Cloud software can provide a lot of capabilities that traditional firm management software cannot compete with. Mobile apps, powerful integrations, and the ability to seamlessly access from outside of the office to name a few. But all these features come at a cost – you must trust a third party to hold your data.

With traditional local software you are in control of your security. Whether or not this is more secure depends on you. With Cloud software you must trust that cloud providers are diligent when it comes to their security. Cloud providers have a lot more resources to focus on security, but are also much bigger targets for cybercriminals.

The most interesting piece of the puzzle to me – and maybe to you as well as a lawyer is where liability lies with respect to data breaches of cloud software. As of today, data owners (law firms) are still the party responsible for data breaches even if they are using a cloud provider that is the data holder. Your clients are entrusting your firm with their confidential data and will look to you in the event of a data breach. It is your responsibility to perform due diligence when selecting vendors to trust with that data.

If maintaining control of your uptime & security with an on-premise software is important to your firm, schedule a free demo of ClientWare, an on-premise software that has been trusted by North Carolina Attorney’s for over 20 years to manage client & case information, track time & billing, manage calendars and more.