It’s impossible to run any kind of office these days without storage options for all the digital files, documents, and information that you’re bound to deal with. Using cloud storage makes sense because your personnel and professionals can access it from anywhere, and it’s stored away from your office if something happens. However, you also need to make sure it’s very secure, especially if you run a law firm.
Balancing Convenience With Security
You need to balance your desire for convenience with your need for security when making this decision. Start the selection process by writing down all of your wants and needs, so you have a good idea of what you’re looking for. The final selection should meet all of your must-haves and as many of your wants as possible.
The first criterion for narrowing down your options can simply be based on there being enough volume available. Some cloud services might offer you up to 5GB free. Will that be enough? Can you handle paying for more?
If you need multiple employees or lawyers to all have access to the same cloud storage, then you might have to make decisions based on user accounts and access. Also, look for end-to-end encryption that only decrypts locally for you for the utmost security.
Look into the record of uptime percentage for any cloud server option. It’s admittedly hard to find anyone with 100% uptime, but they should be 99% at a minimum. The higher the number, the more likely it is that they’ll be there for you when you try to log in.
Know where the data is stored. Having it out of your office might mean someone physically breaking in won’t be successful in accessing your data. However, the further away the data is, the slower your response and download times might be. You might even discover that the data is in another country, and you might not want that.
Finally, make sure they back up their data. Even cloud storage can be susceptible to potential loss.
All Kinds of Data
Lawyers deal with all kinds of data, from client information to their own research. This is why it’s crucial to have secure cloud storage for lawyers. Law firms and practicing attorneys need to protect the information and data that they work with. Part of that is because they need to protect their clients, but they also need to protect their own professional livelihoods and firms from liability issues. It’s not just a matter of privacy with clients, either, as a data breach could reveal things that make cases or situations go badly for their clients.
Legal data is something that you could generally define as any kind of information related to legal matters and the legal profession. That can include legal correspondence, lease agreements, contracts, and case files. Cloud storage is ideal because it means accessibility anywhere, but it also means someone can’t access the data by breaking into your law firm’s office and physically accessing it.
You can define legal data as any sort of information that is being used by the legal industry. This might include things like case files, client information, legal correspondence, contracts, lease agreements, and more. The legal data should be stored in a safe, secure place, preferably in the cloud. You should be able to access the legal data from anywhere. It is also crucial to ensure that the legal data remains safe from any prying eyes.
Specific Factors to Consider
If the process listed previously isn’t enough to identify which cloud storage service is right for your law firm, then consider narrowing down your options based on specific factors that you should take into consideration.
- Backup and disaster recovery solutions
- Contractual flexibility
- Data retention
- Ease of use
- Integration capabilities
- Legal data security
- Legal data storage requirements
- Professional services
- Regulatory compliance
- Scalability
There’s obviously a lot that goes into finding the right cloud storage solutions for a law firm, but it’s worth it in the end. Your clients will have peace of mind, and so will you.
