Partner Corner: CAPROS

Afinety regularly joins forces with other professionals in the legal industry to help deliver the best possible IT services to our clients. The company we keep - our partners - help to make that happen.

 

One partner we're honored to work with is CAPROS. Consisting of the combined chapters of the SoCalPROS and NorCalPROS, CAPROS is a group of professionals representing highly respected service and product providers. Their outstanding reputations, level of commitment to their clients, and diversified expertise make them a unique professional organization and a respected resource center for businesses throughout the state. Afinety is a proud member of both SoCalPROS and NorCalPROS. This provides us with a deep referral base for the finest professional services that California has to offer.

 

We realize that efficiency is the highest priority for any business. CAPROS provide experts who reduce the administrative costs for our clients' firms while increasing productivity at the same time.

 

To learn more about CAPROS or how they can help you to reduce costs while tapping into one of the most respected resource centers for business in California, contact Angie Moskalenko at 877.423.4638, or visit www.gocapros.com.

TECH TIP: How to Recover Text from Any File

The following tech tip is from the MS Knowledge Base and provided by Patrick Cabral, Systems Engineer at Afinety.  Patrick is also one of our trainers.  This is a very useful tool if your document is corrupt.

The MS Word "Recover Text from Any File" converter allows you to extract the text from any file, whether it’s a Word or non-Word document.

The "Recover Text from Any File" converter has its limitations. Document formatting is lost, along with anything that is not formatted as text. Graphics, fields, drawing objects, and so on are not converted. However, headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, and field text are retained as simple text.  You are able to recover the information even if your document is damaged.  Please see the following instructions:

Client of the Quarter: Gorelick & Uslaner, CPAs

Winter/Spring 2013

 

Each quarter, Afinety selects a firm to name as the "Outstanding Client of the Quarter." This quarter we would like to recognize Gorelick & Uslaner, CPAs. The firm will receive a catered lunch delivered to its Los Angeles office, along with our thanks and admiration.

 

All of our clients are special to us and the relationships we form with them are very much a partnership. The Outstanding Client of the Quarter is selected for its professionalism as well as the benefits it receives from Afinety's unique standardization and planned refresh approach. A CPA firm like Gorelick & Uslaner requires a professional-grade computer system and this becomes part of its clients' perception of the firm.

 

We caught up with owner and shareholder, Bill Osborn, who has been with the firm for 19 years. "I have been with Afinety from the ground up as the firm's accountant," explained Bill. "When our network needed an upgrade, it was only natural that we speak to Afinety." The firm is currently on their third generation of Afinety networks.  “We have been very happy with the stability of our system and will likely move onto generation 4 sometime in 2013 or 2014.”

IT Decisions: What NOT to do

By Doug Hafford

A lot of the articles published in this space deal with various new technologies, law firm specific IT needs and in general, individual solutions.  This is almost always very good information for an administrator, however, it does not cover the other side of the equation – What not to do.  Our firm provides network assessments every week for Southern California law firms and we see the same common mistakes over and over.  This article is devoted to how to avoid common mistakes, why you should avoid them and some suggestions for better solutions.

Before we dive into some of the scenarios below, we should start with a very basic premise.  There are only two factors of importance in a law firm computer system.  The first is your users.  A successful computer system allows the user to work all day, every day, without interruption at the full speed they are able to work.  The second is software applications.  A proper IT solution provides all of the applications needed by the users and allows them to produce high quality work in a fraction of the time spent by less efficient firms.  All IT decisions should be driven by these two simple concepts.

Misconception #1:  Any PC will do

It is not unusual to see law firms with 30 desktops of which there are 8 different models and sometimes 3 or more different operating systems.  This makes a huge difference in the key areas of any law firm’s IT solution.

Law Firm Automation – in 1972

By Doug Hafford – VP Consulting Services, Afinety, Inc.

In 1972 I was a sophomore at Grossmont High in La Mesa, California.  Most of my interests at that time had little do to with the legal industry and more to do with sun, surf, sand and my basketball career.  I was only able to grow to 5’10” and the NBA was standoffish so I eventually found my way to IT consulting.  Looking back, it is hard to imagine how a staff person in a law firm in 1972 could see into the future but the seeds were indeed there.  So let’s look back and see what exciting technology was available.

The IBM Typewriter

When I formally started in the business, a lot of what we did was to replace IBM typewriters with Personal Computers.  The IBM "Selectric" II Typewriter introduced in 1971 (ten years after the original Selectric), featured a number of additions to typing technology. Its unique "dual-pitch" mechanism enabled the typists to switch from ten-pitch (ten characters per inch), commonly used for routine correspondence, to twelve pitch (twelve characters per inch), for use in typing business forms.  By merely switching a lever, a change in pitch can be made in a matter of seconds, and all on the same typewriter!

Another feature of the IBM "Selectric" II Typewriter was the IBM Tech III Ribbon. Enclosed in a snap-in/snap-out cartridge, the mylar ribbon only had to be changed five times yearly as compared to the 64 changes necessary with the previously used carbon ribbon.  Revolutionary! 

Outstanding Client of the Quarter: Madory, Zell, Pleiss & McGrath APC

Fall 2012

Every quarter, Afinety selects a firm to name as the “Outstanding Client of the Quarter.”  This quarter we would like to recognize Madory, Zell, Pleiss & McGrath APC.  The firm will receive a catered lunch delivered to their Tustin office, along with our thanks and admiration. 

All of our clients are special to us and the relationships we form with them are very much a partnership.  The Outstanding Client of the Quarter is selected for their professionalism as well as the benefits they receive from Afinety’s unique standardization and planned refresh approach.  A professional firm like Madory, Zell, Pleiss & McGrath APC requires a professional computer system and this becomes part of their own clients’ perception of the firm. 

We caught up with firm’s legal administrator, Marilyn Hodges, who started with the firm in 1962, as well as attorney / network administrator, Patricia Scidmore, who has been with the firm since 1992.

Leasing for the 21st Century Law Firm

by Christina Lord, First American Legal Finance and Kendra Edson, City National Bank

Technology can be a strategic asset – or a drain on resources.

Traditionally, law firms treat technology as a capital asset, similar to office furniture and office space.  Purchases are analyzed each year against the merits of other capital expenditure requests. 
Lately, there has been a shift to treating “technology as a utility,” as it can be a far more efficient approach. Firms that treat technology as a utility choose not to directly own the technology.  Instead, a third party owns the technology and the firm adopts a “pay-as-you-go” approach, much as it does for electricity, or any other utility.

Here today. Gone tomorrow.

The core philosophy of the technology as a utility approach is that technology is not like traditional capital assets.  Unlike office furniture, technology changes overnight; the equipment you purchase today may be obsolete by tomorrow. 

The critical nature of IT infrastructure demands that law firms view it as an ongoing operational commitment (an operating expense) and not a sunken capital expense (capital expenditure).  It is important for firms to assess the financial and formal implications of adopting a lease-based technology program – including, but not limited to creating a smooth, predictable budget and diversifying their funding sources.