THE legal industry can sometimes be unfairly deemed as slow to adopt when it comes to new technologies like the cloud.
Generalistic headlines of the past include, ‘Legal sector too slow to adapt to new technology’ and ‘Law firms need culture of experimentation before they can embrace IT transformation.’
In the industry’s defence, their reticence when it comes to cloud migrations is understandable and warranted. As a sector that employs 370,000 people in the UK and last year was valued at £25.7 billion, they do have a lot to protect.
Lawyers are highly trusted and often expensive individuals to know. They work on your behalf and a big part of their job is keeping your data safe and secure. So surely, it’s a good thing that when looking at cloud solutions, law firms take their time to make sure all options have been considered. As should, quite frankly, any business that is considering the move.
“All law firms are prioritising data security in response to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which come into effect this year and carry hefty penalties for data breaches.” Legal Week
Having to work with such strict data protection acts, the CTOs of the legal world will have warmly welcomed the launch of three Microsoft Data Centres in the UK last September. And then, as if by a combination of perfect timing and brilliant PR, it was announced that The Ministry of Defence had migrated its data from in-house legacy servers to these new data centres, in a transition to Office 365 and Azure.
A big move from a key government department sends a powerful message of reassurance to those that may question the security of cloud, such as the UK’s legal firms.
Mike Stone, Chief Digital and Information Officer, said: “Right from the start, I’ve felt that for defence the only appropriate place to have our data was here in the UK.”
When considering the cloud, law firms want to know the answers to the following questions; How will we be able to run our practice management software in the cloud? Where will our critical data live? How much control will users have over data access? Are the providers that we are considering compliant with the laws that we must follow?
When you really look at these questions, they are no different to those that are asked by other business sectors. The considerations of law firms might be intensified due to the nature of their work, but ultimately the questions are the same.
The point here is, the measured attitude that legal firms have towards ‘The cloud’ is entirely justified. We live in a tech-driven landscape where data security is becoming increasingly critical to all. After all, it’s possible to get hacked by a 10-year-old these days!
So, in a bid to strengthen knowledge on how to tailor today’s cloud solutions to the needs of a legal firm, we are inviting local firms to meet with us at ACS. During these one-to-one sessions, we will be discussing how industry challenges can be tackled with this type of technology.
For more information call 01604 70414.