The term “cloud computing” gets thrown around quite a bit. It usually refers to software and data that’s stored on a remote server. Cloud-based applications are appealing for a variety of reasons: you don’t have to install software (generally), you don’t have to buy and maintain servers, you get professional-level backup of your data and security, and you get the benefit of software updates and advances without having to install the software yourself.
A good example of a cloud-based application is Yahoo! Mail. It’s an e-mail software program running on a Yahoo! server. The e-mails live on the server, as does the mail software. Users access the software and data remotely using a web browser (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.) or some other software application on their computers.
Yahoo! Mail is a baby step to the cloud. It’s easy to sign up for an account and put it to work.
The next baby step to the cloud is moving some of your files from your local hard disk or server to a cloud-based server. For instance, I save my documents in a Dropbox folder on my laptop. When I save a file in this special folder, it’s automatically synced with a folder on the server at Dropbox. If I edit the file and save it with the changes, it’s automatically changed at Dropbox. I still have the file on my laptop, but it’s also on the Dropbox server.
Once the file is synced to Dropbox, it’s available to me, via my browser, from any other computer. I can also access the file from my smart phone. I can share the file with others if I wish. I can even e-mail the file to myself or someone else. You can sign up for a free Dropbox account and give it a try. Dropbox charges a fee if you decide to upgrade to an account with more than 2 GB of storage. (My account is free.)
A third baby step is Google Docs. With Google Docs, you open your browser and visit the Google Docs site. Once you’re there, you use Google’s software–a word processor, spreadsheet program, etc.–to create a document. Save the document on a Google server, and you’re done. You won’t have a copy of your document on your computer: the document will only be saved in the cloud on the Google server. You can access the file anytime, from anywhere, so long as you have Internet access. You can download the document to your computer if you wish. Google also offers software that allows you to sync your documents so you have a copy on your local computer and on the Google server. (You can also upload your existing documents in other formats to Google Docs.) An account with Google Docs is free.
There are cloud-based applications for accounting, case management, customer relations management, and on and on. Eventually, I suspect, we’ll all move our software and data to the cloud. We’ll give up our servers, and we won’t have to pay nearly as much to our computer support people (of course, we’ll be paying some of the cloud providers). Now is the time, if you haven’t already, to get familiar with the cloud and take baby steps so your comfort level increases and you’re ready as technology changes and evolves.
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Lee Rosen has practiced family law for more than twenty years. With three offices, 
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