The legal industry has experienced a significant digital transformation as law firms leverage new technological solutions to change their operational models.

Emerging technologies like legal data analytics and artificial intelligence have seen lawyers reshape how they manage finances, market their legal services, practice law, and most importantly, build long lasting relationships with new clients.

Specifically, cloud-based legal technologies have revamped how law firms onboard new clients and employees. Cloud adoption comes in handy, especially since 25% of companies have missed out on lucrative business deals due to law firms’ slow client on boarding process, a survey by UK-based Encompass Corporation has revealed.

In addition, the same survey revealed the following facts:

• 56% of the survey’s participants said that the client on boarding process in the UK legal sector had fallen short of expectations.

• More than a third (35%) of participants admitted that law firms’ client on boarding processes are frustrating due to the large amount of documentation required to onboard new clients.

• 44% feel that the UK legal sector lags behind other industries in online service delivery and digital transformation initiatives.

• 56% of new clients are more likely to choose a law firm that utilises technology, such as cloud computing, to onboard new clients.

In light of these revelations, Wayne Johnson, CEO at Encompass Corporation, said that the results “make it clear that law firms are struggling to keep pace with increasing consumer demands for more efficient and faster services.”

The answer to this problem lies in digital transformation and specifically, automation, adopting the appropriate cloud-based legal tech platforms to automate client on boarding can help law firms enhance the overall client experience and streamline the entire process.

For example, cloud technology solutions can enable quick and accurate due diligence without keeping lawyers and other professionals in the legal sector from being productive.

The legal sector in most European countries is witnessing accelerated digitisation efforts as law firms seek to replace manual processes with automated solutions. While the sector continues lagging, there have been tremendous advancements in the use of automation tools for tasks like contracts.

But law firms must invest more in cloud-based technologies to automate repetitive, manual, and laborious processes to catch up with other sectors.

“Cloud adoption can automate 23% of a lawyer’s tasks since 37% of the professional time is spent on repetitive and mundane tasks that can be automated using cloud technologies.”

Are client portals secure?

Many businesses carry sensitive data, but when dealing with highly personal information regarding legal cases any breach or potential breach can cause long lasting reputational damage and anxiety.

Legal firms need to be completely assured that their sensitive client data will be safe within the client portal.

Client portals offer the opportunity to share files and documents with ease, but is this software any more secure than traditional email?

Most client portals like Clio or HighQ are a web based software which can be accessed through an app or any internet enabled device. Emails can be hacked even with the most stringent of measures, all a prospective hacker needs is one point of weakness , for an example an employee clicking a link that looks genuine.

When using a client portal all communications are encrypted with the portal becoming a part of your firm’s case management system, meaning the same cybersecurity policies that are protecting your firm’s infrastructure are also protecting your client portal.

When choosing a private cloud managed service provider, you can be insured that your infrastructure is managed, upgraded and maintained by a team of highly skilled engineers reducing the chance of a breach dramatically.

Disaster recovery policies are in place as standard along with business continuity procedures and fail overs to secondary data centres in differing geographical locations if necessary.

Getting started with Cloud Geeni

If your legal firm is looking to under go a digital revisioning of your IT infrastructure, Cloud Geeni have been providing industry leading, fully managed private cloud to the legal sector for over three decades.

From migration of legacy systems to implementing virtual working, the team at Cloud Geeni can offer advice and guidance on your firm’s next best steps.

To start achieving operational excellance with the cloud, schedule a consultancy call below.