Running a law firm is challenging enough—trying to plan your IT operations is another animal altogether. From continued security challenges to ongoing compliance requirements, managing IT is no easy task. At Flywire Technologies, we understand these challenges, and as one of the leading cloud hosting providers for attorneys, we know what it takes to help you succeed.
However, while many law firms have looked for ways to move to the cloud, many face challenges in making the leap and understanding the benefits. Therefore, over the coming months, we are excited to share with you some of the biggest reasons law firms like yours are making the move to the cloud—starting with today’s topic: Scalability.
What is Scalability?
In the hosting landscape, scalability is used to discuss a provider’s ability to adjust to changes in demand when needed. Whether that’s in the form of SaaS applications able to add or remove users, cloud storage able to add or reduce space, or platforms able to add or remove nodes, scalability represents the ability to get the capacity you need without compromising productivity or bandwidth.
Defining Scalability
While there are many considerations and moving parts that go into defining scalability, it has long been used to reference planned changes to level of capacity. According to Technopedia,
“Scalability is an attribute that describes the ability of a process, network, software or organization to grow and manage increased demand. A system, business or software that is described as scalable has an advantage because it is more adaptable to the changing needs or demands of its users or clients.”
Physical and Intangible Scalability: Two Reasons Law Firms Choose to Host in the Cloud
Split into physical scalability and intangible scalability, both of which play unique roles in the larger hosting management, these two terms are defined as the following:
- Physical Scalability: Scalability in this sense refers to the availability of resources and the sustainability of the physical components of the process (e.g. storage, bandwidth, etc). Essentially, a hosting provider needs to be able to provide you the ability to grow as needed, providing the same reliability if and when you need to use more resources.
- Intangible Scalability: In addition to the idea of physical scalability, your cloud hosting provider needs to offer the ability to handle new processes, software updates, and products.
If you are working on-premises, you often purchase servers likely able to handle your needs for the next three to five years. While this provides you feasible growth opportunities (physical), but not able to handle your needs if you change, update, or upgrade software. Without the intangible scalability, you’d be forced to either upgrade servers or run outdated and unsupported software.
When hosting applications in the cloud, you not only receive the processing power now and in the future, you only pay for what you need today, making changes as needed and always having the intangible scalability if you need to update or upgrade your applications.
Getting the Scalability You Need with Flywire Technologies
When you seek out providers of scalable applications, infrastructure, and processing power, you can meet fluctuating demand for your own services without having to buy permanent increases such as increased server capacity or storage. At Flywire, our cloud-based services are ideal for businesses with fluctuating needs. Scaling up while you grow is just as simple as scaling down as your business needs change.
Combined with lower initial investment, less reliance on internal IT employees or external IT consultants, and secure access to your applications anywhere you need them, our hosting services allow you to act faster, do more, and spend less. In the coming months, we will continue to share some of the reasons that more and more firms like yours are moving to the cloud, but if you’re ready to make the leap today, we invite you to contact us for a free consultation or schedule a live demonstration.