The coronavirus outbreak is affecting law firms in profound ways and represents an inflection point for how law firms survive unplanned disruptions. Across the United States, school systems are announcing closures and businesses are asking employees to work from home. The economic effects of these disruptions, especially on small and midsize firms, can be significant.

Similarly, natural disasters, like the tornadoes that tore through Tennessee last month, displace people from their homes and workplaces. Workers are forced to find alternate locations with electricity and a Wi-Fi connection; or businesses scramble to restore on-premise technology by moving computing infrastructure to higher ground, figuratively speaking, in a short period of time. Natural disasters can cost law firms, not necessarily from physical damage, but from a cessation of business functions for several days.

Law firms that adopt a complete cloud strategy for the major functions of their business: communication and collaboration, document and client management, human resources, marketing, litigation management, document review, billing, and accounting, are able to create a more viable business continuity plan.

With a carefully planned, integrated strategy to host critical business systems in the cloud, firms become much less susceptible to disruptions from events like natural disasters or pandemics. Because data and systems that are vital for the firms' operations can be accessed securely anywhere there is an internet connection, firms are not faced with severe business disruption and loss of revenue when employees cannot physically come into the office. In fact, cloud-enabled firms can be more proactive than other businesses in minimizing risk to their employees by acting quickly to issue stay-at-home directives to their employees.

To plan for complete cloud adoption and migration, start by choosing a trusted vendor. Cloud vendors must be vetted to ensure conformity with the stringent ABA cybersecurity and privacy standards, and others like HIPPA depending on specific practice areas, that a law firm must uphold. Offerings must meet the specific needs of the firm in regard to cost, data capacity demands and scalability. Additionally, the various cloud technologies that a firm uses must fit together in a holistic solution that works for all departments and employees. Before purchasing and implementing cloud services, consider how your firm will use each service to meet business goals. Proper integration plans should be built like a roadmap and include comprehensive user testing and roll-out programs to ensure end user adoption.

Then, prepare staff. plan for team training sessions and adapt current business policies and procedures to the cloud technology. Don't just make training available; make it a requirement for all firm staff. Only through proper training will your firm fully benefit from the cloud.

Finally, migrate securely. Migrate over a secure internet connection to mitigate potential risks. Allow for brief downtime during the migration.

Events like pandemics and natural disasters remind us that building a technology infrastructure in the cloud is like building on a proverbial rock. When the unavoidable occurs, save your business from avoidable disruptions, costs and logistical burdens by moving to the cloud now.

Phillip Hampton is the founder and chairman of LOGICFORCE, a legal technology consultancy that improves the profitability and operations of law firms through the strategic application of technology.