Backup and Document Management Solutions For Your Law Firm

Are You Using The Right Backup and Document Management Solution For Your Law Firm?

Data integrity and data retention are vital for successful law firms today. Due to the nature of litigation, you must keep your client files for a very long time. You must ensure that they are always accessible, searchable and secure. This is why choosing the right Backup Solution and Document Management system are so important for firms like yours.

What Should You Look For In A Backup Solution?

Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) requirements vary from firm to firm. But there are 5 key features that any legal practice should look for…

1. Hardware Compatibility. Your BDR Solution should offer the compatibility you need across all of your appliances. It should also provide flexibility for your users.

2. 24x7x365 Technical Support. Disasters occur any time of the day or night. So you need a BDR solution that’s backed by a provider who will be there for you no matter what time of day or day of the week it is.

3. Redundancy In The Cloud. You need more than just a backup onsite. If you can’t get into your office, then you can’t access your backup. Your BDR solution should leverage the Cloud for additional security and recoverability. It must have the capability to keep things running when disaster strikes.

4. Proven Recovery Time Objective (RTO). Downtime is costly. So it’s critical that you can recover your data quickly and easily. Look for a solution and IT provider who can promise that RTOs are measured in minutes, not hours or days.

5. Is Cost-Effective & Meets Your Changing Requirements. You have to watch every dollar your law firm spends. The BDR Solution your IT support company provides should meet your needs while not breaking the bank. And look for a provider who can scale your BDR solution to meet your changing requirements.

How Does The Cloud Provide For The Best Backup & Disaster Recovery?

Business continuity after a disaster continues to be a significant concern for attorneys. But with cloud-based data storage, you can keep your law firm running if your onsite data is destroyed.

A system that backs up your data to the Cloud in real-time provides the recovery you need from data disasters. With the right managed backup system, your data will be recoverable whenever you need it.

With a cloud backup, data is backed up to a remote, cloud-based server. The data is stored in, and accessible from, multiple distributed and connected resources that comprise a cloud.

• You and your staff can remotely access services using a secure login application to back up files from your computers to the online storage server using an encrypted, secure connection.
• Enterprise-grade cloud backup solutions typically add essential features such as archiving and disaster recovery. Archiving features will satisfy any legal requirements for data retention.
• As part of your disaster recovery plan, remote, off-site cloud storage ensures that your data remains safe if your local data is affected by a disaster such as a fire, flood, cyberattack or accidental deletion by an employee.
• Files and data are automatically saved to the cloud backup service on a regular, scheduled basis. The information can also be automatically backed up any time that changes are made.
• To restore a cloud backup, all you need is the IT service company’s specific application or web browser interface.

You want a cloud backup that offers the combination of fast, reliable backups and robust recovery solutions. Look for a solution that can recover from the Cloud in a few minutes.

With an enterprise-based backup to the Cloud you’ll:

• Protect your IT system from significant disruptions.
• Get your law firm back up and running in the event of a disaster.
• Have testing of your backups and recovery regularly as part of routine site maintenance.
• Receive backups hourly to a secure remote data center without human intervention; with logging and alerting that notifies about not just failures but on the absence of success (a fundamental distinction).
• Recover files and complete systems for periods going back days, weeks and months.
• Keep your staff working from anywhere they can access the Internet.

Your Backup Solution should be simple and effective. It should be cost-effective but ensure that your law firm will survive when a disaster strikes.

What Should You Look For In A Document Management Solution?

You must organize, manage and search vast amounts of digital data today. This requires a Document Management Solution with a modern cloud architecture designed to support the unique needs of professional work product management.

We like iManage. We have a lot of experience with this document management software (we don’t sell or install it, but we do support it). It’s an example of what a Document Management Solution should provide.

• Users must be able to work effectively on high or low bandwidth connections, and even when disconnected. It must optimize user experience when working with large files, and be fully secured and backed up across a network of worldwide data centers.
• Your users must be able to manage and collaborate on documents and emails from anywhere on any device. Look for a solution with a single, mobile-first user interface that provides a consistent experience across all types of phones, tablets and desktops. And look for secure cloud file sharing to streamline how you work with internal and external stakeholders.
• Innovative search capabilities that use the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI). You must be able to get information at your fingertips and gain insight into your documents, contracts and data to streamline your document management. Look for a document management solution that has the power to classify, extract and understand your documents with AI.
• Need-to-know security that protects sensitive information from phishing and internal threats and supports ethical walls and client audit requests. Today’s law firms face new and sophisticated forms of security threats that require innovative technology to protect sensitive information and help them meet increasing client demands and regulatory requirements. Look for a document management solution with ethical walls that restrict access to sensitive data so that it’s only accessible on a need-to-know basis.

Did you find this article helpful? If so, visit our Blog. We post new articles on a regular basis that will keep you up-to-date on IT news and solutions.

Jason Simons

ICS is a Texas-based 40-year-old technology company specializing in Managed IT, VoIP, Video Conferencing and Video Surveillance solutions for US and International businesses. ICS has over 4000 regional installations and specializes in multi-site businesses between 25 and 2500 employees. ICS’s customers enjoy the experience of ICS’s Total Care program which provides clients flat fee services with obsolescence and growth protection. Whether a customer elects to deploy their IT, Video Conferencing or VoIP in the cloud or on the customer’s premise, ICS can provide a full turn-key solution for our clients under one flat monthly fee.