From the 21st Floor

Best Buy's Social Technology Strategy

2009-04-14T03:05:03Z

This short video is worth watching on how Best Buy is adopting social technology to change their business strategy.

Why Advertising in Print is Still Smart

2009-01-14T02:29:09Z

This isn’t a researched post. It isn’t one that has a lot of stats or basis to stand on. It is a pure observation that may or may not spark a conversation. I read headlines and hear from colleagues that all the advertising spending in print continues to decrease. It’s moving to online advertising or being cut out completely. This is accelerated even more with the economy saying hello to the ground floor when it has been on an express ride to the skydeck the last few years. However, I think companies and advertisers are missing a point, an opportunity. Better, I don’t think companies “get it” when it comes to marketing their products and services.

I heard on the morning news today that despite the economy, companies are still willing to spend $3M for 30 seconds on NBC for the Super Bowl. 30 seconds in one of the most popularized, entertainment sporting events of the year. Sure, your exposure is to millions of viewers (and a few football fans while you’re at it). Some companies will spend about that much money to nail that 30 seconds for your attention. To resonate with you to take some action. What will be the return? How can it be measured? Sure there are ways, but the measurement is a conversion from one medium to another. TV to Brick and Mortar or TV to Online. Let’s repeat this, the measurement of success will most likely be a measurement of a conversion from one medium to another. That’s where advertisers are missing the point in print.

Traditional uses of print advertising has been mostly around awareness. It's about branding. But the problem is many companies haven't adjusted their print strategies to consumer behavior. They see that print isn't returning results like it used to, and it's too hard to "measure" a return. The reality is that the C-level management want faster results, and print isn't one for "timely" analytics compared to online advertising. Additionally, circulation is still a "best guess" number, not as hard-core as actual pageviews/impressions that can be given in online advertising. I get it, make sure you receive value for what you are paying for. However, it's reality.

Arguments for why online advertising is better than print are completely valid.

Better tracking
Instant measurement
Smaller buys can render bigger results
Target, segment, target, segment
Test, tweak, test, tweak

Yes, the are all good. But let’s not forget that people still read magazines and journals. They still like flipping through pages at stuff they can’t buy, or may want to buy, or are interested in. Online advertising, while instantly measurable, still has banner blindness. The fear that a click on an ad will mean they will get more ads, or spam, or more pop-ups. Seeing a full page ad in your favorite magazine means you can read it, flip past it, come back to it, read it again, and then make a decision to do more. No fear. They are in control.

Advertisers need to continue to understand consumer behavior. Understand that your opportunity to grab one’s attention is still valuable in print publications. Understand how you can create an effective campaign to go from offline to online and still measure success. They need to accept the fact that the return on that media buy for an ad in a magazine isn't going to show results for weeks after delivery. But the incentive has to change. You have to get the consumer to change mediums. Print to online is possible. The messaging has to be right, valuable, yet still enticing enough for somone to go online to do more.

Go back to my Super Bowl example. How long of a lead time do you think companies are taking to get a campaign together for that $3M investment. Weeks? Months? Now how long do you think it could take to put together a campaign and media buy for a print pub? Yes, publishers still need weeks of lead-time, printing, and delivery. So it may be on par with a TV advertisement, but not as expensive. Not a one-time 30 second shot.

Integrate your marketing campaigns into multiple channels. Print shouldn’t be ignored. It still holds value, especially when it is being adapted to new mediums. For instance, Digital publications. Migrating to the Kindle and other digital readers. When evaluating your marketing dollars, don't forget the print publication. It's not dead. It's still valuable. While patience is a virtue, management needs to know print can still return results.

How I Plan to Use Twitter in 2009

2009-01-06T02:27:37Z

Twitter is one of those social media tools that is hard to ignore, but a lot of people are not sure how to use it. Personally, I use Twitter as a resource, a pulse of the industries I follow, and for business. I try not to use Twitter to update what my kid did today or other mindless comments. That being said, of course the occasional tweet like that and local news will filter into the stream.

