The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/67910
A Look Ahead: communications and applications necessary to make these and other scenarios a reality. Lawyers are going to continue comingling personal and business devices, and it is up to legal IT to find ways to securely maximize this experience for the end user, the firm and the client. In short, that means giving up control of the endpoint and taking control of the desktop and data. Mobile nirvana promises endless opportunities, strategic advantages and competitive differentiators, but you must choose it. Firms interested in taking steps today to prepare for mobile nirvana tomorrow can start with the following: • Conduct a proof-of-concept or pilot of VDI as a desktop replacement and as an application delivery method for mobile devices. • Test-drive a DLP solution in passive mode to understand how information moves in and out of your organization. • Familiarize yourself with smartphone app development to create some simple yet innovative tools for your attorneys. • Take a step back and evaluate IT practices, mobile device usage and preferences, VDI, security and data management in a holistic and comprehensive way. The demands and desires of attorneys and clients, coupled with advances in virtualization, data management, security tools, networking and IT systems management, are delivering the drivers and the means to achieve mobile nirvana. Firms simply need to be open-minded and willing to take the next steps. While this will require significant change, time and investment up front, the benefits in the end will outweigh the effort. Mobile nirvana is about interconnecting each component and providing the best anytime, anywhere, any way lawyer experience, all while increasing the firm's profitability. Are any tablet devices in use at your firm? If so, which devices? Apple iPad or iPad2 No/None BlackBerry Playbook Motorola Xoom Samsung Galaxy Tab HP Slate Other 74% 25% 9% 6% 4% 2% 1% The Dawning of Mobile Nirvana Survey Says... Below are a few responses taken from ILTA's 2011 Technology Survey. The complete analysis and results can be found online at iltanet.org under the Publications tab | White Papers and Surveys. What percent of your attorneys have access to email via a wireless email device? 24% or less 25% to 49% 50% to 74% 75% to 100% 1% 2% 5% 92% Please indicate which of these popular wireless email devices are in use at your firm, based on their embedded OS: BlackBerry OS Apple iPhone Android OS Philip Alberta is an accomplished business leader, industry speaker and technology evangelist. He is the CIO of IPM, Inc., an award-winning IT consulting firm based in New York. Philip directs IPM's organizational processes, continuously evaluating programs to maximize efficiency and further progress across all business practices. He can be reached at palberta@ipm.com. Windows Mobile Palm Pre/Pixi Palm OS Nokia OS Symbian OS 91% 80% 60% 25% 7% 5% 2% 2% Peer to Peer 73