Losing Data When Cloud Vendor Folds Is a Real Risk. But It’s Also Avoidable

Pillsbury Global Sourcing & Technology Transactions partner Brian Bodor said of losing data in the shuffle, “It is a 100% valid concern.” Bodor is not alone. According to the 2020 LTN Law Firm Tech Survey, 45% of law firm respondents said concerns about what happens to data if a vendor goes out of business were their largest worry regarding cloud storage.

While Bodor agreed law firms’ data retention concerns highlighted genuine business continuity and attorney-client privilege risks, he noted that cloud storage poses other larger threats. Indeed, LTN’s survey found 65% of respondents were concerned about having less control over their data. Additionally, 55% said they were concerned about the cloud’s security, which was closely followed by 53% of respondents that said cloud storage didn’t provide enough cost savings to be worth it.

To eliminate that uncertainty, Bodor noted law firms can add clauses to their service agreements clarifying ownership of their data on a cloud platform and how they can collect their data from the provider.

“In any good arrangement with a cloud provider, you should always be ensuring you have access to your data. To me, that’s the golden rule in these agreements,” Bodor said.

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