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Microsoft is Looking Really Good

By on July 15, 2012

I attended the Microsoft annual Worldwide Partners Conference last week in Toronto and it was quite an experience. I’ve been to several of these in the past and I can tell you this WPC was special.

It’s easy to have a love-hate relationship with Microsoft and it’s easy to get frustrated at times dealing with them. However, in all fairness, it’s getting easy to “love” them, they are on the move in all the right direction.

In addition to general sessions, I was invited to attend a few invitation-only sessions. What I learned was amazing; here are a few of my observations:

1. In the last year Microsoft purchased Skype, Yammer and launched the Windows Store. Yammer finally brings a social network to Microsoft that will help meet the needs of even their largest corporate clients.

2. Steve Ballmer made it clear in his keynote speech that the upcoming (October 2012) release of Windows 8 will be a game changer for years to come. Tami Reller – VP & CFO of Windows personally demonstrated Windows 8 on a dozen different devices. She then took a 32GB USB stick that had here entire personal Windows 8 system, profile and documents, plugged it into a PC with Windows 7. The entire Air Canada arena saw the Windows 7 PC boot up Windows 8, load all of Tami’s settings and she accessed her documents in SkyDrive in moments.

3. Windows 8 also includes the Metro interface that brings a rich touch environment to Windows. Metro won’t be practical for heavy data processing applications where a keyboard and mouse are tough to beat, however for presentations, executive inquiry and mobile it is fabulous. Applications that run on Windows 7 will run on Windows 8. We also learned that Windows 7 now accounts for 50% of all Windows installs worldwide. Microsoft knows that Windows 8 will take a while to roll-out to the level of even Windows 7, but they needed one platform that would scale across all platforms and devices, Servers, PC’s, tablets and phones.

4. Enterprise applications are starting to incorporate “gaming like” features into their user-interfaces making for an improved client experience. This along with Microsoft Kinect technology and multi-touch navigation will open up new worlds of productivity applications over time.

5. Microsoft Office 365, now running on Microsoft’s Azure cloud will also be a game changer. Enterprise customers are already adopting the model to keep one system running possibly forever without the normal “version upgrade” headaches. Microsoft sales reps worldwide now have a line item in their performance quotas that require the sales of both Office 365 and Windows 8, pressure to upgrade to these will be intense.

6. Speaking of Azure, Microsoft’s cloud offering is immediately on par or even superior to both Amazon’s and Google’s cloud offering. You’ll see more vendors offering highly affordable solutions on Azure. Vendors just can’t run private clouds at the cost Microsoft is selling Azure for. Whether you use Azure for just disaster recovery, or run apps from it, it is one of the most technically superior clouds available today, and somewhat a best kept secret.

7. At Aderant we have already moved our Deadlines.com business to Azure and more announcements will be coming shortly. Stop by ILTA and see more products running on Azure.

8. Last but no least on my list is the explosive growth of Microsoft Dynamics, including CRM. Aderant was recognized as a top 5% of all worldwide Microsoft partners by being named to the Dynamics President’s Club. Aderant CRM4Legal is built on this technically superior platform and is now starting to take market share. By the way, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is also available on Azure at an affordable per user/monthly fee.

9. Microsoft Office 15 is still on target to ship before the end of 2012 and will have Windows 8 Metro screens in addition to the ribbon tool bars we are now learning to use.

In summary Microsoft is in a definite “love” phase and the next 12 months looks quite exciting.

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Categories: Productivity, Technology, The Legal Market

Human Factors in Developing Software

By on June 17, 2012

I read with great interest the brief comments on software User Interface “UI” in the June 15th 3 Geeks story,  UX Matters … A LOT, and Jeff Brandt’s comments on PinHawk Law Technology Daily Digest.

The issue is that all the people reading this story and most of our friends in the legal community use software every day, and much of the time it is a frustrating experience. So, what is the problem? Many software developers are feature-function oriented. You absolutely need these developers, however, most aren’t skilled in the Human Factors element of software development. They attempt to focus on functionality, not end-users. Therefore, you can almost picture the screens; they have hundreds of options, little consideration for workflow or user friendliness. They do not take into consideration that some users are power users with everyday chores, vs. casual simple task users. It’s normally one-size fits all. The result is low adoption rates, frustration and a high cost of training with missed expectations.

As most of you know, I joined Aderant last October when they acquired RainMaker Software. I’m amazed at the way software is developed at Aderant, specifically the Aderant Expert product. The Expert product has 6 Human Factor engineers working with the normal software architects and feature/function developers. I can tell you from my personal experience in developing software for many years without a Human Factors team; these people can do great things.

If you take a look at the recent rounds of Aderant Expert product introductions including Found Time, Time Management and Matter Planning you can clearly see the work done by the Human Factors team. For example, time entry sits on almost every attorney desktop, yet most systems have few features that actual attorneys ask for. Expert Time Management has an option to allow an attorney to see time entries in a spreadsheet format with the ability to quickly filter by project, client/matter or other options and edit or add from there. This just one example of many I could cite. The Human Factors team made this feature really cool. What does really cool mean, it means that users find screens very appealing, will more readily adapt to usage and become more productive. Expectations are met or exceeded.

