The good news for everyone is that there's a new way to handle your law firm's documents that's not only safe from coffee stains and rain storms, it can also streamline workflow and allow you to access, copy, and edit documents from absolutely anywhere. All you need to do is store them on a secure cloud-based platform that can serve the documents to you through any device or computer with internet access.

1) Freeing Up Storage Space

The cloud isn't a single place or even a specific cluster of places. Instead, it's a loose network of remote servers and data centers that connect to the internet with no specific location. When you store something on the cloud, it becomes available through the internet but does not take up any local storage. Stop and think about that for a moment to realize the implications. How much of your company's combined computer storage is filled with documents, file folders full of documents, copies of documents, and archives of old documents? Simply by transferring all your digital paperwork into cloud storage, you can free up all that local space for other important data like analytics, new software, or just active memory to work with while downloading and uploading files from the cloud.

The reasoning is surprisingly similar for those of you still working primarily with paper documents. Consider the boxes, in- and out-boxes, filing cabinets, and volume of physical storage taken up by keeping, organizing, and archiving your paperwork. By scanning all of this mess and managing on the cloud instead, your office space could be given to more desks, art, or even just boxes of more actively useful office supplies.

2) Available from Anywhere

Swinging by the office to pick up some paperwork used to be the way of the world but somehow in the age of mobile access, many companies are still working this way. Whether you're dealing with making copies of a blank original or fetching a specific copy filled out for a purpose, there's no need to go to your documents when they can just as easily come to you.

Documents stored on the cloud are everywhere there is internet and can be accessed from any computer or even mobile device on the web. The freedom this gives your employees cannot be overstated. They can close deals on the spot with the paperwork readily available, they can adapt to unexpected circumstances in the field with access to all potentially relevant documents, and they can even work from home.

Cloud storage is one of the best things that has ever happened to cybersecurity because even if your local network is attacked, the documents you need will still be both safe and available. Join us next time for the second half of this two-part series where we'll cover backups and copies, natural disasters, and malware recovery. For more great tips to streamline and digitise your law firm, contact us today!