I’ve tried a few strategies on how to use Twitter in 2008 from only following my friends and people I’ve met, to being very selective, to following a ton of people in industries and following almost everyone who follows me (which sometimes I really wonder how they find me). I tried the Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki) approach of getting the fire hose and then paying attention to replies and direct messages. I’ve tried to use it as a sounding board with little success. But that may be attributed to how little I tweet in the first place. I’ve seen Twitter used very successfully as a networking tool from the sorts of Kevin O’Keefe (@kevinokeefe) and Peter Flashner (@flashlight). However, as we enter 2009 I will use a new strategy. This is important to note because it will help you determine if you want to follow me or not as well as if I will follow you in reciprocation.

If you follow me @FredFaulknerIV you will find useful information. Follow me if you like what I tweet/retweet. Follow me if you are into social media, marketing, business, and associations. Don’t follow me solely for where I work. I will occasionally tweet about work I do for my employer. This will be for good reasons, but not a regular occurrence.

I will also use this Twitter account to also network with others (virtually at first, and hopefully in person at some point in the future). I believe the power of tweets can start conversations, first publicly, then privately over direct messages, and then to email.

The concept of Twitter isn't going away. MovableType is releasing Motion as part of their platform in early 2009, which can make that platform a major player in the social platform market. Businesses are jumping on Twitter and using successfully. See what Shell Israel is doing with Twitterville. But with all things social media, 2009 will be all about moderation.

So look out for the concept of a Tweet, or a short 140 character message. It is changing the way we think about communicating, what we communicate, and can we be effective in what we say.

Change: Obama and Use of Technology, Marketing, and Social Media

2008-11-07T13:59:33Z

I don’t think anyone can argue that Barak Obama made history this week. While the popular vote was no landslide, unlike the electoral college, Obama had several strategic game changers during election campaign that separated him from his opponent. So it should come as no surprise that everyone is now writing about how organizations can use the same tactics and strategies and apply them to their own organization. Here are just a few articles and blog posts worth reading over.

Obama's Seven Lessons for Radical Innovators - Harvard Business Publishing

What Newsrooms Can Learn From Obama - Recovering Journalist Blog

How Better Marketing Elected Barack Obama - Harvard Business Publishing

BNET: Obama’s Communications Moving at Warp Speed

While the use of technology will was not the only game changer in the Obama campaign, it played a significant role in my opinion. His campaign strategically found ways to connect with his constituents by allowing them to campaign on his behalf through myBarakObama blogs, using text messaging for updates, using YouTube to let video messages go viral, and use of his ever growing email database.

While I certainly can’t dissect his entire campaign strategy, he also brilliantly executed an integrated marketing strategy. He took the concept of “small is the new big” by asking for small donations from individuals, not the maximum from them at once. Additionally, he asked his database of volunteers and advocates to do small things such as calling friends and strangers about his campaign, which resulted in a huge workforce.

I think Obama executed two strategies extremely well during his campaign. First, he brilliantly used social media to empower his followers. Jermiah Owyang, a Forrester analyst on Social Media, researched and found stats on how Obama and McCain used social media. While Owyang won’t draw any correlations to the use of social media to his win, Obama commanded the use of the Internet. I believe it was that use of technology that helped, if for nothing else, give him exposure to a larger population of voters. McCain followed suit by participating in the same space, but I believe the generation gap of a 70+ year old using MySpace and Facebook wasn’t as authentic as a 40+ year old. In fact to compete with Obama’s “MyBarakObama”, McCain launched McCainSpace using social network took Kick-Apps.

Obama’s second strategic win was how he treated his volunteers, and that was with respect and authenticity. He would send a message (or tried on several occasions to mixed results) to his volunteers and donors informing them of what he was going to do next before he would do it to the media. He understood that by informing this audience first he not only respected that they want information, but knew that they would spread that message beyond what the media could accomplish. However, by informing his volunteers and donors first he also put transparency on his campaign and that, in my opinion, is a level of authenticity that builds trust.

