|
|
In the September/October 2011issue of The Pennsylvania Lawyer, published by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, practicing attorney and technology consultant, Shannon Brown, provides a very thoughtful and informative primer on the “why’s and wherefores” of cloud computing. His article offers some important background for attorneys attempting to understand the “alphabet soup” of current cloud computing terminology.
He also outlines why it is important for attorneys to understand some of the risks associated with cloud computing, and how to mitigate those risks to insure compliance with various judicial opinions on the topic. Specifically, he cites Ethics Informal Opinion (2010-060, 1/10/2011) of the PA Bar Association’s Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility, which states that attorneys may ethically allow client confidential material to be stored ‘in the cloud’ “… provided the attorney makes reasonable efforts to assure that the material is confidential.”
As Brown states, any attorney contemplating a cloud-based storage solution will need to understand what constitutes “reasonable efforts” regarding the confidentiality of data stored. To help with this determination, the author suggests three areas for attorneys to probe carefully before committing to the cloud. They are:
- Data encryption practices adopted by the vendor
- Awareness of the physical storage location of the data itself
- Procedures for disaster recovery of data made available by the vendor
NetDocuments appears to do rather well in all three of these crucial categories.
All documents sent to and from NetDocuments use secure SSL protocols with 128 bit encryption keys, and all documents stored on the NetDocuments servers are fully encrypted. Multiple additional technical and procedural safeguards are in place to insure that your documents are available only to you and to those with whom you choose to share them.
NetDocuments servers are located exclusively in the U.S. for U.S. firms, as well as two redundant datacenters in the UK. All data becomes replicated between the two secure hosting centers, insuring continuity of access. In the event of a disaster at one site, access to the replicated site is instantaneous and transparent to the user. You can read the details for yourself in the NetDocuments Technical Overview.
So, all of you Pennsylvania lawyers out there, rest easy knowing that NetDocuments fully complies with the standards as currently defined by your Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and as further explicated by a practicing attorney who is also a knowledgeable technology professional.
The cloud can indeed be a dangerous place. Perform your due diligence accordingly.
Post written by Jack Schaller of Eastern Legal Systems (ELS). ELS is one of NetDocuments valued Business Services Partners. Jack is a partner and Director of Client Development and operates out of the firm’s Blue Bell, PA office.
Eastern Legal Systems LLC is a regional technology consulting firm specializing in legal billing and accounting, practice management, document management, and network optimization for small to mid-size law firms. Spanning the “Metroliner Corridor” of the Eastern United States seaboard, Eastern Legal Systems serves clients in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. from offices in those four locations.
Our mission is to add value to each project we initiate for our law firm clients, through our combination of extensive software and training experience, our deep knowledge of the products we support, and our solid legal industry background.
October 5th, 2011
Tags: Attorney, Cloud Computing, Content Management, document management, law firm, Legal Administrators, Legal SaaS, legal technology, LegalTech, Security, Technology|
Category: business continuity, Cloud Computing, Compliance, document management, Ethics, legal, Legal Ethics, legal technology, SaaS, Technology
No Comments »
Quite literally, #ABATECHSHOW is held in the beautiful basement of the Chicago Hilton. I was debating between the words ‘basement’ and ‘bunker’, because of the unique marble architecture surrounding the building – giving quite the bunker-feel at times. While feeling very safe from anything in the outside world, the downside, was a near total disconnection and isolation as my AT&T iPhone continued to read “searching…” for most of the event. I had to connect to the “outside” world so I could participate in the silent conversations happening in the room I was sitting in. Yes, Twitter was ABLAZE the entire show, and in all of the sessions. It created a type of unseen energy and current in the session, as the speaker would say something, it was instantly voted on through Twitter, giving the sentiment of the crowd, or at least those of us online.
Aside from the widespread activity of social media, and the frequent comments about spotty wi-fi, there were some common and important themes in terms of where the legal technology market is headed. The common threads that began to emerge begin to build a valuable picture of where a legal technology vendor, consultant, or firm should focus as they shape their strategy moving forward.
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Terms of Service (TOS) – This topic came up in several sessions on cloud computing, as a way for savvy shoppers to differentiate between the good and bad providers of web services – asking critical questions like: Who owns the data? Who has access to the data? Where is the information stored? Is it secure, encrypted and redundant? How about the datacenters? What types of other programs does it play nicely with? How about what happens to the data if you want to leave?
