It is often assumed that the work of an attorney and paperwork are entwined, but there is no reason you can’t rid the paper and automate your law practice. You can actually make your life easier, your work more efficient and productive, while better serving your clients by doing so. By alleviating administrative task through the use of modern day technology, you will even cut down your expenditures by removing all the unnecessary costs related to the use of paper and ink. Let’s explore some of the reasons why it’s so beneficial for your law firm to go paperless.
Collaborate
Shifting your office to the cloud means it’s never been easier for you to collaborate on matters. All your documentation is online and available from anywhere, anytime, any device, and all team members can work off of the same document at their own convenience. And what’s more, is that it is all stored blanketed in several layers of security levels. You can even save time when searching through the documents by the use of technology and robust search tools helping whittle down to exactly what you need to see. It’s not a question of just scanning everything to be held online. You need to have the proper tools in place so you can take full advantage of the efficiency and effectiveness that comes along with a virtual documentation storage cabinet and automating your law practice.
Client expectations
In this modern day and age, as technology continues to evolve rapidly most clients are now relying on their services to be online. All your clients will have gone digital in almost every other aspect of their lives, so why would they not find an automated law firm convenient too? The best way to retain your clients is to keep up with the times, offer them client portals to independently process payments online, and to view the progress of their matters being worked on. It is a standard expectation that needs a cloud-based solution for effectiveness.
Security
When dealing with clients private and confidential details, attorneys face having to deal with strict codes of ethics in ensuring that sensitive information is held responsibly. That’s why it’s so important to keep the information secure. Clients are not always comfortable with the thought of all their personal details printed out and sitting in files for anyone and everyone to access. The point is, paperwork should not be managed in stacks of paper, it should be on a secure cloud-based platform that holds state of the art security standards to protect you from a liability and help your client’s confidence in their sensitive information being dealt with responsibly.
Productivity
Non-billable administrative tasks should be minimized as much as possible to maximize profitability and efficiency. When there’s so much documentation involved in the legal industry, you shouldn’t have to worry about searching through files and files of documents when everything can be searched online at the click of a button. You could save potentially several hours on such mundane tasks. The firm could spend those hours building their client relationships and drawing in more deals. Online paperwork offers an organized virtual legal office that keeps track of everything, and assists in the long-term success of the organization.
Organization
Digital files can be categorized into several types of folders such as client, matter, type, etc. When you organize paperwork in files, you end up placing the documents in a single category such as by client name. When you computerize all your documentation, you can place it in different categories and sort the documents within that category so that all your staff is consistent with reaching for the documents according to their personal search criteria.
Storage
With a virtual office you have the potential to have unlimited office space for filing documents, and no longer have to fight the problems associated with a cluttered and small office storage space. By placing everything on the cloud so that all team members can collaborate with ease, you can also purchase cloud storage that often offers a data back up service too. This will allow you to store documents securely and without the fear of overflowing.
Conclusion
Of course, let’s not forget how important it is for the environment too. By going paperless it reflects well on your firm from an environmental point of view. It’s always considered good to be going green! There is no need to be drowning in a sea of legal papers when there are tools available that will help your firm in all areas of the organization through the simple solution of switching to a cloud-based platform for managing documents.