By EVault Guest Blog 2

For any business, data loss is a hassle. For some, data loss results in days of work lost. But when a law firm loses data, the liability can be enormous. Smart law firms understand how critical it is to protect their customers’ proprietary data.

According to Jack Huddleston of Thomas|Horstemeyer, a law firm in Atlanta, “Losing our data could bankrupt our firm.” Law firms need to be able to support their customers on a continuous basis; an outage doesn’t just cost money, it negatively impacts customers and has the potential to damage the reputation of a business. There are many scenarios when onsite or tape backup would create the kind of situation Mr. Huddleston is referencing. In certain scenarios, business continuity can really only be met through cloud-connected backup.

Due to the sensitive nature of the data, many law firms are very cautious about where it is stored. Frequently that caution results in storing the data on-premise and relying on physical, encrypted servers to back up data. In many cases, law firms have been led to believe that the cloud is not a safe place to store data.

In fact, of all industries, your legal customers and prospects should be hyper-concerned with protecting their data, and they really need a cloud strategy. Because law is a regulated industry, law firms are not just accountable to customers but also to the government. You may come across across some law firms who have resisted the cloud, but when you offer them cloud backup that complies with government security regulations, you’ll be a hero and increase your own revenue.

Why? Because lawyers know deep down that they need the cloud.

To demonstrate this need to customers in the legal industry, you can start by describing some “worst-case scenarios” and explain why in the event of a disaster, the cloud is the best case.

The Worst Case: Your Customer’s Employee Loses a Laptop

When all data stays in house, it’s easy to manage security. But these days, employees are on the go and so are their laptops. This can cause a security nightmare — 12,000 laptops are stolen and lost in airports every week. A cloud-based data backup and recovery solution makes laptop or endpoint protection possible. If a laptop is lost or stolen, all data can be immediately wiped out on the missing machine, and virtualized on a new one. Without endpoint protection, proprietary client and firm data can easily get into the wrong hands.

The Worst Case: Your Customers Aren’t on the Cloud, but Their Employees Are

While law firms have reason to be concerned about hackers, the solution isn’t to avoid the cloud altogether. Why? Because in this day and age, employees are accustomed to cloud storage and if their employer doesn’t provide it, there’s a good chance they’ll use a personal/private cloud to back up data. As we all know, DropBox has experienced security problems in the past. When one employee decides to store one file on DropBox, just this once, their firm’s security is compromised. If legal firms provide their employees an enterprise cloud solution and a documented data protection strategy, they’ll actually be able to protect their assets.

The Worst Case Scenario: A Physical Disaster

Keeping data safe and secure on premise is a fine idea, as long as the premise is actually safe and secure. That didn’t turn out to be the case for the law firm Marshall Dennehey. When the firm’s New York office was put out of commission by an electrical fire, employees were unable to gain access to the servers on premise. Had the data not been backed up to the cloud, both New York offices would have been completely out of commission for several days, waiting to return to the office and retrieve the information on their servers. That is, of course, if their servers survived the fire. Fortunately, the firm had cloud backup software and was able to retrieve data from the firm’s second vault in Philadelphia. After the servers were retrieved from the New York office, they were deployed into the Philadelphia office and all New York employees had full remote access to their workspaces and files. None of the employees lost any work time and business went on almost as usual. Ask your customers what would happen if they were out of commission for days. In all likelihood, it would be extremely damaging to their business.

Conclusion: Show Your Legal Customers the Light

When you’re able to offer legal customers a solution that meets their need for security and for business continuity, you’ll be a hero. We’d love to be your partner as you bring compelling solutions to this large customer base. EVault is serious about partnering with you to win in this space. Contact us here.

Monthly guest blogs such as this one are part of Talkin’ Cloud’s annual platinum sponsorship. Read all EVault guest blogs here.