You have a lot to do inside your personal injury firm.
You have to manage clients, cases, employees, documents, and deadlines.
And all of that is on top of managing the business and administrative aspects of your practice.
It’s a lot to keep under control, especially as your practice grows.
But as your firm grows, technology can give you a competitive edge, or it can be a liability and hold you back.
You’ve likely heard a lot about cloud computing, and legal practice management software, and you might be using cloud-based services now.
You might even be considering taking advantage of more legal technology and moving more of your practice to a cloud-based legal practice management software solution, but you haven’t been convinced to go all-in just yet.
You might be worried about security, a lack of control, or just fear the unknown.
But, those are things you don’t need to worry about when using a legal practice management system.
In this article, we’ll explore why your personal injury firm should use cloud-based legal practice management technologies, and maybe even go all-in and move your practice to a private cloud.
Table of Contents
Constant Availability
No More IT Headaches
Simple and Secure Scaling
Work Anywhere on Any Device
Give CoCounselor A Try
With a cloud-based practice management software, you can access all of your documents, emails, events, due dates, tasks, contacts, timesheets, and invoices at any time, by any user, on any device.
Working with the cloud gives you the ability to retrieve and work on case information in a secure environment without old fashioned network connections.
All of your information is synced and stored in the cloud, so you can be sure that the information you’re accessing is the latest version.
No data is stored or processed locally, so you benefit from accessing the latest version of your documents.
The cloud also offers entirely new ways to better use your time and improve the work-life balance with the ability to work from home, all thanks to mobility.
Everything stored in cloud-based software is synchronized in real-time so you can access it via a web or mobile app.
And, as long as you have internet access, you can log in from any device.
If you compare this to on-premise solutions that often require out-dated access portals if you want to work out of the office, you will quickly see how the cloud simplifies availability while keeping data secure and protected.
Managing IT isn’t covered in law school, but you still have to set up and maintain a reliable IT infrastructure.
Even the smallest firms need a server to host their practice management software and your documents.
Your firm needs a reliable server infrastructure, so your staff can stay productive and secure, and your client and firms data is protected.
Unfortunately, that server requires a lot of maintenance, both proactive and reactive.
You also need server hardware, Windows Server, as well as backup hardware and software. And don’t forget a battery backup.
And unless you double majored in IT, you need to pay an IT consultant or firm to keep everything up and running.
And no matter what you do, you will still have IT problems. Servers will go down, the software can become corrupted, printers will stop working, and users won’t be able to log in.
A cloud-based platform for law firms will eliminate all of these issues.
With a private cloud, you’ll never need to buy or manage servers again because it is your server and it includes all necessary updates, maintenance, repair, backups, and other management.
Also, your private cloud-based support team will take point on supporting and updating your chosen legal software.
All things technology and IT are hosted and supported by a single, centralized team.
Life is much easier when you have one platform that hosts your software, and your documents and email, and one support team to contact when you need help.
All for one fixed fee provided universally by one company.
Unfortunately, your IT Consultant may not support your move to new legal technology because they have a direct, adverse interest in your law firm moving to the cloud.
Moving your legal practice to a new practice management system eliminates the need for servers and complex IT infrastructure, which eliminates your need for an IT consultant.
When faced with this, unfortunately, many IT consultants take off their consultant hat and replace them with their self-preservation hat.
There’s no comparison to cloud solutions when it comes to rapid adaptation and flexibility.
And small law firms that need practice management software that will grow with you, cloud solutions are your obvious choice.
You can pick and choose modules or features that your practice needs and integrate with existing tools you are already using.
You can start with a small number of functions and users and work in a future proof way, or if you’re a large firm, you will have everything you need from the start.
Furthermore, by setting law firms up on the cloud, you can stop worrying about data back up, recovery, compliance, and security forever.
When all of your data is safely secured and automatically backed up in a highly secure private cloud, you are reducing data loss risks from things like natural disasters or cyber-attacks.
You also have complete control over who has access to your client information so you can ensure complete confidentiality to your clients, as well as professional secrecy, and third party data protection obligations that clients demand.
Through a central information system, cloud solutions also support secure collaboration and file sharing between colleagues, clients, and third parties.
This reduces the risks posed by relying solely on email to share information with your colleagues.
It’s completely impractical these days to be tethered to a single desktop or laptop computer.
When you work in the old school on-premise server model, your data resides on your server, limiting your access to in-the-office only.
Your software is installed on your office desktop or laptop, which further limits when, where, and how you can work.
With a law firm cloud solution, you can work anytime, anywhere, on any device.
Your firm’s software, documents, and data are installed and reside on the private cloud, making your old server irrelevant.
Everyone in your firm can log into and work from a virtual desktop from any device or any location.
On that virtual desktop, they’ll find the practice management software and all of the other apps, files and folders, and email.
It’s as good as taking your practice and all of your software, files, and email with you wherever you go.
Working anytime, anywhere on any device, gives your law firm a significant advantage over your competition and allows you to manage cases better and faster.
These are a few of the reasons your practice should move to cloud-based practice management software.
And these are the reasons that hundreds of law firms have already moved to a cloud-based system, and why they haven’t looked back.
Desktop-based software isn’t dead by any means.
But, a growing number of personal injury practices are discovering the need for a more flexible option.
Request a Free Demo of CoCounselor, the only cloud-based law practice management software designed with personal injury lawyers in mind, to see just how much cloud-based billing software can improve your practice.