Having a potential provider of web services answer these questions (and more) will take the covers off who may be cutting corners when it comes to security and privacy. SLAs and TOS will also open a potentially dark closet of the freemium model – Catherine Sanders-Reach stated, “If you’re not paying for it, YOU are the product”, highlighting the way consumer-services providers gleam personal info, or use widespread market presence to drive company valuation in the market. Many of these freemium-based companies are backed by venture capital firms which can’t guarantee the company will be around long enough for them to transition those free users to paying customers.
Web-based and Cloud Computing – Even though it was the first year the show had a full Cloud Computing tract, I’d say it was a success. Nearly all sessions we’re full, and based on the show of hands in the room, most attorneys have at least one web-based solution implemented in their firm. The takeaway – The industry is moving away from clunky, on-premise, hardware-intensive solutions.
People are sick of hardware, software, and the expensive upgrades that come with them. The strengths of cloud computing highlighted through the various session related to the plug-and-play aspect of the service, no upfront investment, no maintenance costs, lower internal IT costs, quick time to value, automatic and incremental upgrades, and the list goes on.
Mobility – I know mobility is such an over trodden word lately, but the real challenge and theme of these discussions are around which mobile applications should be adopted to maximize productivity?
And what services will help maintain consistency across devices, platforms, browsers and offices. It was about bringing the love of mobility in our personal lives, into the workplace. The consumerization of technology and IT is pushing the market to increase the level of user-friendliness and integration with business applications in order to drive productivity and ease of use. I loved the visual, as Erik Mazzone said in a session, “you can’t swing a dead cat around this room without hitting at least two dozen iPads”.
So I’m convinced. The ABA TECHSHOW is managed, organized presented and attended by a group of thought-leading, gadget-toting, forward-thinking, legal technologists and was well worth the trip to attend. I look forward to reading all of various blog posts that will undoubtedly come, but you could get a great summary of the show by looking at and following the tweets from…
(Disclaimer: this list does not intend to be comprehensive,… I may have missed some obvious names)
@econwriter5 @rodneydowell @stevenjbest @erikmazzone @bschorr @ethics_Maven @debbiefoster @barronHenley @david_bilinsky @blorish @Pauljunger @recessguy @legaltypist @bburney @trialpad @goclio @ALAeditor @victormedina @themaclawyer @rajuip @colincameron @finisprice @briannaneal @FamilyLLB @Kevinokeefe @TomMighell @macsinlaw @MassLOMAP @matthomann @stephkimbro
Post written by Marriott Murdock, NetDocuments Global Partner Program Manager. Contact him at @MarriottMurdock and let him know what you thought of the show.
April 14th, 2011
Tags: ABA, ABATechshow, Clio, Content Management, document management, Email, iPad, legal technology, RocketMatter|
Category: ABA TechShow, Advologix, Cloud Computing, community, customer service, document management, legal technology, SaaS, Trade Show
No Comments »
NetDocuments gets around – LegalTech NY and LegalTech India, 2011
With the announcement of prestigious law firm, Foley & Lardner, switching from iManage to NetDocuments, our new user interface, and the growing Partner Program, the road was paved for a great Legal Tech conference in both New York and New Delhi.
Happening at virtually the same time, Smart Solutions, one of NetDocuments’ Global Channel Partners, represented us at LegalTech India while we managed in New York; the result? Two amazing shows, with lots of exposure, highlighting our recent developments, high-profile clients, and international reach. Here are the thoughts from those who were there…
New York, New York
“LegalTech NY was buzzing with activity this year, thanks in no small part to recent news that the 1,000 lawyer law firm Foley & Lardner is switching from iManage to NetDocuments. Most of those we spoke with agreed that this is the biggest development in the legal content management space in years. Firms of all sizes wanted to see firsthand what is compelling one of the most competent and reputable law firm technology teams (Foley & Lardner’s IT team) to embrace NetDocuments.” - Matt Duncan, Senior Account Manager, NetDocuments
“Each year we get more interest and requests for demonstrations because speakers and panelist mention NetDocuments as ‘the leader in SaaS/Cloud content management’. We surprise many first-time viewers of NetDocuments with our rich feature set and end-user simplicity. People are always surprised that we have been providing SaaS content management for over 12 years; reminding people, we were SaaS before SaaS was cool.” - Keith Schneider, Senior Account Manager, NetDocuments
Keith also enjoyed interacting with our current customers: “It was great to have several current customers come to the booth excited to see the soon-to-be-released new user interface. After a quick demo, all walked away with smiles on their face and statements of ‘can’t wait for the release’ and ‘thanks for never standing still’. Additionally, increased partner enthusiasm and completed service integrations and affiliate sales partnerships have solidified our Partner Program presence. I can’t wait for next year’s event!”
