The goal of this article is to help you put some of your fears to rest about choosing the right cloud computing application to run your business over traditional software. There are so many debates going on about the security of hosted applications and much as some of the arguments might be valid, do they all apply to every business entity? Are you really making the right business decision for your mission critical applications by listening to chatter that may not apply to you?

Technology has been evolving in the last 100 years at a pace that has always caused fear and anxiety for mass adaptation. Do you remember when cell phones first came out and people were very cautious and reluctant to buy cell phones and use them. They could not imagine getting away from the big traditional phone sitting in the office or living room. Today there are a lot of businesses that do not have traditional land lines and run their entire business on a cell phone. How secure if your information if you lose your cell phone and every person we know cannot spend a minute without their cell phone.

Choosing the right platform for your mission critical applications requires simple common sense. The problems manifest when you don’t know or have the right questions to ask. I recently had a discussion with a client and she said “you don’t know how to ask what you don’t know”. I hope this helps you ask the right questions you need to ask yourself and the vendors you are evaluating.

Let’s talk about some of the concerns.

• I have lost control of my data. I can’t get my data if it is residing on someone else’s server.

When you are evaluating vendors, ask them how easy do they make it for you to walk away with your data should you choose to terminate the service at any time. Are they going to charge you any penalties? What format is your data going to be in? Do they give you complete control to backup your data on demand (instantly)?

• I can’t access my information if I am not on the internet.

As true as this statement is, how often are you really not connected to the internet? Mobile devices all have internet connections, allowing you to browse any web site at any time. You can go to an internet café in the absolute worst case scenario. In reality you are more at a risk with the server that you have in the office going down. Alternative access with cloud computing solution is going to be far less expensive than waiting for a computer technician to arrive and fix the problem for you. The biggest value of cloud computing is access anywhere, anytime to your valuable business data. A lot of the SaaS vendors synchronize with offline calendar systems. You can also export your key data such as contacts and calendars.

Ask your vendor if they provide an offline application that will allow you to perform your most important tasks while disconnected from the internet and automatically synchronizes the changes that you made offline when you reconnect to the internet.

• I am risking client confidentiality with data residing on another vendor’s servers.

Ask the vendor what security certifications the vendor has. The right choice in a cloud computing vendor will have certifications meeting many government, banking and other regulatory requirements. A cloud computing practice management company is no different than the computer technician you have supporting your systems today. They, ethically, are allowed to work on your behalf with confidential data, as referenced in the ABA’s ethics opinion 08-451, as an example. Ask where your data is being stored to ensure the jurisdiction does not present any jeopardy to any of your client data obligations. Plus a lot of the firms now store backups offsite with accredited backup vendors. Are you breaching client confidentiality with your data being stored offsite?

• Cloud Computing practice management companies are not reliable. Will the company still be in business next week?

These are very broad statements and I believe these statements apply just as much with traditional software vendors. The reality is: traditional software vendors get bought out or are sold to other vendors, the new management makes decisions that are right for them and sometimes software is sunset not really keeping your interest in mind. We see it happen all the time. Since cloud computing is a new concept still in adoption stage, the anxiety is heightened when the same level of anxiety applies even more to the high end traditional software vendors.

• Cloud computing practice management systems are not secure.

The reality is, more than 95% of all law firms would NEVER be able to afford or deploy the level of security in their own computer systems that are provided by choosing the RIGHT cloud computing practice management system. Find out where the data is stored. Is your data encrypted? Can your cloud computing vendor access your data at all, without you providing access? Also, KNOW that your cloud computing vendor can support auditing your data. Can your vendor support requests for investigative discovery? What are their audit levels? How can you control these? Ask any and all questions that you can think of that would be a future liability. If the vendor cannot address that, then you need to look for another vendor.

• It’s safer for me to do backups to prepare for disaster?

Ask the law firms in the Gulf Coast region, who have been victims of catastrophic storms the past few years, if they think they having their server on site is more than just a “feel good” level of physical security of their data….. ALL their data. Those in this region with cloud computing systems, continued business while others scrambled to recover for months.

Are your backups truly tested or do you assume that because backup complete and you are now safe? Have you run a test restore to see if your backups work? Do you store the data offsite at an accredited data storage facility? If you really do all of this…. how much is that costing you? The almost certainty is that most firms never employ the same level of disaster recovery and data protection that is provided by the RIGHT cloud computing practice management system.

• The ultimate question is: Can you confidently answer positively to every potential risk mentioned above with your traditional in-house practice management system?

Let us know what you think…