{"id":6556,"date":"2018-09-04T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T06:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/?post_type=blog-post&p=6556"},"modified":"2024-08-15T16:26:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T15:26:54","slug":"save-money-cloud-computing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/","title":{"rendered":"How Law Firms Save Money With Cloud Computing"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems like there\u2019s always a new must-have in the tech world, making it difficult to discern true technological advancements from flash-in-the-pan distractions. <\/span>Cloud computing<\/span><\/a>, an undeniably more convenient and secure way to manage law practices, is becoming the norm for many businesses\u2014and has proven its value in our daily lives. We do everything\u2014from consuming entertainment to conducting banking\u2014through a virtually seamless stream of digital experiences in the cloud.<\/span><\/p>\n

As <\/span>PwC<\/span><\/a> puts it, \u201cCloud is the engine that can bring almost any business strategy to life. Where it used to mean only data centers and software applications, today it\u2019s all about growth. This can mean powering digital revenue streams, reimagining how you operate, engaging with customers in new ways, and the list goes on. Whatever your industry pain points or aspirations, cloud is part of the solution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But what about cost? Most software as a service (SaaS) providers charge law firms a monthly fee that can feel disruptive when the firm has already invested in on-premise software. However, the cloud actually wins in the cost category, in a variety of ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve outlined just a few of the ways cloud computing saves law firms money.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Lower hardware costs<\/h2>\n

Traditional on-premise servers are relatively expensive pieces of hardware that law firms must purchase before using on-premise software programs. Prices can vary widely depending on your firm’s needs\u2014a one-socket server with minimal performance would cost less than \u00a31,000, while a top-of-the-line enterprise solution for a larger firm would easily top \u00a315,000. A small firm might budget about \u00a33,000 for the server, its accoutrement, delivery, and installation, if needed.<\/p>\n

Cloud computing, on the other hand, doesn’t require hardware at all\u2014so this expenditure is reduced to \u00a30.<\/p>\n

2. Lower space costs<\/h2>\n

We’re focusing on saving pounds, right? We have to also consider the money you’re currently spending housing an on-premise server, either in your office or at a data centre. No matter where it’s stashed, there’s a cost associated to maintaining the area’s climate, as well as the square metres of space the server occupies that aren\u2019t being used for other business functions.<\/p>\n

Also, as you well know from your personal computer, tech hardware is intimately affected by temperature, so you may need to spend on heating or cooling costs, even when the office is empty.<\/p>\n

With the cloud, there\u2019s no in-house server to store, meaning you\u2019ll save money on utilities and space.<\/p>\n

3. Increased mobility<\/h2>\n

With an on-premise server, you’re a bit stuck in the office, aren’t you? When you or members of your team are out of the office\u2014they can’t access important documents, meaning your firm might come to a halt the second anyone leaves your physical office.<\/p>\n

Cloud computing is the opposite. It’s the difference between a television, DVD player, and a stack of “Downton Abbey” discs, and an iPad loaded with all of your favourite episodes, ready to go wherever you go. Firms earn money with this kind of fluidity that allows staff to check-in on work remotely.<\/p>\n

4. Zero upgrade costs<\/h2>\n

We already discussed hardware costs, but that was initial capital. You’ll need to continually invest in upgrades and new hardware when your current on-premise server becomes technologically obsolete.<\/p>\n

Cloud computing wins out in this area as well, since SaaS providers consistently implement software updates to constantly improve performance and functionality. All of this happens automatically and without any additional cost to your firm.<\/p>\n

5. Top-notch security<\/h2>\n

While some on-premise software enthusiasts have argued that private servers offer the highest level of security, the truth is murkier. Sure, you can easily see the physical location where your clients’ data is stored, but that doesn’t mean it’s safer. That’s kind of like assuming keeping piles of money under your mattress is safer than storing it in an FSCS-insured bank\u2014the bank invests heavily in safes, security guards, and other safeguards to keep your money secure.<\/p>\n

Cyber attacks on law firms have increased by over <\/span>60%<\/span><\/a> during the last two years, with the average breach now costing \u00a33.36 million. And hackers aren\u2019t just preying on small firms with lax security protocols\u201473 of the UK\u2019s top firms have been targeted.<\/span><\/p>\n