View from New Delhi
Around the globe, Monish Madden and Kuldeep Singh of Collaborative Technology Solutions, a division of Smart Solutions, were gearing up for LegalTech India 2011 held in New Delhi. The Director of Collaborative Technology Solutions, Rajiv Mukerji, had this to say:
“The Collaborative Technology Solutions division of Smart Solutions, Inc. will consolidate its position as the leading solutions specialist in the Indian and Asian legal cloud computing space by its presence at “Legal Tech India 2011″ The objective of the conference is to emphasize growing the vast avenues prevalent for technology in the legal arena and how legal systems can evolve to a simpler, systematic and a cost effective modus operandi. The conference aims to bring together expertise, competence and technology in managing all the components of legal affairs.”
The success of NetDocuments in all parts of the world is further demonstrating our belief that the cloud is the most powerful and efficient way to share and collaborate and will continue to change the way people work. Tell us your thoughts on the cloud at @NetDocuments.
Post written by @MarriottMurdock, NetDocuments Partner Program Manager
February 9th, 2011
Tags: ALM, Commision, iManage, legal technology, LegalTech, Partner Program, SaaS|
Category: Broker Dealer, Cloud Computing, collaboration, community, customer service, document management, legal, legal technology, SaaS, Salesforce.com, technical support, Technology
No Comments »
Remember recess in elementary? That’s right, a hundred kids running at full speed in different directions, headed for unknown destinations, totally oblivious of who would be there and why? Exciting, yes. Fun, yes. Total mayhem, you bet. The Cloud Computing industry is growing at a break-neck pace, recess is out, and it’s time to make some sense of the chaos.
Collaboration is a broad and well trodden topic; in fact, it was Salesforce.com’s theme at their event of the year, titled “Collabor8”. But just because Salesforce.com can throw around phrases like “collaborative software”, or taking a “collaborative approach” in their business vernacular, it doesn’t make it any easier to grasp in a real sense, nor to implement in a real-life, competitive and fast-paced environment, especially if your business has nothing to do with Salesforce.com.
Note: If you think collaboration is a cliché topic, then you don’t really understand how far reaching of a “principle” it really is. It is the secret sauce to the budding industries and technologies of social media, software/technology design, the user experience, and channel management, so quit you’re complaining and put your “cliché” card away.
I’m not talking about collaboration specific to the NetDocuments world, although it’s worth mentioning that client portals, data rooms, extranets, threaded discussions, notifications, alerts, and workspaces are all collaborative tools available within NetDocuments’ functionality (shameless plug), but I’m talking about Collaboration from a bird’s eye perspective in the developing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry. Business solutions aggregators are beginning to sprout and take shape; timely since CNET has just validated that one of the “Top 12 Cloud Gifts of 2010” is the broad acceptance of Cloud Computing. What immediately follows acceptance? Chaos. What should follow chaos? Collaboration.
Here are a few industry-specific collaborators – Let’s see what they have to offer…
The LCCA is specific to the legal industry and has comprised some innovative and thought leading organizations who among others, purport to be leading the “cloud computing” pack. Member organizations surround practice management and technology consulting for the legal professional, including: Clio, DirectLaw, RocketMatter, and TotalAttorneys. If the aim is to define standards and best practices, and form policies and guidelines, the list is not yet complete but I’m thrilled to see it beginning to take shape.
