Project at a glance
When you run a legal firm that specializes in intellectual property law and new technologies, choosing the right cloud solution is a high-stake decision. Get it wrong and you lose credibility, clients, income – and sleep. Etienne Deshoulières, Founder and Managing Partner of Deshoulières Avocats, was all too aware of this. His company represents more than 600 companies, many of them startups trying to safeguard their innovative ideas against copycats and counterfeiters through copyright, trademarks and patents.
The law firm could ill afford a data breach and the reputational hit that comes with it. “For us, nothing is more important than data. It’s our lifeline and the foundation of customer trust. We don’t have paper records either so if we lost the data entrusted to us, we wouldn’t have anything left,” Etienne explains.
The challenge
However, the cloud solution the company had been using was just not up to the mark. Developed specially for lawyers, it had the security features required to meet the firm’s needs but speed was a priority.
“Synchronization was simply not fast enough. I receive about 150 emails a day and every single document my colleagues work on goes through me. It’s a lot of responsibility and I literally have no more than two minutes to sync a document,” says Etienne. “Not to mention that we have to share large documents, often tens of them, with clients, colleagues and tribunals, within France and beyond. Speed and reliability are critical.”
The solution
The time came to look for something new and Etienne certainly did his homework. He scoured the internet, read up on various cloud service providers and weighed up the pros and cons. In the end, he settled on Tresorit. GDPR compliance and security were the deciding factor: “We help clients fulfill their regulatory obligations so we have to lead by example. Any potential security hole was a big no-no.”
Cyber-criminals have long realized the high value of the data legal firms store. However, Tresorit’s end-to-end encryption ensures that even if they do manage to get into your system, the documents accessed will be undecipherable gibberish. That’s because all data is encrypted automatically before it leaves any device, and the decryption keys can’t be accessed by system administrators or even the service provider itself.
I’d known about Tresorit’s security features when I signed up. What surprised me was how easy it is to use. I downloaded the app and the desktop version, and understood them straight away. It was a welcome change that using Tresorit doesn’t require any specialist IT skills whatsoever. Finally, extra security doesn’t mean inconvenience.
Etienne Deshoulières
–Founder & Managing Partner, Deshoulières Avocats
The requirements
Remaining in full control of who has access to what was also a top priority for Deshoulières Avocats. The firm now safeguards its highly confidential and valuable data by adding the extra layers of security Tresorit offers.
One of them is the 2-Step Verification feature, preventing unauthorized access to documents stored in the cloud even if someone’s password has been compromised. Colleagues can only sign in to Tresorit if they enter the verification code sent to them in a text message or email. The firm has also limited account access to a select number of locations and colleagues’ devices. “Staying safe is much easier than before,” concludes Etienne.
The results
The switch has also proven popular with clients.
“Turns out, using Tresorit is quite a selling point for them. It helps us with reassuring clients that their data is in safe hands. As a legal professional, you need something that looks and feels professional. Tresorit definitely fits the bill,” adds Etienne.