What Lawyers Say about Cloud Computing

The American Bar Association works hard to keep on top of the technology used by lawyers, and to track which way the professional world is going. One of the ways that the association keeps on top of that is by sending out regular surveys to lawyers around the country.

The results from the 2014 survey suggests that more lawyers are beginning to rely on cloud computing software, but that many aren’t being nearly as careful about the security of that software as you would expect.

Read on to learn more about what lawyers are doing with cloud computing software, and how you can set your business apart by doing things a little bit better than other professionals are. You will soon find out just how easy it is to differentiate yourself.

Cloud Computing is Being Used Regularly by Lawyers

The American Bar association contacted legal professionals from around the country in a survey to learn about their cloud computing usage statistics. On this 2014 survey more than 60% of lawyers that responded admitted to relying on cloud-based tools in some way, but not all of that percentage was for legal work specifically.

About 35% of small firms of between 2 and 9 lawyers admitted to using cloud computing software to handle legal work. It is reasonable to assume that some of the remaining 60% of lawyers using the technology did so for personal matters, but it is also likely that the lawyers used the products for non-legal tasks that have to be completed as well.

Name and Vendor Count for Everything

Most lawyers, about 70% of them, stated that the name and reputation of the software vendor was more important than anything else when picking out a software solution to use. While it is good to rely on a high quality reputation that is not all any lawyer should be using to make decisions about what software to use.

It is important to look at the security employed, as well as all the features that are provided by the software as well. Don’t be like most legal professionals and pick a big name software product, research the options first and consider more focused solutions as well. Many times, legal-focused software is more secure and comes with more features as well.

Consumer Cloud Services are Regularly Used

If you are worried about using standard cloud computing services you might be surprised to know that many of the law firms that reported using the technology to get their work done rely on basic consumer services and don’t even resort to specialized legal products.

This means two things. Most companies aren’t making use of any special legal features that you could be using with a quality custom legal product. The second thing is that many companies are comfortable with general-purpose applications that aren’t designed with high levels of security in mind.

Even though most lawyers are concerned about the safety and security of their clients, and they worry about the security of the cloud platforms they use, many don’t react on those concerns as much as they should.

About 39% of the respondents admitted to not taking any precautionary measures at all before making use of cloud computing software. If you are in charge of the cloud software that your company uses, enjoy the benefits that such a solution offers you, but don’t go with any generic consumer product.

Instead go with a more legal-specific application that is proven to be highly secure. This protects your clients more effectively and will leave you feeling good about your decision, while also offering you added legal-specific features that you simply can’t get from other software solutions.

Contact NexStep, cloud computing Arizona, in providing the best cloud computing security and enjoy the full benefits of management free technology in managing your important data.