The LCCA’s charter
- Provide a unified and consistent voice for vendors in the legal cloud computing market;
- Collaborate and cooperate with Bar Associations and other policy-forming bodies in efforts to form policies and guidelines relating to the use of cloud computing in law practices;
- Define standards and best practices;
- Provide educational resources to attorneys and the broader legal community on cloud computing and the technical, legal and ethical issues relating to cloud computing
Virtual Solutions Consortium (VSC) aggregates financial services solutions and resources into one central location, separated by two main categories: Virtual Staff and Resources. Virtual Staff includes links to operational managers, compliance consultants, web developers, and accountants. The resources tab includes C-level strategists, coaching, client portals, and document management. VSC seeks to answer the questions: What can I outsource? What should I outsource? Who can I outsource it to? With a concise set of value-ads such as:
- Increased efficiency and productivity
- Expert advice and execution
- Greater flexibility
- Significant cost savings
Virtual Solutions and the LCCA are two innovative organizations seeking to bring collaboration and unity to the chaos and clutter of the cloud computing industry. I applaud their initiative, but there is still a lot of work to be done to collect and unite the key stakeholders across vertical markets and the industry as a whole. To learn more about new collaboration, or to contribute to the discussion, send a tweet to @NetDocuments or @MarriottMurdock.
Post written by Marriott Murdock of the NetDocuments marketing team and head of channel development
December 21st, 2010
Tags: Attorney, CNET, collaboration, Content Management, document storage, GreenIT, law firm, legal technology, MyVirtualCOO, Salesforce, Salesforce.com, Will.I.Am|
Category: business continuity, Cloud Computing, collaboration, Compliance, Cost Savings, document management, Document Management for Salesforce, Financial Services Technology, legal, legal technology, Registered Investment Advisors, SaaS, Salesforce.com, Technology
No Comments »
The All New NetDocuments – Rich Functionality. Enhanced Design.
In the spring of 2011, NetDocuments users will get a new user experience. Without sacrificing any of our industry leading functionality and reliability, we have redesigned the user interface to improve navigation and simplify the management of documents in the cloud.
The Makeover Process
This is the most significant update in the 12 years since NetDocuments opened it’s doors and paved the SaaS document management highway. “We pulled together a highly qualified team of experts to enhance the NetDocuments user interface and to address areas that would greatly improve the user experience, while at the same time creating an attractive design that is more pleasurable to use. By using familiar design patterns and a more structured framework, the interface should require less investment in setup and also be easier to gain proficiency,” said VP of Marketing, Leonard Johnson.
[Click the image below to see more screen shots]
Cloud Content Management
To learn more, check out our video and slideshow full of screenshots. These contain all the information you need to quench your desire to know everything there is about the new design. We’d love to hear your feedback and questions regarding the user experience of NetDocuments on Twitter at @netdocuments. You can also drop an email to sales@netdocuments.com
Post written by Danny Johnson of the NetDocuments Marketing Team. He can be reached on Twitter at @dannymjohnson.
November 23rd, 2010
Tags: Cloud Computing, Content Management, document management, legal technology, NetDocuments, SaaS, SaaS Document Management, User Interface|
Category: Cloud Computing, collaboration, customer service, document management, Financial Services Technology, legal technology, SaaS, Salesforce.com, Technology
No Comments »
This week in our ongoing Q&A series, we are joined by Tom Lee of Quintec International. Quintec is a leading cloud based technology company based in the UK that is aimed primarily at the Legal, Insurance and Finance markets.
Q: First off Tom, tell our readers a bit about you and your company?
Tom: Great. I have been in I.T. for over 33 years and have witnessed many changes in technology from the early Mainframes to Super- Mini’s, Client/Server and now to the Cloud! At Quintec, we provide our clients with business advice, consultancy, software, training and technical support. These services are delivered by an experienced team of consultants, a rapid support team and a plethora of technical guys who never seem to stop working! I wished I had their energy!
Q: And I’m sure they wish they had your experience. After 33 years I bet you’ve seen some interesting things in I.T. Tell me the scariest moment of your career?
Tom: That’s easy, because I still have nightmares about it!
My first job in I.T. was way back in the mid-seventies and I worked in a large Computer Operations department as a Trainee Computer Operator. This was when computer rooms were as big as football pitches and I remember this one was vast with bank after bank of disk drives, seven gigantic line printers with bursters & collators attached, card readers, and these new whizzy things called diskette drives with floppy diskettes that were 8inches wide!
I had only been working for the company a matter of weeks. There were four of us on shift one night and stupidly we decided to play football just to pass the time with a ball ingeniously crafted from paper and Sellotape. Sounds silly doesn’t it, but back then it really helped pass the time through the night while all the batch processing was going on.
