Canadian Lawyer InHouse

MAY 2016 40 INHOUSE ground for the work he does now in helping companies understand the business model P r o f e s s i o n a l P r o f i l e People won't use technology they don't trust. Many operate in a regulated environment. Lawyers are well suited to build that trust. It's really kind of helping them along their journey. JONATHAN LEIBTAG, Microsoft se technology they don't trust. ate in a regulated environment. e well suited to build that trust. elping them along their journey. JONATHAN LEIBTAG, Microsoft "It's not something I expected, but it's something I enjoy," he said. "It's nice to be adding value to the business, but not just through the legal deliverable. It's also dem- onstrating and helping discuss and explain how our products work and meet customers' compliance obligations." Those efforts include not only sitting down with customers as sales are being fi nalized but conducting workshops with Microsoft's sales teams to help them understand what kind of objections or concerns may come up in early customer discussions. The regulatory impacts alone can be daunting. Financial institutions might wonder whether moving to the cloud would go against the Offi ce of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions' cybersecurity guidelines, for example. Others might be concerned about how to ensure data stored in the cloud complies with PIPEDA, or what the possible passing of Bill S4 could mean in terms of data breach notifi cation requirements. "It's a matter of communicating what's coming to the pipeline to make sure it's top of mind and anticipating where legislation is going," he says. "People won't use tech- nology they don't trust. Many operate in a regulated environment. Lawyers are well suited to build that trust. It's really kind of helping them along their journey." Sales people aren't the only ones taking such workshops. Customers and prospects come in to Microsoft's Mississauga, Ont.- based headquarters for similar sessions led by engineers or account people. If that sounds more collaborative than what is typical in many other kinds of orga- nizations, Leibtag suggests the benefi ts also cross departmental lines. "I think it's new for the sales team, but there's an interdependence. It really is a one-team approach now," he says. "When it comes down to negotiating a cloud deal, it's not just an account manager anymore. All the questions need to be addressed by dif- behind the sometimes-nebulous world of cloud computing. Because business issues are legal issues. So if you want to get ahead in business, get the degree that gets you there faster. ONE YEAR – PART - TIME – NO THESIS FOR L AWYERS AND NON - LAWYERS law.utoronto.ca/ExecutiveLLM GPLLM Global Professional Master of Laws [Get a Master of Laws] Untitled-1 1 2015-02-25 8:38 AM

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