In the past few years there have been a number of entrants into the area of Cloud-based practice management. These companies offer the promise of practice management Nirvana — run your practice on any device, from anywhere with no software installation, no server, and even no network. ActionStep, which has an installed base in New Zealand and Australia, has adapted its practice management system for the U.S. law market. I am going through their training curriculum this summer and will be releasing a formal review on TechnoLawyer’s SmallLaw newsletter in September. For now, here are a few highlights.
Category: Collaboration
ActionStep – First Looks
The New Basha Systems Support
Basha Systems uses a variety of tools to support its clients. We have standardized on the GoTo … suite of products. This includes GoToAssist for remote support, GoToMeetings for client sessions, and GoToWebinar for training. We also use GoToMeeting to remotely access our own internal computers and those of select clients who are not setup for unattended support with GoToAssist.
Click Now
We have recently restructured our website navigation to make it easier for you to get the prompt and thorough support our clients have come to expect of Basha Systems. This includes a big SUPPORT button on the top of every page. Be sure to call us first to ask for your “Support Key”; in moments we will be on your desktop, inside your computer, giving you the guidance you need.
TotalAttorneys – Cloud Based Practice Management for $1
T
otal Attorneys advertised practice management in the cloud for $1/month per user. I recently came across Josh Campman’s review (Choosing Practice Management Software Part 1.5 of 2) and checked out their website (TotalAttorneys.com). I have not had a chance to review the offering, but plan to in the future. For now though, I wish to note that price-points are not what they seem. For many cloud-based practice management systems, there is a fixed fee that covers everything. This is true for RocketMatter, Clio, and Houdini ESQ. For AdvologixPM, there is a base fee that cover quite a lot of features, but there are add-on’s for a few extra dollars a month per user. TotalAttorneys is different.
Forrester Report – ROI of Cloud Apps
The Forester Reasearch released to the public (via TechRepublic.com) a June 23, 2011, white paper titled: “The ROI of Cloud Apps: A Total Econimic Impact(TM) Analysis Uncovers Long-Term Value in Cluse Apps.” Below I will quote and highlight some key conclusions of this report.
Recognize that the report: analyzes the longer-term, five-year cost of ownership and value for cloud applications across four categories: customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), collaboration (including email), and IT service management.”
iPad blues with document management
I had another hour to kill, just me and my iPad. I thought I would check out GoogleDocs and other options. First stop was the app store. DocsToGo sounded promising but the reviews were mixed. The absence of spell check capabilities was bizarre, particularly since I was so used to the iPads intuitive correction as I typed. Could it really be missing. And then the reviews said the documents failed to synch on an iPad 2. Was it something about iCloud? So I took a pass. A further look at the feature list on the web site talks about entering text and automatic bullets. What is clear is that this was NOT a full fledged WordProcessor, but rather a rough-draft creator or rudimentary editing tool.