And Obama’s not done either. Change.gov launched yesterday getting not only himself ready for the next four years, but informing the American people as well. As technology evolves, going back to the U.S. Mail distributing pamphlets to America back in the beginning of our country to TV bringing a face and live debate to every home to the Internet, our public officials and government will change as well. If Obama uses the Internet as much during his presidency as he did during his campaign, change won’t be just that an African American is at 1600 Pennsylvania, it will be how he has enabled the entire country to speak to him to make changes the American people want.

What's Next? 5 Things You Need to Be Thinking About

2008-10-20T20:36:49Z

Ah, and you thought you were going to see a post of genius did you? Well, not yet. That's the topic of a presenation I'm giving on Thursday to a group of State Bar communications staff. I have a few things in mind, but what are your thoughts? Still room to tweak my presentation. Add your top 5 in the comments. After the presentation I'll be posting the slides and notes.

Why OpenID Makes Sense

2008-09-30T01:07:29Z

Today's Wall Street Journal called One Key Fits All tells a tale of something that has been on my mind a lot lately. In the world where websites are requiring users to create accounts to participate from commenting on blogs to reading archives of a newspaper website, user accounts are inevitable. However, from a usability perspective, it is a pain in the rear to remember all the different variations of user names, passwords, email addresses, etc. for all of these websites you may participate in. The concept of OpenID enters the picture as a potential solution to this problem. Ideally it would be the one-stop-shop of user account management.

For those not familiar with OpenID, it is:

...a shared identity service, which allows Internet users to log on to many different web sites using a single digital identity, single sign-on, eliminating the need for a different user name and password for each site. OpenID is a decentralized, free and open standard that lets users control the amount of personal information they provide. (Source: WikiPedia)

Where OpenID gets interesting is when you think about taking it beyond social websites and think of it with larger corporations. It is one thing for Yahoo!, Microsoft, or Google to accept an OpenID protocol, but entirely another with your bank, utilities, and investment websites start to accept it. Think about all the different online accounts you manage, how many of them can you manage with the same login and password. I "try" to use the same information for most of my sites, however, it doesn't work that way always. Can it be more convenient? Yes.

However, it has several impacts beyond just logging in. Security, fraud issues, and framework maturity are still outstanding for other major corporations ot adopt it. But think about a level of websites beyond blogs, but not quite your financial institutions. Can associations adopt this and make it work? Of course! Can media websites adopt this an make it work? Of course! Currently over 22,000 websites accept OpenID (including this blog) as a form of identification. It is projected that this number of sites will reach close to 50,000 by the end of this year. So if you have a login/register process for your website, why aren't you looking at something that will make it easier for users to manage their account with your site? Take a look at offering OpenID as an alternative to your current login procedures.

Back in Action: From the 21st Floor Returns

2008-09-25T01:47:19Z

It's been a while and I've decided to start writing again. The focus of From the 21st Floor is going to change slightly. It will still be about the BIG picture related to business and marketing. However, I'm going to be writing a lot more about social media. Social media has become a major focus for me at work and with my new department I run (Interactive Services). However, while other sites are looking at the "newest" thing or keeping a pulse of all the Web 2 (3,4,5.0) start ups and companies, I'm going to be looking at what makes sense to use.

I'm not done updating the site. I've imported almost all of my previous site into this version (articles, blog posts, etc.). I've added an Opinion Poll on the homepage, which I'll be updating regularly. I've added my Twitter stream to the site, and you can follow me at faulknef if you want to see what I'm up to or thinking about on a regular basis between posts. I'm shooting for at least one post a week.

So nothing profound to start this up again, just an update. Hello blogosphere...I'm back.

The People Have Spoken - We Won a Webby!

2008-05-06T19:30:33Z

The ABA Journal has won the People's Voice Webby Award for the category of Law today. Thanks to all that voted.

Webby Award's Finalists Announced: Vote Now for People's Voice in Law Category

2008-04-09T16:34:26Z

Last year you may remember me writing about a project I worked on redesigning and launching a new website for our flagship periodical, ABA Journal. It was just announced that the ABA Journal website has become a finalist in the Law category of the People's Voice section of the Webby Awards (an online award for websites). So spend a little time, vote for the ABA Journal and help us win a Webby! Winners are announced on May 6th.

