Taking your financial or practice management system into the cloud – knowledge overcomes fear

As appeared in LegalITInsider on September 12, 2022

Mat Jennings of Aderant debunks some of the common myths around moving your practice management system to the cloud in this step by step guide.

Many firms are currently undergoing a “tech refresh” right now, revamping their technology stacks. For law firms still using traditional on-premise desktop software, the decision to “go cloud” is no longer a question of “if” but is rather is a question of “when” and “how”. While few firms have moved their entire tech stack into the cloud, many are at least partially there. In Aderant’s most recent Business of Law and Technology Survey, payroll systems were reported as the number one cloud-based solutions at firms, with document management systems and Microsoft Office tied for second.

Aderant is seeing a radical change in interest of Expert Sierra, the cloud-based deployment of Expert, Aderant’s traditional on-premise practice management system. Today, 75% of net new financial and practice management system prospects are more interested in a cloud-based option. One year ago, only 25% of prospects were considering cloud.

However, when enthusiasm for the cloud meets reality, some firms slam on the brakes especially when it comes to replacing core technology like a financial/practice management system. According to the survey, many firms indicated the desire to move their financial/practice management to the cloud with 37% of survey respondents selecting it as the #1 technology they would like to move to the cloud, but only 17% of firms had done so. 33% said it would be a least a year until this cloud goal is met and a robust 30% said “not in the foreseeable future.” You can’t always get what you want, or can you?