Cloud computing is here. It's just that many powers-that-be in law firms don't have the knowledge of it or the confidence in it to begin to implement it for operations. If they did, the physical law office might become a costly anachronism and storage charges could be radically downsized. The latter would make it more possible for lawyers to fly solo.
Essentially, "cloud computing," report Jonathan Redgrave and Andrew Cosgrove in LEGAL TIMES, "is a way to outsource the service of providing the hardware, software, human resources and business model required to deliver, store and manage digital data offite." They add, "The outside providers in turn achieve economies of scale, lowering the cost to all their customers."
Of course, procedures and policies would have to be ironed out as to who has access, what security measures are in-place, and how to allocate costs to clients. But that's small potatoes. The issue is that BigLaw isn't more aggressively investigating this option. They should, for example, have digital committees interviewing vendors about menu of services, security, reliability, and cost.
The answer is obvious. The defense bar has rarely been an early adopter in technology. That might have to change as clients demand alternatives to the billable hour and even a pay-for-performance fee structure.
But an even more formidable obstacle could be lawyers's lack of confidence in the Internet. In the Spring 2009 edition of Booz and Company's STRATEGY+BUSINESS, management consultants Thomas Kunstner, Manuel Kohnstamm and Stephen Luiten document the opportunities missed because of this failure of confidence. "Digital confidence," those experts say, "is the level of trust that consumers place in this emerging infrastructure." When the confidence isn't there or deteriorates - as with cyber identity theft - business in general and individual businesses suffer. The good news: The authors promise, "True digital confidence could also transform the way people use the Internet - or, more precisely, it could complete the transformation already begun."
The day could come, and it could be sooner than later, when prospects ask the law firm: How are you applying digital technology to boost quality, speed up response time, and reduce costs? In my profession public relations that is already happening as prospects and current clients realize how low-cost and high-reach digital applications can be.
I thank thee that I am none of the wheels of power but I am one with the living creatures that are crushed by it.
Posted by: moncler coats | November 22, 2011 at 08:51 AM
Hi, I would like to say that this is definitely changing quickly. My company legalcloud.net has recently launched into private beta a cloud computing / virtual data center managed services solution designed and built specifically for the needs of law firms. Specifically we work hard to address concerns like security, SLA, support, costs, agility, elasticity, and more.
We started doing a webinar series too and the first one was yesterday. You can find it easily on the site if you like. There has been good participation and we are getting great questions back from our beta users and the community at large.
Nice article and glad to see some good coverage of the issue.
Posted by: Kent Langley | May 19, 2009 at 03:05 PM