Can't Go to ABA TECHSHOW - Follow the Buzz

2008-03-13T16:07:47Z

ABA TECHSHOW 2008 starts today. I will be popping in and out over the next two days, but if you can't attend, I recommend visiting the TECHSHOW Buzz page. TECHSHOW Buzz was developed to bring social tools into the conference experience. See attendees thoughts through Tweets on Twitter. See photos from the conference with a Flickr tag feed. See the buzz around the blogosphere with aggregates Technorati, Google Blog search, and more via a Yahoo! Pipe. Finally, see what websites attendees are looking at via del.icio.us tagging.

I'll be going over for the Keynote today on Internet Privacy with my new team.

ABA TECHSHOW 2008 Next Week

2008-03-06T19:16:16Z

ABA TECHSHOW^® is next week and for all you legal professionals who dig technology--this is the conference for you. Multiple days and multiple tracks of educational sessions, how-tos, and tips to get you through your busy day more efficiently. This year it is at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, so new location for those of you who have gone in the past. It's still not too late to attend. I believe online registration is closed, but never fear, you can show up on site and still get in.

Tracks this year include:

Advanced IT/Security
Client Relationships - NEW!
E-Discovery
Going Green - NEW!
Internet
Large Firm / Corporate Counsel - NEW!
Litigation
Mac Track - NEW!
Microsoft Office
Mobile Technology
Paperless Office - NEW!
Records Management
Roundtables
Show Me How
Solo/Small Firm I
Solo/Small Firm II

I will be in and out as I'm no longer directly associated with the group inside the ABA that puts the conference on. If you are going to be there and want to meet up, drop me a line.

LIVE! Day 2 at Forrester Consumer Forum 2007

2007-10-12T13:15:24Z

Day one had a great line up of speakers and content. Day two looks like it will be no different.

Here is my Twitter Stream which I will be updating during the day. I'll then recap later.

LIVE! From Forrester Consumer Forum

Full Twitter String
RSS Feed

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Online Community Sites of Note:

Dell Community
IdeaExchange by Salesforce
Real World New Cast Member by MTV
IdeaStorm by Dell

LIVE! Observations and Thoughts from Forrester Consumer Forum 2007

2007-10-11T16:30:50Z

Updated: 3:45pm

I'm at the Forrester Consumer Forum in Chicago today and tomorrow. I'll be writing my thoughts and observations on the content from the conference here.

So far there have been some great speakers. The theme of the conference is around the online world, social integration, advertising, and how your company can understand and take advantage of this medium. The format of the Forum is pretty cool. Short presentation on targeted topics, then a "coffee talk" type Q&A with the speaker (literally two chairs with an end-table on a stage w/ two large video screens on each side). The dialog is great and personal to those in the audience.

Kicking off the conference was Forrester Vice President and senior analyst Charlene Li. Charlene does a lot of her research around the social technographics. Who is using the social tools, how, and to what level of participation.

Christie Hefner from Playboy had a great keynote on how Playboy has truly been able to leverage the Playboy brand in ways that most companies would drool over. It is amazing how they have been able to integrate new solutions successfully from Print, to TV, to Online, and now Mobile. They have brought the brand beyond the print publication(s) to the real world, and now virtual world with an entry into Second Life. They also have been able to leverage a key demographic and target market by launching PlayboyU, a social space for college students with an .edu email address.

3:45pm
Richard Edelman, president and ceo of Edelmen PRgave one of the most forward thinking perspectives when it comes to PR/MR. It resonates with a lot of what I've been thinking about when it comes to control of messages, brands, and the interaction with your consumers (and in my work, members and consumers). One of the biggest take-aways was the reality of how the traditional media triangle works. It used (and in many corporations still is) to be that a few influencers controlled the conversation and distributed it to the masses. It has touch points of how it got distributed and they all came back to the same message. The internet, and social media such as blogs, ratings, reviews, etc. changes that model. Today if someone wants to have information about some topic, the influencers are now bloggers, customers, like-minded individuals who publish online. Companies have to realize that there is a limited amount of influential control they have left. Now, the mass audience make up their own minds--right, wrong, or in-different.

