P2P

59 I L T A N E T . O R G • Improved security and disaster recovery: it's easier to manager security and implement a comprehensive disaster recovery plan for centralized infrastructure. • Better vendor support: the work in creating centralized infrastructure often includes reducing the number of vendors, simplifying support. Despite those significant advantages, the user experience in specific applications likely hasn't changed significantly. That's even considering the first two big moves to SaaS that most firms make: • Moving from on-premises Exchange to Office 365 for email. Ironically, this is done so well, that the ideal result is that users don't notice. • Moving document management to the cloud: unless you switch systems, this is really an update (admittedly a very challenging and time consuming one). The next step involves focusing on all the other specific applications running in law firms and moving them towards genuine SaaS solutions. Applications There are several considerations when moving law firm applications to the cloud: • Genuine technological leaps come from authentic Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, rather than merely shifting existing software to the cloud. • Customization can initially be more challenging because of the nascent stage of many legal-specific SaaS applications. • Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), however, offer a more straightforward way for long- term integration. Cloud vs. SaaS A cloud application simply implies software hosted on cloud servers. You can migrate existing on-premises software to the cloud, transforming it into a cloud application. A significant number of financial management systems in large law firms are "cloud" applications, but these are typically traditional client/server applications that have been repurposed for cloud hosting. There are reasons this makes sense, for example, to reduce IT burden on the firm. But don't be fooled into thinking that this is making a leap to advanced technology. SaaS is a specific subset of cloud: software that was designed to run in the cloud. It's built on newer technology that leverages the benefits of being in the cloud, like being accessible from any device with an Internet connection. SaaS applications are typically built using a microservices architecture, which takes larger applications and breaks them down into smaller independent components. This approach makes SaaS applications inherently more scalable, easier to maintain and update than traditional software. Customization Ironically, the level of customization available in SaaS offerings sometimes pales in comparison to what is available with on-premises software. Some of this is due to where SaaS applications are in their evolution of development, particularly in legal, but it can also come from standardizing an application for one-size-fits-all. With on-premises software, it's easier to have custom implementations specific to one firm. When moving to SaaS, its crucial to verify that your needs are really met because it may be more challenging to extend the system

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