With cloud-based software, this investment in security is taken care of. SaaS providers take advantage of economies of scale to offer the strongest level of security for client data. For example, Clio spends hundreds of thousands of pounds each year on a dedicated security team, state-of-the-art technology, and strong process to limit the likelihood of an incident.<\/p>\n

Securing data is a net-positive financial endeavour for firms, since client or employee data leaks could mean big fines under the General Data Protection Regulation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Use the cloud, reduce tech costs<\/h3>\n

When it comes to cost, cloud computing wins over on-premise software options. Cloud computing saves your firm money on hardware and space, while also providing increased mobility and economies of scale that allow cloud-providers to invest extensively in security.<\/p>\n

Want to learn more about what the cloud can do for your firm? Read The Quick Guide to Cloud Computing for Law Firms<\/a>.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think about all costs associated with your law firm as you evaluate on-premise software or cloud-based software for legal practice management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":6561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,32],"tags":[366,367],"coauthors":[395],"class_list":["post-6556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-technology","tag-cloud-computing","tag-cloud-computing-for-law-firms","content_category-firm-performance","content_category-regulation-compliance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Law Firms Save Money With Cloud Computing | Clio UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Think about all costs associated with your law firm as you evaluate on-premise software or cloud-based software for legal practice management.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Law Firms Save Money With Cloud Computing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Think about all costs associated with your law firm as you evaluate on-premise software or cloud-based software for legal practice management.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Clio UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-04T06:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-15T15:26:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/09\/Cost-benefits-cloud-computing.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Teresa Matich\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/09\/Cost-benefits-cloud-computing.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@teresamatich\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Teresa Matich\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Law Firms Save Money With Cloud Computing | Clio UK","description":"Think about all costs associated with your law firm as you evaluate on-premise software or cloud-based software for legal practice management.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Law Firms Save Money With Cloud Computing","og_description":"Think about all costs associated with your law firm as you evaluate on-premise software or cloud-based software for legal practice management.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/","og_site_name":"Clio UK","article_published_time":"2018-09-04T06:00:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-15T15:26:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/09\/Cost-benefits-cloud-computing.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Teresa Matich","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/09\/Cost-benefits-cloud-computing.png","twitter_creator":"@teresamatich","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Teresa Matich","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/","name":"How Law Firms Save Money With Cloud Computing | Clio UK","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/09\/Cost-benefits-cloud-computing.png","datePublished":"2018-09-04T06:00:16+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-15T15:26:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/4243825d71e1869ac6d28a798de1f377"},"description":"Think about all costs associated with your law firm as you evaluate on-premise software or cloud-based software for legal practice management.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/09\/Cost-benefits-cloud-computing.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/09\/Cost-benefits-cloud-computing.png","width":1440,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/save-money-cloud-computing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Law Firms Save Money With Cloud Computing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/","name":"Clio UK","description":"Your trusted resource for the latest ideas on running a more efficient, profitable law firm.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/4243825d71e1869ac6d28a798de1f377","name":"Teresa Matich","description":"Teresa Matich is an experienced legal tech writer and editor who is passionate about helping legal professionals learn more law firm management, law firm marketing, and more. After attending the University of British Columbia, she worked as an office clerk at a well-respected law firm in Vancouver while building her writing career, absorbing a wealth of knowledge about the legal industry and legal practice. With over eight years writing about legal practice management, law firm billing, and more, she has edited and been a long time writer for the award-winning Clio blog, where she's written dozens of articles about law firm marketing, organization, and everything a lawyer would need to start a law firm. In addition, she has written for publications such as GP Solo, Legal Technology Today, and Above the Law. Finally, she's interviewed dozens of practicing lawyers and leading legal industry thinkers, including Preet Bharara and Bryan Stevenson. Teresa's talks and conferences ClioCon 2024. The Centralized Firm: Powered by Clio ClioCon 2022. The Benefits of a Legal Blog ClioCon 2022. Reisman Spotlight: Community Impact & Community Champion ALPS In Brief Podcast. Where Legal Tech is Heading Featured articles JSTOR. Can You Hear Me Now? Client Communications in the 21st Century","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/teresa-matich-716bb245","https:\/\/x.com\/teresamatich"],"jobTitle":"Staff Editor & Content Strategist","worksFor":"Clio","url":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/blog\/author\/teresamatich\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6556"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}