I also got to attend one of track sessions. It was about how User Generated Content, or UGC, can have a place in corporate strategies. The panel included representatives from Dell, QVC, and Baazarvoice. Each explained how they have taken UGC and integrated it into their company strategies. From Dell's IdeaStorm, a customer feedback site that allows users to rate feedback for popularity, to how QVC uses real-time feedback to inject into their programming. UGC is a tough cookie to crack and how to use it. Let alone if it really does. Many of us have wondered how to make it work. We are fearful of the backlash and if execs can even swallow the fact that they are not in control of what goes on. But that's OK. Rather, we need to find ways that work for us. For example, customer reviews. Having all positive customer reviews on a product page in reality is just product testimonials. You need negative reviews to show authenticity. Companies have to understand how UGC works, it is written by passionate individuals (for good or bad) and it is often intended to help like minded individuals (though companies can listen and learn from them). Monetizing on this type of feedback and content is still a challenge, but models are being formed and success is in the results--more products shipped and more revenue generated.

I'll be updating this more with my notes and perceptions. This is just the beginning so I can pay attention to the presentations and blogging at the same time.

Additional Coverage
Technorati
Forrester Marketing Blog
Flickr

Law News Now - ABA Journal Launches New Website

2007-07-23T15:38:11Z

This morning the ABA Journal launched a brand new website that fills a void in the legal news space that will be tough to beat. Summarizing 25 to 50 legal news items a day (RSS Feed), the Journal aggregates the legal news world in one spot. In addition to legal news, the Journal editorializes what is the "most important" legal news you need to be aware of by highlighting "Top Stories" (RSS Feed). Not stopping there, the new site brings their print edition online with full access to the current issue as well as archives back to 2005 (with plans to go even further). Finally, the Journal has a blawg (legal blog) directory which currently has over 1000 blogs categorized and more are added daily.

These are just a few of the highlights. In reality, there is a lot behind this redesign that is cool. Some of the "not so obvious" secrets include:

The Slider - an interactive sliding bar similar to what you would see on Time.com or Washington Post.com. It will highlight special features and parts of the monthly magazine.
Advanced Search - Most advanced search boxes take you to a separate page with new fields to check off for narrowed searches. Not this site! Click "Advanced Search" and get an AJAX slider presenting you with some new options for you to narrow your results.
Action Bar - Get directly to comments, Share/E-mail uses a similar AJAX slider feature, Permalink, and Print.
Commenting - Add your opinion to our posts and magazine stories. Comments will be open for 7 days past news items and 30 days past magazine articles. Name and email required as well as filling out a CAPTCHA and agreeing to some terms/disclaimer.
Mobile Edition - Stay up-to-date on the most recent posts with your smartphone. Be sure to bookmark http://mobile.abajournal.com.

This site was a large undertaking and in reality went from memo to launch in just about five months. This was very aggressive when you think about all the decisions that need to be made from functionality, to wireframing, selecting vendors to work with, design/comp, filling with content, beta-testing, fixing bugs, training, and launch. My work with the Journal was specific to translating business goals and functionality into working documents for vendors, developing some beta templates, and providing training on specific functionality and business processes.

The great thing about the web and a website like this is that it is never really "done" and believe me when I say that this site will continue to improve with new features, functionality, and reasons to visit on a regular basis. So bookmark the site (www.abajournal.com), sign up for a newsletter or grab an RSS feed or two and be sure to keep tabs on this site.

On a personal note, congrats to the ABA Journal (specifically to Ed, Molly, Deb, Martha, and Sarah) on a job well done.

Update:

A few other aspects I forgot to point out about the new ABA Journal website:

Daily and Weekly Newsletters & RSS Feeds - Pick your poison, get news via RSS feeds for top stories and daily news, or subscribe to the daily and weekly email newsletters. Daily will recap the last day's worth of content; weekly will cover the top ten posts of the week.

Tag Cloud - Having your topics sorted in alpha order is nice, seeing a tag cloud is better! See how many entries we have pertaining to a topic on the Topics page and on the Tag Cloud tab. Categories are alpha left to right and are weighted against the number of items in each category based on the news items and the magazine content.

