Unlock Future Opportunities with Cloud-Native Solutions

According to the 2024 International Legal Technology Association survey, 89% of law firms are choosing cloud-based solutions when replacing their financial management systems, and 85% say they are choosing cloud for every product upgrade—a significant jump compared to just a few years ago.

As more law firms adopt cloud solutions for their day-to-day operations, you may be wondering whether it’s time for your firm to make the transition to cloud as well. We believe that the adoption of cloud solutions is a necessity for your firm’s long-term health and success. Put simply, it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when you will migrate your technological infrastructure to the cloud.

And as you consider the future of your firm and the role that cloud solutions will play in it, remember that cloud migration isn’t the goal in and of itself—the cloud is a staging ground for future opportunities. In other words, instead of thinking of cloud migration like climbing Mt. Everest, think of it like going to a prestigious law school—the value isn’t the mere fact that you went there, but the unique opportunities you will have because you went there.

By transitioning to cloud-native solutions, your law firm can leverage the superior functionality, adaptability, and security of cloud architecture to streamline workflows, automate administrative tasks, make data-driven business decisions, and provide greater value to your clients now and in the future.

Access the Most Up-to-Date Software

A huge advantage that cloud solutions have over traditional on-premises solutions is how and when the software updates. The “how” is important because with on-premises solutions, patches and updates to the software are invasive and disruptive events that can cause inconvenient systemwide downtime. But cloud solutions update remotely and in the background, so you can keep working without interruption.

The “when” also has notable differences. Since updates to on-premises solutions are infrequent, every update could be a “major” update. The longer the list of changes in each upgrade, the longer your employees will need to familiarize themselves with the new features.

Cloud-native solutions, on the other hand, push smaller updates more regularly so your employees spend less time re-learning software and more time on high-value work. Not only that, but more frequent updates means that you always have access to the latest features and functionality so you can maintain a competitive edge.

Most importantly, since cloud-native solutions exist and operate in the cloud and are fully managed by your SaaS vendor, you don’t have to purchase and store hardware or devote internal IT resources to software upgrades and maintenance.

Increase Efficiency and Productivity

Cloud solutions have powerful automation tools that allow you to identify and eliminate inefficiencies. Administrative and billing tasks, for instance, are some of the most time-consuming tasks for lawyers (not to mention the most despised), and worse they are unbillable. Fortunately, because these tasks tend to be routine and repetitive, they are also some of the easiest to automate.

Streamlining and automating time-entry and billing workflows lets fee earners reallocate their time to higher-value work or strategic client interactions. Plus, by eliminating manual processes you reduce friction in the invoicing system, eliminate points of failure, and shorten the work-to-cash cycle, which ultimately improves the profitability of your firm.

All of the above leads to greater client satisfaction. By speeding up routine tasks, reducing errors, streamlining ways of working and improving insights, you can deliver a more efficient and responsive service to clients.

Optimize Your Systems

The flexibility of cloud-native solutions is another major benefit. They should be capable of integrating seamlessly with the other products and tools your firm uses, such as HR or document management systems, so that there’s no friction for users, and data can be assimilated smoothly.

Firms that are in the cloud are also empowered to reduce costs and better deploy resources. Cloud-native architecture offers dynamic scalability meaning that you can easily grow or shrink the number of users as your firm grows so you don’t waste resources or pay for more than you need. In this way, you get both cost savings and cost predictability.

Enjoy Unmatched Security

Law firms have an ethical duty to protect client confidentiality, and this data security requirement often looms large in a firm’s decision to adopt a cloud solution.

Concerns and misconceptions about the security of cloud solutions often motivate law firms to maintain their legacy on-premises systems. But with an on-premises solution, your firm has to manage and deploy its own security measures through custom IT configurations. While this provides flexibility, it also means you must regularly update, maintain, and monitor the security systems. In today’s rapidly evolving landscape of cyber threats, that is a time-consuming and risky endeavor.

Leading SaaS providers take seriously the need to keep business and customer data safe from the latest emerging threats. They have teams dedicated to monitoring and minimizing incidents, and they collectively invest billions of dollars every year in advancing their threat prevention capabilities. Plus, because cloud software is updated more regularly, you can be confident knowing your firm is always running on the latest and most secure version.

Work Smarter with AI

The potential for using AI in legal operations is a hot topic across the profession, and many firms are already investigating the benefits and exploring use cases. AI can deliver critical capabilities at scale, including classifying unstructured data, generating content, enhancing user interfaces, and introducing predictive capabilities. However, AI functionality is only available in the cloud. If your firm wants to stay ahead of the competition in this fast-evolving landscape, adopting cloud solutions is the way forward.

Cloud-native solutions open exciting new possibilities in terms of how you run a profitable business, deliver legal services, provide value to clients, and safeguard your firm’s data, now and in the future. It’s a powerful platform that will springboard your firm’s ongoing innovation and excellence: you’ve just got to get there first.