Tracking Legal Technology
Guiding Clients through the Legal Technology Maze
Eastern Legal Systems
Global vision. Regional focus. Local presence.
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BYOD (“Bring Your Own Device”) is becoming an increasingly prevalent mantra in the small business – small law workplace today. Smartphones, tablets, personal notebooks – some or all of these devices are personally owned by many “consumers” today, and increasingly, these “consumers” are preferring to use their own devices in the workplace, where they function not as “consumers” but as “employees”.
As an employer, this offers a mixed blessing. Certainly tech-savvy users, armed and comfortable with their own devices, can be more productive at work and reduce their learning curve with technology. Think of the plumber or other tradesman who brings his own set of tools to the job every day. These electronic mobile devices can be considered the “tools” of the modern information worker.
On the other hand, company data flowing back and forth between business networks and personal devices can compromise confidential or proprietary information, and it can be difficult to “shut off” the employee’s use of personal apps during business hours if that personal device is also used for business. The employer of the tool-toting tradesman doesn’t face the same problem (although materials can – and do – walk off the job from time to time).
“Back in the day” (circa the 1990’s) the big issue for corporate IT was whether or not to allow Palms and other PDA’s into the workplace. With the explosion of consumer-driven devices that can also be productive workplace tools, running business apps, this issue has become immensely more complicated. And with data increasingly moving to “the cloud” from on-premises servers, it has become so much easier to provide 24/7 access to documents, billing records, calendars, etc. from multiple portable devices. “Yeah, there’s an app for that….”
Virtually all of the products that we support, for time billing, practice management, and document management, have published apps that facilitate the easy and seamless flow of company data from servers to remote devices, and back in the other direction as well. We believe that this is a good thing. But like all good things, it can be done correctly or incorrectly, and thus requires a bit of thoughtful planning and a good grasp of the underlying technology to harness this mobile capability without also putting your company’s information at risk.
As technology proliferates in the small business – small law environment, the need for technology advice grows accordingly. Very few small companies can afford the luxury of an in-house IT person, and thus must rely on external resources. We at Eastern Legal Systems believe that there is an emerging role for us as fee-based technology advisors, not unlike the fee-based financial advisors and accountants which virtually all businesses employ today. We think that we can fill this role for many of our clients, providing impartial, comprehensive, and forward-looking advice on how best to deploy specific elements of technology in your firm, to maximize productivity and minimize business risk.
Give us a call if you are interested in exploring how we can fill this role for your firm.
Last week my colleague, Jack Schaller, wrote about news that came out of the annual LexisNexis Practice Management Conference. He focused on Time Matters. This week it is my pleasure to write about PCLaw.
This year the release of the “Version 11” series of both Time Matters and PCLaw emphasized mobility – an expansion in the direction of allowing users to both see existing data and augment it in real time while out of the office. PCLaw Mobility allows users to:
- view their list of Contacts,
- view a list of their Matters
- enter both time and client-related expenses on any smartphone that accesses the internet.
Viewing calendar options is scheduled as an addition to this service either late in the 4th quarter of this year or early next year.
While the link between Time Matters and PCLaw has been enhanced, more emphasis has been placed on the “Front Office” functions inside of PCLaw. During the installation process, users are now asked if they want to turn on the Calendar, Phone Call Manager, and Document Tracker/Manager. Another new feature – Import Holidays – allows several holidays from different countries, as well as Jewish holidays, to be listed and tracked on calendars.
Most notable, however, was the emphasis made to PCLaw consultants that reporting in or with PCLaw can be done both inside and outside of the program, whether a site still uses the proprietary CTREE database, or MS-SQL.
“Chief, I think we need the Cone of Silence… “
Rumors that surface from time to time questioning the life span of PCLaw were firmly put to rest this year as consultants were shown a “road map” of planned feature enhancements. We were told in no uncertain terms to not write about them at this time, but be assured we will be making some exciting announcements in the year to come.
Breaking News
We were pleased to learn that Time Matters won the vote for Best Docket Management Software by the New York Law Journal last week. Check it out!
http://gadgets.tmcnet.com/news/2011/09/26/5804285.htm
Has your office upgraded to PCLaw Version 11 yet? Have you tried the PCLaw Mobility Service? What do you think of it – has it helped you and your staff capture more time?
More importantly – have you tried customizing the program (toolbars, menus, the Matter Manager, etc.) or adding custom reports?
Give us a call at 877-ELS-0555 if you would like to learn more about these new features or explore customizing the program for your needs.
Time Matters Mobility
On February 23, 2011 LexisNexis hosted a webinar to preview its soon-to-be-released Time Matters Version 11 product, which should begin shipping in late March of this year. This webinar included a full demonstration of this new service, as well as a discussion of a few other new features of the latest version of this award-winning practice management program.
What is “Mobility Service”?
The new Mobility Service allows users to access their Time Matters 11 data through a login screen, via an Internet connection, on a mobile device. Since the user is connecting through an Internet browser– and not an “app” for a specific model of Smartphone – it doesn’t matter whether the device is an iPhone, a Blackberry, a ‘Droid, or any other brand of Smartphone. If you can access the internet, you can use this new Time Matters feature!
What are the benefits?
How many times have you been out of the office and face “down time”? You know, your client is running late for your appointment… there’s a break in your meeting… minutes of wasted time go ticking by. It’s not always practical to carry a laptop around. With Time Matters® Mobility, you can access your database back at your office through a secure transmission in real time. No extra software to install. No synching or cables required.
What can I access?
- “Selective” Case Information – with many more fields to come in future service releases
- Contact Information – with direct dialing from the contact record
- Billing Records – Track your time and expenses while on the go! Bill your cell phone call to the client as soon as it is complete; the billing record created by “Mobility” will behave just like any other TM billing record, meaning it is available for “transfer” to PC Law, Timeslips, Tabs3, or any other billing system into which Time Matters will integrate.
- Calendaring (Events and To Do’s) – not quite ready for release at this initial rollout, but will be made available with the first Service Release of the Version 11 product.
Will this work with my present version of Time Matters?
Time Matters Mobility will work only with Time Matters Version 11. If you’re on an Annual Maintenance Plan, you will automatically receive Version 11 when it is released.
How much will this cost?
Here’s the best news of all: If you have an Annual Maintenance Plan, you will get this new feature at no extra cost!
We expect to be hosting a series of informational seminars about all of the features of this new Time Matters release in the coming weeks leading up to, and immediately following, the scheduled release date. Contact us for details.
Give us a call at 1-877-ELS-0555 if you have any questions or would like to learn more about this upcoming Time Matters release.
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