What’s the best cloud for modern law firms?

There are a few different ways to deploy your cloud computing services but we will focus on the main three options for deployment: public, private, and hybrid clouds. These all provide similar benefits so choosing your deployment method will depend on your personal business needs.

Public cloud

This is now becoming the most common way of deploying your cloud computing, your whole infrastructure will be located on the premise of a specialised cloud computing company.

The services and storage are owned and operated by a third-party provider and are delivered over the internet. You will share the same storage, hardware, and network with other cloud ‘tenants’, with accessibility available from anywhere you have an internet connection.

Public clouds often include web-based emails, online storage and office applications, as well as the usual storage and development environments. The most popular public cloud services include Microsoft, Google and iCloud.

Due to the large infrastructure and offerings, public clouds typically have massive amounts of space available, which is perfect for scalability.

Private cloud

Private clouds are hosted resources used exclusively by a single organisation, either hosted at your organisation’s physical location or by a third-party provider. But unlike public clouds, you are the only one with access to the services, with firewall protection.

These services are often used by public sector organisations, financial institutions, legal sector clients and private organisations looking for enhanced control.

An additional benefit to private clouds is the control offered compared with public clouds, making it easier to restrict access to valuable or private assets, whilst being able to move data and applications where you want, whenever you want.

As it isn’t controlled by an outside vendor there is no risk of sudden changes that might disrupt the company’s entire infrastructure, nor be affected by the provider’s system downtime.

Hybrid cloud

A less popular option is the hybrid cloud, combining the on-premise infrastructure of private clouds with the flexibility of public clouds to deliver the greater advantages of both.

You can use the public platform for high-volume but lowsecurity needs such as email, and the private clouds for sensitive, business-critical information like financials.