Knowledge Management and the Paperless Practice Toolkit

I presented on knowledge management as part of the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education program: The Paperless Practice Toolkit: Taming the Technology Tiger

The panel was me and the two former attorneys at Goodwin Procter: James J. Berriman, Esq., of Evidox Corporation and Mark R. Mansoor, Esq., ClosingBinders.com.

I focused on search tools, wikis and cloud computing.  The audience was expecting the talk about search, but I think I really caught them off guard with my presentation on wikis and cloud computing. I fit those topics in by pointing out that if you are going paperless that means you are going digital. If you are going digital, there are new and better ways to create your documents and to store them.

The PowerPoint slide deck is below. After you play PowerPoint karaoke, you can view the slides with my notes over JD supra and see what I was talking about with the various images: The Paperless Practice Toolkit: Knowledge Management.

Paperless Practice Toolkit: Knowledge Management

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PEW Survey on Cloud Computing

The Pew Internet and American Life Project released a report on the use of cloud computing applications and services: Pew Survey: Use of Cloud Computing Applications and Services (.pdf).

"Some 69% of online Americans use webmail services, store data online, or use software programs such as word processing applications whose functionality is located on the web. Online users who take advantage of cloud applications say they like the convenience of having access to data and applications from any Web-connected device.
...
When asked why they use the different services that store personal information on the web, users cite a range of reasons that have mostly to do with ease and flexibility. They like how such services enable them to share data with others and let them easily access their data from any computer."

Thanks to beSpacific for pointing out this story: Pew Survey: Use of Cloud Computing Applications and Services.

More on Cloud Computing for Law Firms

Cloud computing has been in my mind lately. Either there are more conversations going on or I am just noticing them more. I ran across this post by Maggie Fox of Social Media Group: You store your money in the cloud - why not your data?

Maggie writes:

"You already store your money in the cloud. Your employer does not give you a bag of gold ingots on payday. They electronically transfer funds to a third party. Most of us are so comfortable with this that we don’t even think about it. . ."

So why should we so uncomfortable with keeping our documents and enterprise information in the cloud.  Maggie points out that there needs a more robust competitive environment for providers and government regulations need to be in place to make it viable.  The recent mistake on Google Chrome's Terms of Service [See: Making Terms of Service Clearer from the Official Google Blog.] One sided terms of service with no liability for a loss of data will not be acceptable for a business to embrace cloud computing.

The challenge will be determining the value of lost data. If the bank looses your $100 deposit, they owe you a $100. If the cloud computing provider loses 100GB data, how much is that data worth?

Of course the enterprise is just as capable of wiping out its own data on sources inside firewall.

Yesterday, I posted on knowledge management in the cloud through Practical Law: Knowledge Management and Practical Law Company. Sunday, I posted about the Xconomy cloud computing conference. Both of which came from my Cloud Computing and Law Firms post last week.

Xconomy’s Cloud Computing Extravaganza

As a follow-up to my post on Cloud Computing and Law Firms, I ran across the materials for a recent conference on cloud computing from Xconomy: Notes From Xconomy’s Cloud Computing Extravaganza. They have also posted the slides from conference:

• IBM executive Irving Wladawsky-Berger spoke on Cloud Computing: The Coming IT Cambrian Explosion
  Slideshow
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• Sun Microsystems VP Rich Zippel
  Project Caroline
  
• Microsoft’s Scott Jamison
  Microsoft Software + Services slides

Says Irving Wladawsky-Berger:

"Nicholas Carr nicely framed the historical shift to cloud computing in his keynote, which was based on his recent book, The Big Switch. Carr first talked about the evolution of power plants in the 19th century. In the early days, companies usually generated their own power with steam engines and dynamos. But with the rise of highly sophisticated, professionally run electric utilities, companies stopped generating their own power and plugged into the newly built electric grid.

IT, said Carr, is the next great technology that is going through a similar transformation. Many IT capabilities, now handled in a distributed way, will be centralized in highly industrialized, efficient, scalable data centers—Clouds—which should free companies to invest in innovation where it really matters to their business. Nick acknowledged that IT clouds are quite different in nature from electricity—more complex and diverse in the services they offer. So it is too early to tell how IT clouds will evolve."

Thanks to Lee Gesmer of MassLawBlog for his story:  Cloud Computing - The “Next Big Thing”?

Cloud Computing and Law Firms

I was sharply critical of the Law Firm CIO 100 panel for being dismissive of using Enterprise 2.0 tools. [See: Web 2.0 - What is Means to Law Firms] The Law Firm CIO 100 had a presentation on Google Apps and were impressed with the functionality and cost savings.  Apparently they were impressed with cloud computing approach of Google Apps, not the collaboration approach.

As Dave Rigali commented on that post:

"In the end, it was the economics of something like Google Apps that caught the CIOs attention. Isn't this where their focus should be?"

Cloud computing can show a tangible cast savings and return on investment.  The same is not true for enterprise 2.0 for law firms.  The benefits of the knowledge sharing and platform communications are difficult to measure at law firms. Law firm revenue is tied to hourly billing. Most enterprise 2.0 and knowledge management tools lead to efficiency, which is a reduction in hours for a task, and a direct reduction in revenue. You need to make the leap that those gains in efficiency will lead to better client satisfaction, increased realization, stronger client relationships and improved attorney satisfaction.

Cloud computing offers lots of possibilities.  I first became interested in the possibility after listening to Rishi Chandra, Product Manager, Google Enterprise, give a brief presentation on cloud computing at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference: Working in the Cloud: How Cloud Computing is Reshaping Enterprise Technology.

Anita Campbell posts on the {App}Gap:  Cloud Computing - Get Used to the Term.  The term "cloud computing" did not spring up as significant Google search term until October, 2007. Anita offers a few definitions of cloud computing.

Over the past weekend, I saw Dennis McDonald post on his Lesson Learned From Using Google Docs. Like the Law Firm CIO 100, he thinks the product needs a lot of improvements but sees much value:

"In summary, Google Docs is impressive. The fact it is available free and can be configured to run locally are additional reasons to consider it for serious applications. Still, I can see how introducing its use into an organization accustomed to more traditional tools might take some time."

I have used Google Docs to write a few of my print articles. See: Wiki While You Work and Wikis and Document Management Systems at Law Firms. I find it a great way to collaborate with co-authors and editors. I really like that I had quick and easy access to edit the articles whenever I had internet access.

It is clear that the tools need some improvement before they will be adopted by large law firms. But the cost savings and ease of maintenance make for a compelling reason to consider cloud computing.