The Cloud’s Business Benefits

It is refreshing to face a room full of people–many of whom are not “techies”- talk to them about the Cloud and realize that every one of them gets it. This happened to me last week in ii3’s seminar on “The Cloud for Law Firms”, as I was introducing our featured speaker George Takach (George’s talk was about  Cloud related legal and regulatory issues). We get it, because as consumers we use it every day on Facebook, YouTube, Gmail and such services. We like it because it’s transparent and relatively easy.

This brings me to the question: how will law firms benefit from the Cloud? The benefit balance sheet includes favourable crunching of the total cost of ownership numbers to better security and easier upgrades. But the biggest advantage is that law firms, just like individuals who use it now everyday, will be able to get out of the technology management business and refocus their efforts and IT talent on information management. In other words – focus on the business benefits of information technology, not on its nuts and bolts.

The Cloud will not only allow law firms to get closer to their clients but also allow lawyers to access information from anywhere using any device that suits their style of work. They will just “plug in” when they need access. The Cloud is a business accelerator and just like all other businesses (their clients included of course), law firms will realize its benefits. Ubiquitous and transparent to its users.

But what does this mean for a law firm’s IT department? In his talk, George Takach warns us not to “throw the tech baby out with the bath water”. In other words, don’t be in a hurry to get rid of your IT folks now that you’re outsourcing more of your systems “to the Cloud”. Remember, these guys know your firm. They know your culture. They know your needs. And the good news is they can now apply more of their time and energy towards helping you solve your business problems first, and then your technology issues.