How Law Firms Can Go Paperless

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Benefits Of A Paperless Office

Experts and industry analysts have been touting the benefits of a paperless office for some years. While part of this movement has been driven by the shift toward environmentally friendly practices, digitizing workflow produces a multitude of additional benefits. Law offices can save time, money and improve security through making the switch from paper to digital, to say nothing of reducing carbon footprint.

While the idea of digitization can sound intimidating, especially with an older law firm, the process doesn’t have to be a painful. Going paperless has been attempted and refined by various legal enterprises over the years. Firms today can learn from past examples, as well as more properly understand the documented benefits of a digital office workflow.

Preparing To Go Paperless

The American Bar Association recommended that law offices, no matter how eager, not simply launch into the digitization process. While newer firms can establish a digital workflow on day one, older firms likely have many physical files on location. These contain confidential information on active and past clients. Before the paperless environment can be fully realized, these documents must be scanned into the network.
Digital documents can exist in a multitude of places, including on a computer, a server, a flash drive or in the cloud. When legal firms begin the digitization process, they should already have a chosen data receptacle in mind.

Organization methods should also be determined before a legal firm begins to go paperless. One of the largest drives behind the move to digital is increased productivity, but that won’t happen if various lawyers and legal assistants are all filing data in different locations without consulting one another. Before scanning begins, have a meeting and outline the categorization methods that will be utilized.

Once this is done, a naming structure should also be determined. Law firms want to be professional and orderly so having a system where any employee can quickly find the information needed is a benefit. If one attorney is naming case files as “client documents” while another labels them “case documents,” the potential for confusion greatly increases.

Lastly, a secure paper disposal process should also be in place once the files have been scanned. Legal documents contain confidential information and should be properly shredded before being placed in recycling bins. Law offices looking to be especially careful can place shredded documents into multiple recycling stations to reduce the risk of the papers being reassembled.

Afinety takes law practices digital on the cloud_Afinety Cloud PlatformFile digitization should be treated with the same care as traditional paper organization.

Redesigning Office Space To Reduce Costs

Once a law firm begins the digitization process, it must understand just how transformed the workplace environment will be. It won’t be a simple matter of replacing the filing cabinets with server racks. Depending on the data storage solution, the file archives space can be completely repurposed into offices, an employee rec area or some other functional room.
Copier machines and printers will also be downsized. Without paper, the need for these machines drops dramatically. Legal firms can absorb the savings of reduced equipment needs, maintenance costs and supply ordering.

Going paperless may be an investment, but it’s one that generates value quickly. According to Nitro, 28 percent of businesses report a full ROI within 6 months. This number climbs to 84 percent after the first year and a half.

“Cloud solutions save the most room and can assist in file organization.”

Digitizing Fully With A Cloud Solution

As stated earlier, there are several options for data storage when digitizing office workflow. A cloud solution arguably represents the best option, especially for law firms worried about cybersecurity and technical support. Cloud providers help monitor their software against unauthorized access, keeping confidential data secure.
Cloud solutions, especially those tailored for the legal industry, can also assist in organization and interface for file storage.

PRESS RELEASE: Afinety Joins Forces With Netgain Technology To Expand Cloud Offerings And Expertise

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Afinety positions to extend legal industry leadership and fund market penetration

Afinety, Inc. logoNetgain Technology: Secure. Specialized. IT. logo

Afinety Acquired By Netgain

Encino, Calif., August 1, 2018 – Afinety, Inc., a leading provider of cloud services and IT resources  to law firms was recently acquired by Netgain Technology, LLC.  Netgain, a leading provider of secure and specialized cloud services to highly regulated industries, continues its aggressive nationwide expansion with the acquisition of Afinety.

Founded in 1986, Afinety combined high-performance cloud solutions with superior customer service to build a strong and loyal client roster.  The Afinety Cloud Platform (“ACP”) is a rapidly growing, market-leading service that gives law firms cloud-based IT scalability, performance and security.

“Netgain is a great partner for us, we couldn’t be more excited to join the team,” said Doug Hafford, CEO of Afinety. “Netgain is dedicated to delivering high-performance, secure, cloud services to specialty vertical markets. Additionally, Netgain thrives on providing superior support to clients, so there was no question they were the right partners to help fuel our expansion in the legal services IT space.”

Afinety will leverage this transaction to extend market reach and penetration with legal practices nationwide while expanding product and service offerings for Afinety’s existing clientele.

“Afinety eliminates IT concerns for the legal practices it serves. The ACP service just works,” said Kevin Lynch, CEO at Netgain. “Afinety perfectly fit our strategy to offer purpose driven cloud services to compliance driven vertical industries in healthcare, financial services and now legal.”

Afinety will continue to operate out of the existing offices in Encino, California and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This acquisition comes shortly after the recent acquisition by Netgain of iManaged Solutions, a cloud services provider in the optometry sector. Netgain continues to seek acquisition opportunities in IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) companies specializing in serving healthcare, RIA, CPA and legal industry verticals.

Netgain’s strategy is supported by Bluff Point Associates, a private equity firm focused on growth-stage investing in the healthcare and financial services IT space. This transaction represents the third opportunity on which Netgain’s management and Bluff Point have collaborated in the past two years.

The financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.

Madison Park Group acted as investment banking advisor to Netgain on this transaction. Afinety was represented by Reynolds Advisory Partners, a Los Angeles-based boutique investment bank.

About Netgain Technology, LLC

Netgain Technology, LLC, a secure and specialized cloud services and technology provider, was founded in 2000 and serves highly regulated mid-market organizations, nationwide. Netgain provides highly specialized services and solutions that simplify the cloud and take the pain out of IT so highly regulated organizations can worry less about the security and reliability of their IT and return their focus to growing their practices and firms. For more information, visit https://netgaincloud.com.

About Afinety, Inc.

Since 1986, Afinety has been providing full range of IT services for small and medium size businesses. Specializing in law firms, Afinety services include cloud and on-premise networks, consultation, design, implementation, monitoring, system security, disaster recovery systems, training, macros and templates for law firms, anti-SPAM and virus screening, remote and onsite tech support and help desk services. Afinety’s business model is simple: Provide the best IT support and services with tested solutions that simply work. For more information, visit https://afinety.com.

About Bluff Point Associates

Bluff Point Associates is a private equity firm based in Westport, Conn. Bluff Point actively invests in information services companies supporting the banking, trust, securities, retirement and wealth management sectors of the financial services industry, as well as the healthcare information services sector. Bluff Point’s team collectively has decades of experience in recognizing a company’s growth potential and working with its management to reach that potential. For more information, visit http://www.bluffpt.com.