase efficiency, especially for businesses with multiple branches, centralized set of rules and regulations were often adopted. This made management of employee significantly easier and more flexible. The expected result is a happier workforce. Cloud computing contributes to this increased efficiency by limiting the transmittal time and allowing for better record handling, making the law practice business less prone to errors.
Looking to the Future
Based on current trends, it is estimated that by 2020 all CRM and similar systems will be completely cloud-based. What does this mean for law practitioners and the profession as a whole? A better performing law practice with increased compliance, close to zero fines, and better workforce engagement.
These benefits can actually be achieved in a shorter time if focus shifted to the improvement of day-to-day engagements and actual return on investment. Eventually benefits of flexibility and savings would become worn out; but achieving noticeable improvements in business would always be a welcomed development for lawyer and their workforce.
In due time the current cloud platforms will also show remarkable improvements. For the meantime, you need to invest on what is best for your business and workforce.
Contact NexStep, a management free technology for a better and efficient law practice. NexStep can help your law practice achieve the maximum benefit of cloud computing in organizing and managing your data.