Peer to Peer Magazine

PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 28 CASE STUDIES Our attorneys and paralegals were continuously borrowing laptops from our pool of loaners. Each time, our attorneys had to familiarize themselves with the laptops they received prior to departure, which was usually last minute. This was easier for our tech-savvy attorneys and a big challenge for the rest. Our remote access solution was Citrix and Outlook Web mail. Both were functional but not ideal. THE CHALLENGE Our challenge was to find a mobile solution that was fast inside and outside the office, and also physically lightweight. We needed it to feel like a full-size desktop in the office and work as well as it did in the office while traveling. It needed to be easy to use and we needed connectivity to be seamlessly available anytime, from anywhere. Our users needed to be comfortable traveling with the solution. HARDWARE FEATURES AND CONFIGURATIONS We experimented with a variety of brands and form factors, and we ultimately custom-ordered the laptops to ensure they had all the features we required. The cost of a custom order versus a standard laptop configuration was minor, but worth the extra money spent. The only hardware configuration issue for which we could not find a solution was having a high- powered cell antenna and camera built in. We sacrificed the camera for a much better triple-antenna cell setup. We felt the importance and frequency of using cellular connection outweighed the need to be seen, and we could always plug in a $50 USB camera. We were careful to select a chiclet keyboard to ensure mobile typing comfort, especially when considering our desire for a small, light laptop. In the office, we provided a docking station, hard-wired dual monitors, full- size keyboard and full-size mouse to accomplish the full-size desktop feel. We decided to pay for monthly cellular connections for every attorney and paralegal's firm-issued laptop. Our analysis showed that if only 37 percent of our billing workforce used their laptop a half hour more per month due to the added connectivity capability, we would easily recover the cost. Not only did we clear the monthly cellular costs, we increased our overall billing. One example where this happened was in the winter. We have strong snowstorms that can paralyze the area; however, our storm-related billable hours did not suffer for the first time in firm history due to our mobile capabilities. The hardware selected weighed less than four pounds and was optimized for travel. It was powerful enough to perform all normal daily tasks, plus anything else the attorney could throw at it. Our hardware included multiple USB ports, an SD card slot for extra storage, external video capabilities, wired and wireless networking capabilities and the largest built-in battery available (nine hours). We carefully tweaked our power setting for offsite travel optimization, and the battery life allows our attorneys to fly across the country with juice to spare. There is an inherent expectation of slowness when working remotely. We About the Author Philip Sultan is the Director of Technology at Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald. He is a seasoned IT professional with more than 20 years of technology management experience, encompassing daily helpdesk support through complex system implementations. Philip has been an ILTA member for many years. Contact him at psultan@watttieder.com. Outf itting Our Untethered Workforce Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald made the switch from an all-desktop workforce to a mobile workforce about three years ago.

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