Bringing Law Firm Management Into The Future: Thomson Reuters Elite Moves 3E To The Cloud

Successfully running a law firm takes more than just superior legal skills. At the end of the day, a law firm is a business just like any other company. Mastering both the business and legal sides of the equation is an increasingly difficult balancing act. Thankfully, technology has come to the rescue, with software solutions that help law firms conquer the business side of things.

For over 70 years, Thomson Reuters Elite has been a leader in creating enterprise business management tools for law firms, first with Enterprise®, the company’s legacy solution that started it all, and then with 3E®, which pushed the envelope even further. With 3E, Elite took enterprise business management to new levels, allowing law firms to streamline their operations, boost efficiency, and grow along with the changes in the industry.

Now, Elite is changing the game yet again by moving 3E to the cloud. Of course, they’ll continue to support their groundbreaking on-premises software. However, unveiling a cloud-based version of 3E opens up a new world of possibilities, both for Enterprise users who need to make the switch to 3E and for firms who are looking to make the jump to the cloud for their financial management needs.

The Benefits of the Cloud

More and more firms are making the move to the cloud, and for good reason. Particularly for mid-sized and smaller firms, the cloud offers a host of benefits that make cloud-based products more attractive than traditional on-premises software. Compared to their Biglaw counterparts, smaller firms tend to be more constrained when it comes to support staff and budgets to invest in infrastructure and things like additional servers.

Moving to cloud-based products removes the burden of having to amass capital to invest in hardware infrastructure and frees up staff to work on other projects. Cloud products delivered via a software as a service (SaaS) model delegate that investment and maintenance to expert outside vendors. Your SaaS provider comes with its own data servers and network security team, meaning that cloud-based software can greatly reduce your expenditures in those areas, making software implementation easier and faster. Unless you’re a firm that has already significantly invested in an on-premises data center with the necessary network security, making the move to the cloud can be highly beneficial.

Security is another huge consideration when it comes to cloud migration. The cloud has incredibly sophisticated security mechanisms built in from day one. Elite has partnered with Microsoft® Azure®, which, like other major cloud providers, spends over $1 billion each year on security research and development and has a massive team devoted to network security. Law firms simply can’t come close to meeting that level of investment in security. Azure data security centers are built to withstand both cyberattacks and natural disasters. When you use a cloud-based product like 3E that’s in the Microsoft cloud, you get to take advantage of all those benefits without the prohibitively huge investment it would take to get them on your own.

What Moving to the Cloud Means

Understandably, the first question on many users’ minds when it comes to making a change is always the same — how is the new product different? In the case of 3E in the Cloud, the answer is pretty simple — it’s really not. And for users, that’s a great thing.

From your perspective as a user, using 3E in the Cloud won’t really feel any different than using the on-premises 3E. Of course, there are a few super-technical differences, like where the databases are hosted and managed or how authentication works, but none of those affect how 3E operates in your day-to-day business life. Elite has engineered 3E so that they can have multiple deployments of the same product, using the same logic, just packaged in different ways.

Most firms are already in the cloud in one way or another, and those who aren’t will be soon. The cloud is the future of legal technology. Between the decreased investment in on-premises data centers and the increased assurances of network security, cloud products are a win-win. Add to that the fact that 3E in the Cloud functions the same as on-premises 3E, and making the move just makes sense. With 3E in the Cloud from Thomson Reuters Elite, it’s never been easier to manage the business side of running a law firm, meaning you can focus on what you do best: serving your clients.