Has your mom ever asked you, “If all your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do it too?” If we changed that question a little and asked about the adoption of cloud systems, your answer to that question might be yes.
Many people are now taking the leap from on-premise systems to cloud and hybrid systems. For example, iManage, a cloud-based DM used by top law firms, saw a 200% increase in cloud customers quarter over quarter in 2016. This past November, the 2016 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing survey showed that 34% of survey respondents purchased cloud in the last year, while 25% planned on purchasing cloud in the next 12 months.
Why are we seeing this change? Well, we are definitely on the side of this shift coming as cloud has proven to be secure and cost effective. We are also seeing cloud providers, like Microsoft, address the myths involved with cloud storage. Most people who are skeptical of cloud believe that they can only access their data online. Depending on the cloud service or application you use, you can access your data offline. Another myth that has been busted is keeping data on-premises is safer than keeping on a cloud server. Unless you have the resources to have a full-time security staff, your data will likely be as safe or safer in the cloud. Cloud providers are experts in data security and have trained staff to help keep your data safe. Many think that a move to cloud is an all or nothing deal. Truth is, that hybrid solutions (where you use both on-premises and cloud storage) are increasingly popular among businesses. Based on business demands, this might be the best solution for your particular needs. Maybe, you want to keep your archive in the cloud to free up on-premise space. That is now a simple reality.
SeeUnity provides a way to get the best of both worlds with its Echo Content Synchronization solution. Echo will allow your users to publish, archive, or bi-directionally synchronize between repositories. In the case of archiving content using hybrid systems, you can synchronize your archived data in the cloud, while still maintaining an on-premises repository of record.
You can see that cloud providers are proving their worth and more businesses are embracing the adoption of cloud. To read about Microsoft’s response to cloud myths (which inspired this blog), click here.