Mea Culpa

It's been almost a month since my last post. We've been extremely busy around here and sometimes my day job does actually get in the way of me being able to discuss new and interesting developments in our industry :)

That being said, there are several new projects underway here that I'd like to share.

1) We are in the final beta testing phase for our new custom built extranet tool. A lot has been made about the false hopes and promises of extranets. From first hand experience, the right extranet tool deployed in the right way can help create advantage for your firm and generate a LOT of new business.

2) MOVING FROM INTERACTION. This information was made public recently, but I thought I'd elaborate on it a bit here. InterAction is a fine product and has done a great job getting CRM into the minds of many people within legal and even into the hands of a few lawyers :) However, we felt that Aderant's direction aligned better with our business objectives for CRM. The tight integration with our accounting system and VERY CLEAN user interface were huge selling points for us. The product roadmap is well defined and as hard as it is to believe, we won't be sacficing any function points by going to Aderant's CRM package. In fact, they are providing very similar functionality to that of ReAction Server, as far as contacts being able to update their own information via the web. We'll have a lot more to talk about later this year when we anticipate being live on Aderant's CRM system.

Wish us luck!

New Google mapping tool

dodgermapdetail
Originally uploaded by tbaldwinusc.

While not a pure law firm technology tool, the new Google Mapping tool is just too amazing to pass up. The core technology behind this is based on a product called Keyhole, which Google recently purchased. Keyhole is basically Terraserver on steroids, it provides satellite images of the entire globe, the ability to 'fly' from one point to another, and the ability to drill down to very fine detail. As the site says, "you can fly through 12+ Terabytes of Earth imagery and data – spinning, rotating, tilting, and zooming. Think magic carpet ride".

This technology is available through Keyhole directly for a fee, but you can get access to a 'lite' version of it through Google Maps. Leisure travelers will enjoy being to 'see' exactly how a hotel is laid out, or how close it is to the ocean. For business use, many real estate lawyers will find this tool invaluable when making a personal visit to the site is not feasible, cost effectively or timely. To see an example of the Google Maps tool, take a look at the satellite image of Dodger Stadium.