Other opinions:

Read some other opinions of the new site:

Denise Howell @ Bag and Baggage

Dennis Kennedy @ DennisKennedy.blog [Note: Dennis and I are friends as well as having previously worked together at the ABA, so this one is a little "slanted" in my favor. ]

Eric Turkewitz @ New York Personal Injury Law Blog

Bill Gratsch @ Blawg.org

Ernie "the attorney" Svenson @ Ernie the Attorney

Carolyn Elefant @ MyShingle

Mark Obbie @ The Carnegie Legal Reporting Program at Newhouse Blog

Are You Ready for the Web-Based Office?

2007-06-07T02:35:15Z

Example Scenario

This article originally was published in the May 2007 issue of LLRX.

You have worked for a large firm for many years and you have made the decision to either go solo or start a small firm. You were used to having access to all your information via an Intranet, file server, and your desktop. You could practice law and let the IT department worry about when the printer jammed or if you got a virus. Now that you are solo, you are the one that has to deal with all those problems as well as practice law.

It is no secret that one of the largest concerns for new and existing solo lawyers has to do with building an infrastructure for your new firm. Specifically, technology related concerns impact this group the most; computers, office software, security, back-up, billing software, case management, etc. The options are either to invest in all the technology yourself and spend a lot of time, money, and energy keeping all the systems running properly, troubleshooting problems, and performing regular maintenance, or outsource all of this overhead for someone else to manage on your behalf. However, you became a solo to practice law, not troubleshoot technology applications each day.

Alternatives to the two scenarios above do exist. You can invest in Web-based tools to take some of the burden off of you, and let someone else worry about the back-up, security, and maintenance. The benefits allow you to practice law and have fewer worries about issues that may come up regarding the technology itself. The downside is that if your Internet connection goes out, you cannot do much. Even worse is if the hosting company that you are using has severe problems, your data may be lost forever. I'll cover some of the tools that are available for you to explore as well as raise concerns of relying on such Web-based services for your daily work.

Tools Available

There are many office and support tools available in Web-based formats that can lessen your office overhead.

Google's Products

Google continues to roll-out new web-based office applications that are worth reviewing. The company started with an email client called Gmail and through acquisitions and their own development teams, have expanded their offerings to include office applications. Currently Google provides the following:

Google Docs (word processing and spreadsheets)

Gmail

Google Calendar

iGoogle (personalized page)

Google Docs and Google Calendar offer collaborative functions, allowing them to be shared others. Both services are free. Google also has a version of their office tools in a complete package that is fee based.

Google offers a small business package (Standard Package is free, Premier Package is $50 per year per user) includes:

A customizable Start Page

Google Docs and Spreadsheets

Page Creator (basic webpage with a WYSIWYG editor)

Gmail account

Google Talk (IM/VOIP)

Google Calendar

Control Panel to manage accounts and your domain

Help and support

Extensible APIs to integrate with other third party software

This can be a very powerful combination of tools for solos and small firms who are looking to reduce overhead and IT support for basic office functions.

ZoHo' Products

ZoHo is a brand of AdventNet, a software company. Their free and for pay services offer a wide range of options for solos and small firms who are looking to reduce IT overhead. Like Google, their Web-hosted tools provide a lot of functionality, but not a full suite such as Microsoft Office. Currently Zoho has the following product offerings:

Writer

Sheet

Show

Calendar and Email

Project

Planner

Wiki

Chat

Notebook (private beta)

Mail (private beta)

Tom Mighell recently wrote about the benefits and differences between Google and ZoHo's products vs. Microsoft Office in the March issue of Law Practice Magazine. One of the biggest drawbacks of using these services has to do with back-up. Tom reports that neither Google nor ZoHo offer bulk back-up to another source. You must download each file individually to your local computer prior to transfer to another data back-up location.

