Data management is crucial in all industry sectors. It provides valuable information about your customers, products, financial activities, strategy, employees, and partners. You can’t afford to misplace, lose, damage, or corrupt these pieces of information. The consequences might not only be disastrous, but they can also carry out legal responsibilities. Consequently, for law firms, data management is not just a matter of business reputation. It’s the very essence of their expertise. Protecting clients lies in the nature of their business. Therefore data management takes an especially imperative meaning for lawyers. Their position makes them, nevertheless, a primary target for hackers.
Keep data management at the heart of your firm
Why it matters?
Data defines your business. As a lawyer, data are at the center of the cases you study, you have completed, and you keep as a reference. Data are not just part of day-to-day activities; they make your job possible. Consequently, there is no denying that in a law firm, the staff needs to be educated to the basics of digital security from Day One. Phishing emails, password selection, and unsecured websites are factors of risks that your team can’t ignore. Indeed, a mistake can be financially costly, but it could also significantly affect the reputation of your law firm. Indeed, clients turn to lawyers when they need protection. The last thing they expect is having their confidential data exposed in the process of defending their rights.
You need to be fully hacker-proof
Admittedly, there’s only so much you can achieve through training. Making sure your employees are reliable and aware of the digital risks can only protect your data so much. You need to ensure your IT network and systems can sustain hacking attacks. Dedicated IT consulting and strategy services can go a long way in keeping your business secure and monitoring unusual activities. Ultimately, the hacking industry is constantly innovating and trying out new approaches. Your IT solution needs to be ready to face their efforts at all times.
Maintaining access to previous cases is essential
In a law firm, collaboration, research, and analysis of current and previous cases is a daily occurrence. For your team, there is no denying that having access to a platform where current and past files can be stored safely can be a game-changer. A dedicated cloud computing solution that guarantees constant access to your coworkers, wherever they are – as a lawyer, you are likely to travel to meet your clients or go to court – makes data-based work manageable and effective. Additionally, using cloud computing can also provide a recovery solution in case of technical issues, as all information can be saved in the cloud instead of on the device.
Keeping your clients in the loop
Last, but not least, even law firms need to work with a marketing team to collect customer data. The EU regulation for data privacy and right to forget – GDPR – has highlighted the need for a transparent data collection policy. Law firms are expected to offer customers trustworthy handling of their confidential data, from how data is collected to how it is used.
Law firms and digital data may not seem at first like a logical connection. However, your responsibility towards your clients and your teams extend to secure, adequate, accessible and transparent management of all business data, designed not only to boost your reputation but also to support day-to-day tasks.