Well, this one night I was in goal and I threw the ball out to a colleague a little too hard I guess. The ball hit a wall, bounced over a wall divider and somehow hit the main power supply lever! The whole room plunged into darkness and all four IBM Mainframes powered down simultaneously! Obviously this could not happen nowadays but back then, believe me IT DID!
Needless to say, this caused utter chaos and the following morning over one thousand users couldn’t logon to their terminals until about 11.30am because of me. I don’t think I have ever felt as guilty before or since! The culprit was never found and the story rarely discussed until just five years ago at a company reunion when my old boss who had recently retired, finally found out ‘from a so-called friend’ that it was me! He said that if he had of found out who was responsible he had orders to sack them on the spot!
Well what doesn’t get us fired, only makes us stronger right?
Q: I hear some people in the UK call you the “Granddaddy of document management.” How did you get this name?
Tom: It first started in a pub in London when I was relaxing with a few friends one evening after work. A few that were present that night were I.T. Directors of law firms who were messing around as one does after a few beers, and it just was something that was said in jest, I think! Then, with a couple of snippets that have been published in the press over the years, it just stuck! I guess part of it is that I’m just getting old and also that I have been involved in the release and distribution of each of the main document management systems during the past twenty years, namely SoftSolutions, DOCS Open and iManage.
In my opinion, the real granddaddies of document management are the “old boys” from the SoftSolutions outfit who released the first ever enterprise-wide DMS way back in the late 1980’s. They were the real inventors and pioneers who first spotted a gap in the market.
Incidentally Dan, you work for these guys! You should feel very proud to be working for a company of such pedigree with a long history, and with people of such repute.
In my private life I am still not a granddad yet, but I don’t think it’s going to be much longer!
Q: Well that is a great segway into my next questions. How has document management technology changed over the past 10-20 years?
Tom: WOW Dan! Give me some easy questions like what’s my favorite football team and stuff! At my age I can’t remember some of the things that happened last week let alone over the past 20 years!
Well, if you are asking me to go back that long, my view is that it was all about storing, searching and retrieving documents back then, and in my opinion, to a large extent it’s still the same today.
Back then, law firms and other document centric organizations were busy migrating away from their old DP/WP mini computers and onto the new client/server technology. This all seemed great at the time but many didn’t realize that built into the very fabric of the WP software on these super-mini computers was a primitive form of document management. Although there is no resemblance to what is available today, this held very basic profile information for each document and secretaries and typists alike had learned to rely on this as they could easily identify and retrieve documents.
Once on client/server architecture, companies found that this basic document management was lost and saving documents into folders, sub folder and sub-sub-sub folders (this always confused me) was sometimes a disaster as many versions of a document could exist so retrieving the required documents could be somewhat time-consuming and the process very confusing. I think you could use the metaphor, three steps forward and one step back, in this case. Perhaps, Microsoft and WordPerfect, the two main protagonists at the time should have included a document management option within their word processors for singleware applications. It’s a good job for me they didn’t!
Anyhow, this left the door wide open for the pioneers of this technology. Two such document management systems were released to answer to the problem. The first was SoftSolutions, in its early years quickly became the dominant player. A short time after followed the PC DOCS offering known as DOCS Open, which is better known nowadays as Open Text DM5. I believe some firms are still using a hybrid of this product to this very day.
SoftSolutions were bought out in 1994 by WordPerfect and then in quick succession by the Novell Corporation, and their DM software incorporated into their Novell GroupWise offering, I guess the rest has been written into the history books!!!
Both products were ground breaking in their day, the first being built upon the proprietary but very fast ‘FLAME’ database whilst DOCS Open did just what it said on the tin, it was ‘Open’, and could run on most of the SQL databases of the day, namely Microsoft’s SQL, SYBASE and ORACLE!
Over the years Microsoft has threatened from time-to-time to include some form of document management capability to control and manage their singleware applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc., but none of these ever came to fruition!
These day’s firms need to be quite sophisticated, they need the ability to liaise and collaborate with their clients and colleagues, to store records as well as emails in the same repository and more recently be able to store certain telephone conversations when the need arises.
