Technology Ain’t What It Used To Be

Our firm’s technology survives fire and hubris all in the same week

By: Kevin R. West

Tuesday, 11 AM. An explosion in midtown Toronto takes out a key transformer and a large section of the city loses its power. Our firm’s off-site server loses power. Without power, we cannot access our server. Fortunately, SkyLaw LLP has a hybrid technology system, where we use our server only for record-keeping and precedents but we use cloud-computing for our primary e-mail and virtually all other aspects of our practice. Despite a minor disaster, we don’t miss a beat. Our cloud-based platform is fully functional and we have a back-up of our server available in our office, even when the server is offline. It wasn’t until Wednesday morning when the power was restored that our server came back to life.

Thursday, 10 AM. I am in Halifax co-presenting with our student Lisa Silver Slayter at a Canadian Bar Association Conference on Cloud Computing: “Get Your Head in the Clouds!” My view is that law firms should be taking advantage of cloud-computing to provide more efficient legal services for clients. I talk about how our firm uses Microsoft Office 365 for e-mail and document management. One of the key benefits of a cloud-based platform like Office 365 is that it almost never goes down (I knock on the wooden podium, invoking the ancient cure for jinxes). “We are big fans of Office 365 because it is so reliable,” I say (knocking on wood, again). While Lisa is speaking she turns to me and asks, “In the two years since we have been using Office 365, how often has our email been down?” “Never!” I proudly proclaim (knocking even more rapidly on the podium).

Friday, 9 AM. I am enjoying a leisurely morning as I get ready to check out of the hotel. I’m curious as to why I have not yet received any of the e-mails from clients that I had been expecting. Then I get an e-mail on my phone from Michael Lee, from his Gmail account to my Gmail account. “Office 365 is down, I’m following it on twitter,” he writes. “I swear I knocked,” I write back. The outage lasts only 45 minutes and Microsoft says it was a result of “routine maintenance that went awry”.  So far they haven’t accused me of jinxing them.

When the power goes out, I wait for Toronto Hydro to do its thing. When our e-mail goes down, I continue with my leisurely breakfast knowing that the best and brightest at Microsoft are on the case. It used to be that law firms had to call in the IT guys to fuss with the on-site servers hosting their email, just like it used to be that businesses had their own generators for electricity. Now everyone uses the grid for electricity and will soon use cloud computing for tech services.  No one suggests that we should go back to the days when every firm had its own generator. The days of cursing at outdated e-mail servers stacked up in a closet are numbered.

Sources:
http://www.680news.com/2013/01/28/power-outage-expected-to-last-until-midnight-in-midtown-toronto
Photo: http://www.premierline.co.uk