by Doug Hafford, Afinety+ Zine, Spring 2012
In the legal industry, there is a lot of confusion about what Email archiving really is, why a firm might want or need it, and how it works. In this article, I will distinguish between the different types of archives and provide the information needed to make educated decisions on the options available in a law firm network. We will start with some background on how things were handled in the past.
For years, users who have large mailboxes have resorted to the older standard .PST file to reduce the size of their mailbox with mixed levels of success. This is a cumbersome process and can actually slow Outlook if the .PST files are being opened automatically. Often users would do this on their own, which meant that these important archives were stored on the users’ local “C:” drive. Thus, if the PC had an issue with its hard disk, the archive was irretrievably lost. Some firms chose to move these archive files to a backed up location on a server, but this could cause even lower performance. In short, this was a poor solution to a user who had reasons to keep significant amounts of email.
Many users have simply given up because the amount of mail they want access to is dauntingly large. These are generally attorneys and they simply cannot give up the billable hours they generate by spending the time to organize, groom and generally maintain the massive amount of email. Simply put, it continues to grow, along with their frustration since their Outlook performance is degrading day by day.
In corporate America the concept of Email Bankruptcy has started to take root. A person will send an email to all contacts declaring email bankruptcy. The message says that if anyone is waiting for an answer, ask again because they have deleted all of their email and are starting over!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Offsite Backup and Disaster Recovery Systems: Sending Data to the Cloud!
by Doug Hafford, Afinety+ 25th Anniversary Edition, Fall 2011
In the last year, and especially in recent months, there have been a host of new offerings for both offsite backup and disaster recovery systems. When considering these highly desirable options, it is extremely valuable to truly understand what you are getting. Many offerings appear to be similar, yet have wildly different cost structures, so a bit of education on what questions to ask and how to evaluate can help you make a wise recommendation for your firm.
Is Your Data Safe in the Cloud?
Without getting too deeply into terms like SAS70 and the various security certifications, the answer is generally a whole hearted yes! Assuming you are considering a major name brand supplier, the data centers which store your data are far more secure than your own internal network is, can be or ever will be. These companies spend vast amounts of money on hardware, software and security engineering to achieve the proper certifications they need to allow them to service highly demanding corporate clients. Far more than you will ever spend, or need to spend on your local Sonicwall or other firewall. Often we find smaller firms with only rudimentary firewall capabilities enabled on their Internet router so this should not be a major concern for you – again if you are using a trusted name brand. In addition, your data is encrypted by these suppliers before it ever leaves your site so that even during transmission to the offsite facility, the data is safe and secure. In fact, many of these suppliers -- while they can verify backups and ensure the integrity of your backup--cannot actually see the data itself.
In the last year, and especially in recent months, there have been a host of new offerings for both offsite backup and disaster recovery systems. When considering these highly desirable options, it is extremely valuable to truly understand what you are getting. Many offerings appear to be similar, yet have wildly different cost structures, so a bit of education on what questions to ask and how to evaluate can help you make a wise recommendation for your firm.
Is Your Data Safe in the Cloud?
Without getting too deeply into terms like SAS70 and the various security certifications, the answer is generally a whole hearted yes! Assuming you are considering a major name brand supplier, the data centers which store your data are far more secure than your own internal network is, can be or ever will be. These companies spend vast amounts of money on hardware, software and security engineering to achieve the proper certifications they need to allow them to service highly demanding corporate clients. Far more than you will ever spend, or need to spend on your local Sonicwall or other firewall. Often we find smaller firms with only rudimentary firewall capabilities enabled on their Internet router so this should not be a major concern for you – again if you are using a trusted name brand. In addition, your data is encrypted by these suppliers before it ever leaves your site so that even during transmission to the offsite facility, the data is safe and secure. In fact, many of these suppliers -- while they can verify backups and ensure the integrity of your backup--cannot actually see the data itself.
Your Next Network: What you can expect with a network upgrade
by Doug Hafford: Afinety+ Zine, Spring 2011
Over that last five years, dramatic changes have taken place in the IT industry. While often slow on adopting new technologies, law firms will see more positive changes in their next network upgrade than ever before. At no time in the past has so much improvement in law firm technology taken place in such a short time span. So what is new for you?
Windows 7
This is the most obvious and one of the best upgrades you can expect for your firm. Windows 7 is fast, reliable and can run just about any software you may have – assuming it is a current version. Most firms are still running Windows XP Pro which is now over 11 years old! In this amount of time, the sheer amount of patches and security updates is simply overwhelming. There are so many updates that our analysis tool used to examine clients’ desktops produces a list of updates 5 pages long! Imagine a PC with hundreds of applications running all at once and you will get some idea of the freight train that is Windows XP. So your firm will benefit from the streamlined operating system but there is more. Windows 7 also offers new features such as search, pinning, snap and shake which might save only a mouse click or two per instance but, by the end of the day, you will save about 30 minutes of time! Perhaps the best feature is that Windows 7 can see as much memory as you want (up to 32GB) on your desktop (compared to only 3GB with Windows XP). Thus the operating system is far smaller and the available memory much larger – leaving you with plenty of room to run even the most robust applications smoothly and at full speed.