Sometimes, I think that certain DM suppliers have forgotten the first rule of DM and that is to speedily search and retrieve documents! To me, it’s still the most important function provided by a DM! For example, I recently was in at a customer site and she showed me a ‘simple search’ using an industry leading DM system across 1,800 users and 40 offices worldwide! To be honest, I could have easily made a cup of coffee in the time the search results were returned! Surely, this is a drastic waste of time and resources!
Thanks Tom! That’s incredible insight and discussion.
This was just a portion of my very insightful interview with Tom Lee so check back on Thursday as part II of this Q&A will be posted.
Post written by Danny Johnson of the NetDocuments marketing department. If you’d like to be featured in a NetDocuments Q&A, send a tweet to @NetDocuments or an email to djohnson@netdocuments.com.
October 12th, 2010
Tags: Cloud Computing, document management, England, grandpa, legal technology, LegalTech, Quintec, SaaS, Technology|
Category: business continuity, Cloud Computing, collaboration, document, document management, Financial Services Technology, legal technology, SaaS
No Comments »
Are you in the cloud?
Whether you answered yes or no, the gateway to the secure cloud just became wider and easier to navigate with the help of a new website aptly titled, AreYouInTheCloud.com.
The website contains a lot of life changing content but the most important feature of the site may be the fully customizable cloud TCO calculator. Intrigued? Let me show you how it works…
1. Calculate
Once you step onto the cloud (enter the site) and scroll down to the TCO calculator, all you have to do is enter the total number of employees in your organization, as well as total number of offices, click calculate and let it do its thing.
2. Analyze
After you hit calculate, a comparison of the total cost of ownership between a web based cloud DMS vs. an on premise document management system will magically appear. I realize that you may be wondering, “how does it know what my legacy content management system costs?” I would like to say that the TCO calculator is omniscient but surprisingly it is not. The numbers for the ”On Premise DMS” are based on the costs of large legacy SQL systems like iManage, but we understand that not all DMS solutions were created equal. For that reason, the TCO allows you to customize these numbers to get a more representative comparison. We’ll go over that in step 3.
*The NetDocuments price is based on our Professional Plus Service, which includes all of our features and is our most expensive package.
3. Customize
Step three begins by reverting your eyes to step 2. You will notice in figure 2 the blue “customize” button, once you hit this button, you will be able to customize the data to compare NetDocuments with any other on premise system that exists in the universe.
4. Decide
At this point, the TCO has done its job and the next step depends on you. But don’t worry, their is an entire team of sales people at NetDocuments ready and willing to help as you move beyond the lower TCO and learn about the other inherent benefits of a SaaS document management system. Send an email to sales@netdocuments.com or contact us on Twitter at @NetDocuments to learn more.
October 1st, 2010
Tags: document management, iManage, lawsuit, legal technology, Rihanna, SaaS, total cost of ownership|
Category: business continuity, Cloud Computing, collaboration, document management, legal technology, SaaS, Technology
No Comments »
This morning in London, NetDocuments CTO Alvin Tedjamulia, along with UK channel partner Quintech International had a very lively and interactive webinar with a number of UK law firms and businesses. If you missed that, you need not worry. We have a slate of upcoming webinars on new cloud computing innovation, as well as our SaaS document management system and some of the new features.
Small Law Webinar – October 14th 4:00pm EST
You’ve probably heard by now the terms “cloud computing” and “SaaS,” but you may not be aware how they can benefit your law practice? Well, acclaimed legal technology expert Deepa Patel of Halak Consulting, and editor of the Force4Lawyers blog, will be teaming up with Marc Duncan of the NetDocuments team give a webinar that will provide an answer to this question. It will take place October 14th and it is free to register. The webinar will also cover these important topics:
- SaaS Simplicity – Learn how you can have all of your documents accessible from any internet connections in just a few hours.
- SaaS Security – Understand why many people believe that their documents are safer in the world class NetDocuments data centers than they would be saved to a local server or external hard drive.
- Collaboration – Web based solutions not only allow members of the firm to access documents and data, but can also provide access to clients, co-counsel and third parties.
- Reduced Costs – Solos and small firm lawyers no longer have to use inferior technology in comparison to the large firms. The new mantra is, “Small firm…Big Technology”. Legal SaaS applications are leveling the playing field by bringing together centralized resources that are managed and serviced by the SaaS provider; thus, allowing lawyers to focus on solving cases, rather than solving IT problems.