37Signals' Products

While being able to replicate what a Microsoft Office Suite might offer is important for solos and small firms, there are other tools that will help manage your office. 37Signals based in Chicago, offers a variety of Web-based tools that address needs such as project management (or case management if you want to think if it in that perspective) and Client Relationship Management. Known for producing simple to use tools that offer many features but are not overwhelming, 37Signals products include:

Highrise (CRM - Customer Relationship Management)

Basecamp (Project Management)

37Signals' products also offer many other opportunities as each of their products have APIs (application programming interface), which allow for other software to interact with theirs. A great example is their Basecamp product. This project management tool allows you to collaborate with others on a project by setting tasks, milestones with reminders, and file management for that project. If you purchase their comprehensive package of services it will even do time tracking. One feature Basecamp does not offer is billing or invoicing. That's where FreshBooks comes in. They use the Basecamp API to allow their web-based billing and invoice software to interact with Basecamp to allow you to create invoices for each project. Of course you would need a FreshBooks account to make this happen, but having those two applications talk to each other makes sending out bills and invoices seamless.

Concerns for Lawyers

As the new generation of Web-based services and software arrives, lawyers will always have concerns. Do you reduce your overhead costs by outsourcing these tools or do you manage all of them yourself? If you do take a serious look at using Web-based tools, then privacy, data security, and copyright of content will be issues with which you will have to deal. This is particularly important if you plan to use "free" versions. Catherine Sanders Reach, Director of the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center, recently wrote on the group's Site-tation site about the cost of free resources. Ms. Reach stated "…attorney's must give thought to the potential repercussions of relying on free technology for mission-critical functions." And she is correct. If for some reason your free web-based email service is down and clients can't contact you efficiently, that certainly impacts business.

Ultimately, you have to be comfortable with the due diligence you perform in backing up your data, understanding what you are really giving up by using free services, and evaluating how these factors impact your clients and their respective matters.

What Does the Total Package Lack?

At this time I think there are several hurdles that must be overcome before any lawyer or business professional can truly use web-based tools to manage essential office tasks.

Simple single sign-on: Of all the online tools that I use, test, and experiment with, one of the nice things about the Google products is that I don't have to re-login to use each application. Single sign-on is important for users who use multiple web-based applications from the same vendor. Of course if you decide to pick different products from different vendors this may always be an issue. OpenID may solve this problem (a universal unique identifier many web-based companies are adopting for access).

Access to third party back-up sources: Data security is always going to be on the mind of any lawyer or small business owner. This means that if you want to ship your data off to a third party security/storage center you need to be able to have the ability to do this at any time.

Smartphone access/integration: The world is quickly becoming more mobile. The expectation to have access to all your information at any given time is also becoming more mainstream. If you worked at a larger firm, what was your required response time? I understand some firms require their lawyers' response to clients must be within 2 hours of receipt. Web-based products need to have the ability to integrate with Smartphones (Treo, BlackBerry, Q, BlackJack, etc.) to allow lawyers access to their contacts, documents, and email directly from their mobile device.

Central Start Center: Finally what would be very desirable is the ability to have a central start center which you can log-in when you get to work, have a portal that gives you access to all these applications as well as the ability to pull in other information like local news, custom search, and maybe even sports scores. Applications like iGoogle (now their name-brand for their personalized page) and NetVibes help do this, but these sites still have limitations, although they are improving continuously.

Ultimately, you can become relatively efficient with current Web-based applications. For the "office" applications, you need to be diligent in using the Web-app as an application, not as a storage facility. If you are finished writing or collaborating on a document, export it out to save in some other location. This does not mean you cannot re-import it and work on it again, but you should think of these as applications only as a tool, not as a complete, final solution.

By using Web-based applications, you can reduce the overhead dedicated to operating your office. Be diligent in checking the terms of use and privacy statements of all "free" applications. Be cautious of using vendors who are still small and have the potential to fold at any given moment (namely anything in "beta"). You do not want to lose your data forever because the lights go out in Silicon Valley. Finally, use the tools you feel most comfortable using. If you are a WordPerfect or Microsoft Word pro and use special features, equivalent Web-based applications will not serve your needs. Be smart about the tools you use and you will find the benefits and efficiencies come with those decisions.

What concerns you most about web-based office solutions replacing traditional desktop applications? Let me know at fred@frederickfaulkner.com.