Over that last five years, dramatic changes have taken place in the IT industry. While often slow on adopting new technologies, law firms will see more positive changes in their next network upgrade than ever before. At no time in the past has so much improvement in law firm technology taken place in such a short time span. So what is new for you?
Windows 7
This is the most obvious and one of the best upgrades you can expect for your firm. Windows 7 is fast, reliable and can run just about any software you may have – assuming it is a current version. Most firms are still running Windows XP Pro which is now over 11 years old! In this amount of time, the sheer amount of patches and security updates is simply overwhelming. There are so many updates that our analysis tool used to examine clients’ desktops produces a list of updates 5 pages long! Imagine a PC with hundreds of applications running all at once and you will get some idea of the freight train that is Windows XP. So your firm will benefit from the streamlined operating system but there is more. Windows 7 also offers new features such as search, pinning, snap and shake which might save only a mouse click or two per instance but, by the end of the day, you will save about 30 minutes of time! Perhaps the best feature is that Windows 7 can see as much memory as you want (up to 32GB) on your desktop (compared to only 3GB with Windows XP). Thus the operating system is far smaller and the available memory much larger – leaving you with plenty of room to run even the most robust applications smoothly and at full speed.
Handheld Explosion
by Doug Hafford, Afinety+ Zine, Fall 2010
The most rapidly changing portion of the IT world is the handheld. These include the venerable Blackberry, elegant iPhone, upstart Android, and now the eye-catching Apple iPad. Law firms are faced with the prospect of supporting these devices (or not) and the challenges they present to the firm’s IT solution. We are often asked if a client can reasonably support these devices and what other firms are doing. The answer is that they are easy to support and that choices vary from one firm to another.
There are really only two categories of handhelds: Blackberry or Not Blackberry. Research In Motion (RIM), the manufacturer of the Blackberry device was the first to market with a fully functional handheld that allowed the user to combine a phone, with email and contact information. The original devices were bulky and had only basic features, but they did work. From the beginning, this is what sets Blackberry apart. If you want a rugged, works all the time device then it is hard to beat the Blackberry in its various forms. When they were the only game in town, their market share was enormous and they captured both commercial and government business to an extent that it is still a challenge today for other devices in these sectors.
The most rapidly changing portion of the IT world is the handheld. These include the venerable Blackberry, elegant iPhone, upstart Android, and now the eye-catching Apple iPad. Law firms are faced with the prospect of supporting these devices (or not) and the challenges they present to the firm’s IT solution. We are often asked if a client can reasonably support these devices and what other firms are doing. The answer is that they are easy to support and that choices vary from one firm to another.
There are really only two categories of handhelds: Blackberry or Not Blackberry. Research In Motion (RIM), the manufacturer of the Blackberry device was the first to market with a fully functional handheld that allowed the user to combine a phone, with email and contact information. The original devices were bulky and had only basic features, but they did work. From the beginning, this is what sets Blackberry apart. If you want a rugged, works all the time device then it is hard to beat the Blackberry in its various forms. When they were the only game in town, their market share was enormous and they captured both commercial and government business to an extent that it is still a challenge today for other devices in these sectors.
LinkedIn – The Online Resume’
by Doug Hafford, Afinety+ Zine Spring 2010
My recent article on Social Networking covered a lot of ground with respect to the new ways you can put yourself or your firm out there on the web. In this article we will focus on the professional side of Social Networking sites; LinkedIn.
LinkedIn was founded in 2002 and launched in May of 2003 as a professional networking site. As of today, Linkedin has more than 60 million users in over 200 countries worldwide. Looking at those statistics alone tells you how valuable the service is if you want to get noticed, or connect with other professionals.
You start by setting up your own LinkedIn page. The process is very simple and free of charge. As you are entering your business information and even a picture or two, you quickly see that you are building a resume’. You can fill in as much or as little of your professional life as you wish including things like current position, past positions, education, your connections and other information. One of the very nice features of LinkedIn is that you can then publish some or all of your information to people outside LinkedIn by using their “public profile” feature. When a web search is done on your name, this will generally be one of the first things that come up. Thus you can have control over the initial impression people have of you when they want to find out more about you.
My recent article on Social Networking covered a lot of ground with respect to the new ways you can put yourself or your firm out there on the web. In this article we will focus on the professional side of Social Networking sites; LinkedIn.
LinkedIn was founded in 2002 and launched in May of 2003 as a professional networking site. As of today, Linkedin has more than 60 million users in over 200 countries worldwide. Looking at those statistics alone tells you how valuable the service is if you want to get noticed, or connect with other professionals.
You start by setting up your own LinkedIn page. The process is very simple and free of charge. As you are entering your business information and even a picture or two, you quickly see that you are building a resume’. You can fill in as much or as little of your professional life as you wish including things like current position, past positions, education, your connections and other information. One of the very nice features of LinkedIn is that you can then publish some or all of your information to people outside LinkedIn by using their “public profile” feature. When a web search is done on your name, this will generally be one of the first things that come up. Thus you can have control over the initial impression people have of you when they want to find out more about you.
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