Last month, at the inaugural Clio Cloud Conference in Chicago, I gave a presentation on new tips & tricks to running a paperless law office. Because of the nature of keeping a paperless office environment, it is absolutely essential to have a rock solid backup plan. I thought that this concept was a no-brainer. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I polled the audience to confirm that they all had comprehensive backup plans, and only one or two hands went up in the whole room. I thought to myself: “Maybe these people just aren’t paying attention to me, or didn’t understand my question, and that’s why hardly any of them acknowledged to having good data backup procedures in place.” I had to rethink that, though, after Sam Glover raised the question later that afternoon, when we were all unwinding after the conference.
Let this be my plea, then, to all my colleagues (regardless of whether your offices are 100% paperless) to make it a top priority to address the issue of data backup in your own offices, and with your staff.
Are you complaining that it’s not billable? Well, think about this: If your office is burglarized, struck by fire or flood or your computer or server just crashes without warning, what will it cost you? If you’re that concerned about losing billable hours to shore up your data security, outsource it. Personally, I could never give up that amount of control and responsibility to somebody else, but maybe you’re different.
This isn’t a how-to article about data backup. There’s plenty that’s been written about that. If you need a start, read this article I wrote for the August/September issue of New Jersey Lawyer Magazine (at the end of the article I list several resources to get you started with a good backup plan). For the bargain price of $10, checkout David Sparks’s e-book “Paperless: A MacSparky Field Guide.”
According to Clio CEO Jack Newton, the percentage of Clio users who take advantage of its data escrow feature with Amazon Web Services is dreadful (my word, not Jack’s). Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t trust Clio, but for less than $1 a month, I have peace of mind knowing that all of the client–matter data I have in Clio (which is just about EVERYTHING) is completely backed up in a separate location, and I can access that data in the event of an emergency.
Is it perfect? Probably not, but isn’t it worth a measly $1 each month to know that you’re prepared for the next disaster?
Photo credit: Gamesalad