- Number of Options – In the past, law firms were limited in the number of SaaS options available, today, there are numerous options for SaaS email, practice management, time and billing, document assembly, document management, etc. Learn how you can leverage an integrated web based platform to manage your practice from the cloud.
Find out if cloud computing is right for you by registering here for the October 14th webinar.
Partner with NetDocuments
NetDocuments channel partner program is growing as we are working with a number of motivated and active partners. To learn more about the program, visit the NetDocuments Community’s partner section.
Furthermore, we are always looking for interested people to team up with us to do a webinar. If you’d like to partner with the NetDocuments team in doing a webinar or presentation on cloud computing, SaaS or another related topic, send an email to Danny Johnson at djohnson@netdocuments.com or hit NetDocuments with a tweet at @NetDocuments.
This post was written by Danny Johnson of the NetDocuments marketing team. He can be reached on Twitter at @dannymjohnson.
September 28th, 2010
Tags: AdvologixPM, legal tech, legal technology, Net Documents, NetDocs, SaaS|
Category: Advologix, Cloud Computing, collaboration, document management, Email Management, legal technology, SaaS
No Comments »
Donna Seyle is an attorney and consultant who helps small firms and solo  lawyers with innovative law practice strategies. She has established herself as a thought leader in the field and was kind enough to discuss these topics this week for the NetDocuments blog.
Q: Thanks for joining me Donna. First off, can you tell me a little bit about what you do?
A: My business, Law Practice Strategy, is all about the evolution of the legal profession resulting from technology and the recession. Given the nature of the job market for lawyers, I developed a strategy that enables solos and small boutique firms build successful practices based on the principles of cost-containment and project management, and the integrated use of content marketing, technology and fixed pricing. I work with lawyers, individually and in groups, helping them to develop a proactive mindset, understand the principles of the strategy and use the tools to start or redesign their practice.
Q: You mentioned that you help lawyers with technology, so how are new technologies changing the way lawyers are working?
A: Technology is revolutionizing the profession. The use of virtual law practice platforms has significant advantages that enable lawyers to offer their services to consumers who otherwise could not afford to hire an attorney or take time off from work to meet with lawyers in person. Because they are so cost-effective, they also allow lawyers to be more comfortable offering fixed pricing, which essentially shifts the risk of cost from the client to the lawyer. Using technology creates efficiency and extends the reach of availability of legal services to so many people that would otherwise be unreachable. But it also creates security concerns and ethical considerations that need to be addressed. Currently, several state bars have issued opinions, and the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section is trying to deal with these issues, largely through the eLawyering Task Force. The use of technology is so significant that it has forced us to redefine what it means to practice law, perhaps creating divisions between what Jordan Furlong calls “legal services” and “lawyer services.”
Very insightful information. At NetDocuments, we have built integrations with other legal SaaS solutions such as AdvologixPM to offer lawyers an integrated, fully featured law practice platform.
Q: In talking about cloud computing and SaaS, how has it leveled the technology playing field between large and small law firms?
A: Saas/cloud platforms have been designed for solos and small firms to provide a cost-effective way to offer the capabilities and convenience of technology that previously could only be afforded by big law with large IT departments. For example, the recession has forced business, large and small, to contain their costs, and legal departments are no exception. To do so, in-house counsel has been demanding that outside counsel reduce their hourly rates or institute fixed pricing or other terms. If outside counsel refuses to do so, there have been instances where a few lawyers from those firms leave and open their own boutique firm, take the unhappy clients with them and agree to different billing arrangements. Because of the cloud platforms that now exist, they can offer the same level of service.
I have definitely worked with a number of lawyers who have broken off from large firms and use SaaS technology to efficiently manage their practice.
Q: What are the most critical technologies needed to start a new law firm?
A: The most critical technologies needed are communication, case management and document storage, although I personally prefer comprehensive packages that do it all in one place. But maybe a more important question is not what the technology does, but how it works. [Traditional] Software is a huge waste of time and money and, in my mind, raises more security issues than cloud applications. It also does not address the communication issue, since everyone communicates through email (or some version of it). And if you’re talking about Saas, then the most critical questions relate to security and privacy. No matter what kind of program or application you decide on, you must do vendor due diligence to be sure they provide the highest level security available, both technological and physical.
