Is Your Clients’ Data Safe? Cloud Computing to the Rescue for Small Law Firms.

06 June 2017 by Anith Mathai ediscovery data security

Is your firm using cloud-computing? If not, here’s why it’s the safest way to store your clients’ data.

As an attorney in a small law firm, you deal with a lot of data.

And most of it is electronic. Your clients give you hundreds (and maybe thousands) of Word documents, emails, and PDFs to sort through. And even when they use paper documents, most law firms end up scanning them.

So how are you dealing with all this data?

The emerging field of ‘ediscovery’ involves storing and review electronically stored information (ESI).

You upload your files onto ediscovery software, and you can then search them for keywords, names, dates, and places. You can also edit, tag, and redact files, as well as ‘produce’ them for opposing counsel.

But where is all your clients’ data being stored?

Depending on the ediscovery (or edisclosure) software you use, it gets stored in 3 different ways. Each has its pros and cons, so what you choose depends on what your firm needs and can afford.

Option 1: Store your clients’ data on your own servers.

This is called on-premises hosting. Large law firms with deep pockets and extensive technical support develop custom ediscovery apps. And they store their clients’ data on their own private servers.

The problem is it costs a lot and needs a lot of technical know-how. You have to install specialized hardware and software (which can be a long and complicated process), and you have to maintain them yourself. You also need to use advanced digital security to protect your data from viruses, malware, and theft.

Does your small law firm have the resources and time to do all of this? If not, an on-premises solution isn’t your best option.

Option 2: Store your clients’ data on someone else’s private servers.

Some ediscovery providers encourage you to use their private servers to store your clients’ data. Your data is backed up on multiple servers run by a company that specializes in ediscovery, and that’s an advantage. It’s a step up from the on-premises solution.

But this option costs a lot, and your data isn’t as secure as it can get. It is very expensive to run a server farm. Private servers eat a lot of electricity, are routinely hacked, need infrastructure that can withstand natural disasters, and require trained IT personnel to manage them 24/7.

What you want is to have someone else manage the infrastructure, but at an affordable rate. That is option 3.

Option 3: Store your clients’ data on the ‘cloud.’

Cloud hosting has been around for a long time. In fact, if you use Dropbox, Google Drive, or any Apple product, then you’re already on the cloud.

Software giants like Amazon and Google ‘rent out’ storage and computing power to businesses all over the world. And their thousands of interconnected servers form a ‘cloud.’

The more people there are on the cloud, the less the costs for each. That’s the beauty of cloud economics, and it means you pay much less than if you were using the private servers we discussed in option 2 above.

Also, these high-performance cloud servers come with bank-grade security. Which means your data is as secure with them as your online banking information is with your bank. The data is encrypted both when it’s being transmitted and when it’s stored on their servers.

And your technical support is much better on the cloud. Remember, the best minds don’t go to small companies offering you private servers. They go to Amazon and Google.

Cloud-based ediscovery gives you the tools of larger law firms, for a fraction of the cost.

What you want is for your clients’ data to be safe. A cloud-based ediscovery platform does this for you while being simple to use and maintain.

Take the ediscovery (also ‘e-discovery’, or ‘edisclosure’) platform GoldFynch, for example.

You don’t have to install hardware. It runs off the cloud, so there’s no hardware to install or pay for.
Someone else handles the software. The GoldFynch team updates it and fixes bugs, so you don’t have to. You just go to GoldFynch.com and sign in. It’s as simple as checking your email.
You can access it from anywhere. Just use the closest PC, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. You only need an internet connection.
You pay for only what you use. So upgrade and pay for the extra space. Or downgrade and pay for less space. All in seconds. And with no hidden costs. Because GoldFynch runs off the cloud, there’s no limit to the storage available.

GoldFynch is designed for small law firms like yours.