Virtual Desktops for Law Firms: How They Work and Why Your Firm Should Use Them

Simply put, virtual desktops for law firms use the cloud to provide access to your software and data from wherever you have a computer and internet.

When we hear “the cloud,” our minds often drift to popular web-based applications like Clio for law practice management, FreshBooks for accounting, or cloud storage platforms such as Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive.

However, the cloud’s potential extends far beyond these familiar tools.

Especially for larger law firms with a team of 8 or more, there’s a pressing need for more advanced tools than just basic web-based software and standard cloud storage. These firms require comprehensive case management and intricate accounting solutions. They also need a document storage system that goes beyond the rudimentary file and folder setup.

Moreover, many law firms are already invested in and accustomed to specific practice management software, such as ProLaw, Time Matters, Tabs3, PCLaw, Worldox, TrialWorks, among others.

For such law firms, diving into the world of Virtual Desktops could be the game-changer they’ve been searching for.

It might sound techy, but it’s really straight-forward.

A Virtual Desktop operates much like the familiar Windows or Apple desktop you use daily, whether at home or the office.

The difference? It’s hosted in the cloud, granting you access from anywhere, anytime. This means your essential tools, from Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook to specialized law practice management and accounting software, are always at your fingertips.

With a Virtual Desktop, the software that’s typically exclusive to your office computer or tethered to your office servers becomes universally accessible. You can tap into it from any computer across the globe.

Often, you might hear Virtual Desktop solutions termed as “Desktop-as-a-Service” or DaaS, drawing a parallel to the well-known “Software-as-a-Service” or SaaS model.

Behind the curtain, the Virtual Desktop thrives on cloud servers managed by seasoned Cloud Service Providers.

This typically translates to a hassle-free experience for you: the provider oversees system maintenance, software updates, backups, and security. Your role, along with your team’s, is simplified to logging in when you start and logging out once done.

In a traditional computing environment (called the “client/server” model), your core law firm software and files/folders/documents live on your law firm’s server. Your main applications (such as Microsoft Office, your law practice management software, your billing/accounting software) is installed on your physical, local desktop. That is: The workstation or laptop you use in the office.

In this traditional model, everything runs locally, and your applications are installed on your individual computer.

A Virtual Desktop is different. In a Virtual Desktop environment, very few, if any, applications are actually installed on your local computer. Often, the only icon on your local desktop is a shortcut to log into your Virtual Desktop.

When you (or anyone in your team) logs into your Virtual Desktop, you’ll have access to all of your law firm’s software, documents and data, including:

This gives your entire firm access to all of your applications, documents and data, from anywhere, on any device.

Virtual Desktops also mean that you no longer have to install, update and maintain each of your applications on every computer within your firm. Instead, your Cloud Service Provider simply keeps all software updated for you.

With the many clear advantages of using a Virtual Desktop for law firms, the question becomes: What software applications can run within a Virtual Desktop?

Virtual desktops can host virtually any Windows-based software. This is especially useful to law firms who run Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, WordPerfect, and a myriad of practice management, case management, billing, accounting, and document management applications.

This includes today’s most popular law practice management and document management software. Traditional, premise-based practice management applications in particular tend to be more robust and feature-rich than their web-based counterparts. Virtual Desktops enable law firms to take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing, without abandoning their software for more basic, “watered-down” alternatives.

Quite a few software packages used by law firms can be run in a Virtual Desktop.

Law firm’s should seek out a Cloud Service Provider that has extensive experience hosting these titles, and a cloud platform specifically optimized to run these specific law firm applications.

It’s also important to find a Cloud Service Provider that understand the workflow and the culture of law firms.

Related: Learn more about hosting your law firm software in a Virtual Desktop.

Understanding how law firm virtual desktops work, conceptually, is one thing. You might be wondering: What is the process of working in a Virtual Desktop?

You log onto your computer and access the internet the same way you normally would.

The main difference is that instead of going to any particular application, you click on your virtual desktop icon that brings you to your documents, hosted applications, and the rest of your data.

You have a desktop for shortcuts, apps and files. You have a start menu, a Recycle Bin, and any other items or options that your firm may need. Most law firm Virtual Desktops will be standardized, with the apps and tools everyone in your firm needs, and can be additionally customized on a person-by-person basis.

By way of example, watch the demonstration video of Uptime Practice, our own cloud-based Virtual Desktop platform for law firms.

Alternatively, you could decide to host a single application on the cloud with the help of a service, like Uptime Practice Go.

In this scenario, your process is pretty much the same as a virtual desktop.

However, instead of going to your virtual desktop first, you click on the icon that you have hosted, and through the internet, access the application that’s hosted on our servers.

As this article describes, Virtual Desktops bring a whole host of benefits and advantages to law firms. It’s important, however, that if your law firm goes this route, that it finds and selects the right Virtual Desktop/Private Cloud provider for your firm.

Today, there are many IT companies and Cloud Service Providers that offer Virtual Desktop platforms. It’s important to not only make sure that the company you select has experience hosting and supporting the software that your firm relies on, but that the company has the infrastructure and security in place to keep your data secure and your firm up and running.

Among other things, you’ll want to ensure that your chosen Virtual Desktop provider:

For more information on how to evaluate appropriate Cloud Service Providers for your firm, read our checklist: 25 Things to Require of Your Law Firm Cloud Provider.

I hope you find this Virtual Desktop guide for law firms useful. What questions do you still have? Post a reply in the comments section below, or get in touch with us to learn about Virtual Desktop solutions for your law firm.

Onward and Upward!