Q: You seem to be pretty active in the social media scene. What advice would you give to a lawyer debating the merits of social media?
A: I think it depends on your playing field. I live in a small California beach town where more than half the lawyers don’t use social media of any kind and they’re enormously successful. And that’s because they’ve established themselves in a very small community where they’ve been able to get their foot in the door before it slammed shut a few years ago, and they like playing in a small arena. For them, social media is unnecessary and probably not worth their time. On the other hand, if you’re just getting started, or if you like being on the cutting-edge of the profession, participating in social media is absolutely necessary. You just have to do it. It simply is the state of interaction of our times, it’s where everything’s happening and where you find out about it. But you need to use your head. Pretend you’re a little kid and your mom’s hearing or reading everything you say or write online. And not only you, but everything your friends say and do. Before I became professionally active in social media, I was on Facebook with the standard profile. Then I wanted to add a business page, and I realized you could not separate your business page from your profile. Since I didn’t want my professional connections to have access to my personal page, I closed that account and opened a brand new one with only professional connections. Some people were offended, but I did what I thought was necessary to insure against anything popping up that might not be appropriate or helpful.
Q: What is your favorite social network and why?
A: Twitter, hands down. But it’s a personal choice. Twitter is where I started interacting online, where I’ve met (online and off) some of the greatest people I know, where I do lots of research & get almost all of my information, where I get involved in terrific conversations (or arrange a time to take it offline). Sometimes I stay off Twitter because I need to get just focus on getting work done. After a few days, I feel totally deprived and need to jump back on just to catch up and participate.
I can personally vouch for that as I met Donna via Twitter where she can be found at @DonnaSeyle.
I’d like to thank Donna for the informative and valuable information. For more information on what she does or to continue the discussion, you can reach her on Twitter or visit her website at www.lawpracticestrategy.com.
If you’d like to be featured on a NetDocuments Q&A, send an email to myself at djohnson[@]NetDocuments.com or send a tweet to @NetDocuments.
Post written by Danny Johnson of the NetDocuments marketing team.
September 8th, 2010
Tags: ABA, Alternative Billing, elawyering, Legal SaaS, legal technology, SaaS, social media|
Category: Advologix, Cloud Computing, collaboration, document management, legal, legal technology, SaaS
No Comments »
Do your friends call you a “techno nomad” or a “21st century minimalist”? If all you need to run your legal practice is any web enabled device, than you’ve probably been labeled by one of these terms.
You see, in the 90s, the prevailing trend was bigger is better: bigger cars, bigger hamburgers, bigger houses and bigger technology. But with a downturn in the economy, more fuel conscience consumers and the rise cloud computing, consumers and businesses alike are learning how to do more with less, including their technology needs.
20 years ago, ok, probably only 5 years ago, if I were to have gotten with a group of 5 lawyers to start a firm, I would have bought servers, PCs, network stuff, probably some IT people to manage it all and a large investment in some large software package. Now compare that with what new firm Lumpkins Spiers PLC did when two attorneys broke off from a large practice to start their own earlier this year. All they needed was a scanner, laptops and an internet connection.
[Read the entire case study on how Lumpkins Spiers PLC uses web based technology to manage and run their law practice]
John Lumpkins, one of the partners, had been overseeing and managing technology for over twenty years when he joined with Sarah Spiers to form a new firm, and he knew that there was a more efficient way to run a practice. He envisioned a “legal practice 2.0” or a “law firm in the cloud.”
“Cloud Computing is a way to allow us to focus on what we do best instead of having to invest in or maintain a whole server system ourselves,” John said after deciding to employ an integrated solution of NetDocuments and AdvologixPM.
Though they are still a relatively new firm, John and Sarah have enjoyed the simplicity and ease of implementation that moving to the cloud has provided them.
To learn more about how Lumpkins Spiers has created a cloud based legal practice, read the entire case study here.
To continue the legal SaaS discussion, send a tweet to @NetDocuments and we’ll be sure to keep the conversation going.
August 19th, 2010
Tags: Advologix, Attorney, integration, law firm, legal technology, practice management|
Category: Advologix, business continuity, collaboration, document, document management, legal technology, paperless, SaaS, Technology
No Comments »
|
