A recent survey by “American Lawyer” showed that most law firms, worried about security, use cloud computing only for no critical data.
Many companies in a wide range of industries are quickly migrating to the cloud, where they’re seeing savings in both time and money. But a recent survey found that law firms are behind the cloud-computing trend, largely due to security concerns.
The study by “American Lawyer” of top law firms showed that 65% of the companies currently use some amount of cloud computing. But non-vital functions, such as litigation support, e-discovery and human resources, account for the majority of cloud usage, while more sensitive data is still being stored in-house.
Although the majority of law firms use some cloud computing, most are still keeping non-vital functions, such as document management, off the cloud due to security concerns.
Thirty five percent of respondents use cloud-based systems for email management, but just 8%use it for document management. At the ocre of this limited colud use are security concerns. Sixty-one percent of the firms cited security as the top drawback to cloud computing. Other drawbacks included limited customization options and less control over data.
Nonetheless, 77%of the law firms labeled their cloud-computing experience as ‘positive’ and noted benefits like simplified storage and maintenance, lower costs and remote access to data. Although lagging on the cloud front, the legal industry is still moving along with major technological trends. According to the survey, technology budgets at the firms average $4.7 million; that’s 7%higher than last year.
Like companies in other industries, law firms are experiencing a surge in mobile devices used by employees. All surveyed firms support Black Berry phones, and 96% support iPhones and iPads, up nearly 20% since 2010.
Additionally, 67% of the firms support Android devices, 24% more than last year.
Consumerization of IT through wider use of personal devices in the workplace has complicated data security, but CIOs say they are coping successfully because of a new generation of mobile-device management software,” the journal reported.
As security in the cloud and on mobile devices improves, law firms and other companies that manage sensitive data such as health care companies- are likely to use these technologies more often and for more critical purposes.