How legal firms can leave legacy applications behind

The legal sector is historically known for its cautious approach to implementing new technology. However, at Cloud Direct we’ve seen this industry fuelling the demand for Desktop as a Service products, signalling a balancing act between maintaining core legacy systems, whilst embracing some of the advantages of cloud-based solutions.

Cloud migrations can be expensive, and aren’t necessarily a viable solution for all law firms – but that doesn’t mean they’re forced to stick with the status quo. Microsoft’s solution is Azure Virtual Desktops, which enables firms to enhance security, scalability, integration and innovation, all in a cost-effective and accessible manner.

What are legacy applications?

A legacy application refers to a piece of software or a system that was created using older programming languages and technologies and may no longer be actively maintained or supported by the original developers.

Traditionally, legacy applications are installed on a single device and store the data on that computer, meaning devices will need to be manually backed up, encrypted and password protected by IT Teams, taking time and consuming internal resources, while also being a single point of failure.

Despite this issue, law firms continue to rely on legacy applications because they are essential for their day-to-day operations and migrating to newer systems can often seem equally time consuming, complex, and expensive.

What is Azure Virtual Desktop?

Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) is a complete desktop and application virtualisation solution that runs on the cloud. In the past, virtual desktop solutions have been complex and expensive to set up and manage, making them inaccessible to most small and medium-sized businesses.

By using Microsoft’s extensive cloud platform, AVD changes that. Instead, it’s a cost-effective solution that is easy to deploy, configure and scale. Like all Microsoft Cloud Services, it’s completely flexible to your specific business needs, making it the perfect solution for your firm.

Modernising legacy applications with AVD

Through a virtualised, cloud-based desktop environment, AVD offers secure access to legacy applications. It provides the capability to manage and control access to these applications from any location, device or platform while ensuring the continuous security of your firm’s data.

Applications can be deployed in the cloud, eliminating the burden of managing physical hardware. This enables lawyers to have the freedom to access applications from any location, neglecting the need for additional investment in hardware.

A virtual machine is needed to run legacy applications but, as soon as this is complete, the application can be deployed in the cloud and lawyers can access it from any device or platform.

Ultimately, it’s crucial to configure AVD to ensure the safety of the data. This involves setting up user authentication, authorisation policies and implementing encryption protocols. These security measures facilitates law firms in keeping legacy applications secure and up-to-date.

The benefits of application modernisation

Security

Security stands as a top priority for law firms as they manage clients’ confidential information and personal data. Enhancing security protocols during the application modernisation process, with tools such as multi-factor authentication, can elevate the level of difficulty for bad actors attempting to infiltrate and access sensitive information.

Modernisation

Modernisation not only revitalises the application but also amplifies its agility. This ensures greater responsiveness and adaptability to changing circumstances, making it effortless to introduce new features and functionalities, as well as implement reactive changes and necessary improvements swiftly and seamlessly.

Reliability

The reliability of the application sees improvement through modernisation as it facilitates the quick identification and resolution of bugs or glitches. It also ensures there is no single point of failure – a fault  with a single server will no longer bring the firm to a complete standstill. This, in turn, minimises downtimes and ensures a smooth and efficient operation of the application.

Want to find out more about Azure Virtual Desktop? Talk to the experts.

The benefits of Azure Virtual Desktop are endless – especially when it comes to modernising legacy applications for your law firm.

If you want to find out more about Azure Virtual Desktop or have any burning questions, then you’re in luck. Microsoft has identified us as one of a handful of Azure Virtual Desktop Specialist Partners.