The Human Factor team does the following:

  1. They work with the “product owner”, who is not a programmer, to collect and develop a set of end-user and technology requirements for a new product or major enhancement.
  2. They develop “wireframes” to portray the user interface experience and functionality before any code is written. Wireframes are screen designs without any real code behind them to show non-technical people (users) what the software will look like and how it operates before it is actually coded.
  3. The team has tremendous graphic artist’s skills to make sure the screens all look “cool”.
  4. The team then provides their wireframes to a client user group technology team where the users group discusses the screen designs and navigation, along with the functionality. This end-user visibility is a key differentiator.
  5. After discussions with the users group and approval, a final set of specifications for the product and how it will be tested are developed and approved, before any programming is actually started.
  6. The product is coded and returned to the teams again for final review before releasing for internal training.
  7. Once internal employees are comfortable it is then released to clients and the process starts all over again.

It might be difficult to explain Human Factors in software development, but it is really easy to see the difference.

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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, Technology, Uncategorized

Memo to Partners …. Is Your Firm on “Speed”!

By on March 25, 2012

Everything we put our hands on today is built for speed, our iPhones, iPads, PC’s, notebooks, cars, TV’s … you name it. You can transfer money on-line, make purchases, look up an address on your GPS and so forth at the speed of light. Today’s technology provides speed, yesterday’s technology did not. The industrial revolution transformed society at the time due to speed, the ability to get things done faster and better. This post is about speed, not the drug, but the future of how law firms will internally function.

HOWEVER, when it comes to the internal processes with a law firm, we have anything but speed! Most internal processes are booth rooted back in the dark ages and designed by a committee. Why? Well, in most firms speed doesn’t seem to be very important. For example, try and quickly open a new file, most firms are still proud of their new matter memo that was designed of course by committee. Nothing speedy about it, enter the information into a Word document and email it to someone on the list. They’ll re-key it into a system. Conflict searching has incredible speed, the search engine is being referenced here, not the overall process which is highly inefficient.

Need to process a check request, get a day off work, get a new employee started, find a pleadings file folder, the next motion date, do or look for almost anything, it is REALLY SLOW. Why is everything else in our lives “on speed” except our firm?

Law firms need to completely rethink their processes, talk to your trusty vendors, ask them about speed. How can we speed up everything we do? Most vendors will be able to give you examples of other firms that are “on speed”, they have found much faster ways to do almost everything.

Why is speed important? It’s a basic business principle; especially known to law firms … time is money. Doing everything faster will get more done and make or save money. That’s what technology has done within our society. The next generation of software being introduced into your firm must help the firm get “on speed”.

 

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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, Management, Practice Management, Productivity, Technology

The Top 10 Technological Trends of 2012

By on February 5, 2012

A la David Letterman, here is my own Top 10 2012 Technology Trends and a few concerns:

10. Collaboration: Firms have jumped on the collaboration bandwagon using tools such as Microsoft SharePoint to collaborate both on a firm and client-facing basis. This collaboration enables firms to stay on top of things such as productivity, etc. In the 2010 ILTA Purchasing Survey, 49% of respondents utilize SharePoint internally for collaboration, while 24% use it as a collaboration tool for client and other external communications.
Concerns: Not a lot; perhaps just a continued slow roll-out time and the challenge of keeping the information up to date.

9. Social Networking Increased: With the increased use of social networking, decision making has become easier both for firms and clients.  Almost all companies are socially networking one way or another and it gives firms more exposure overall.
Concerns: This increase has made people and companies more vulnerable. Larger firms want to make sure to control their message; social networking can do just the opposite. We just aren’t sure if attorneys twittering all day are really productive.

8. Technology Creating Technology: Smart technologies are spurring on a new slew of technology that tie in to existing technology to speed up processes. Many organizations are making the creative process to develop this technology more scientific by recording the process.
Concerns: Technology was developed to make lives easier. Sometimes the learning curve and implementation can create more work with a higher degree of complexity.

 7. 360 Degree Security (Accountability): With all of the information flying in and out of organizations, firms are becoming increasingly cognizant of the integrity of their information and how it is being protected, especially within the cloud. A 360-degree security plan is granular in nature and includes doing a lot of small things to ensure the maximum security.
Concerns: None.

 6. Workflow to Save Clients Money:  Workflow applications are a sure bet to improve internal efficiencies and productivity. Firms are looking for ways to reduce their internal costs that then allows them to potentially pass these savings along to clients. This may not mean rate reductions, but possibly lower increases.  
Concerns: Nothing really. Process improvement is smart business.

 5. Green: Going green is in and it will stay in for good reason. Technological advances such as paperless billing and workflow routing are saving countless resources.
Concerns: Going Green is getting a little tired, it’s a process, not a single event..

4. Video Conferencing: This has become a must-have in every larger, multi- office firm. It enables people to engage and communicate on a higher level. Video conferencing encourages collaboration as both firm associates and clients can increasingly meet face-to-face while saving on cost and going green.
Concerns: Video conferencing can be somewhat easier to implement than it was just a few years ago. Firms with VOIP phone systems may be more prone to also implement video conferencing.

 3. Blackberry out iPhone are in: The use of Blackberry’s in law firms is rapidly dropping as attorneys are quickly moving to iPhone and Android devices.
Concerns: IT must support these devices whether they like to or not.

2. Cloudiness: Firms further embraced cloud computing and saved on maintenance and expense both in hardware and in time. The law firms have not embraced cloud computing, in general at the “enterprise” level such as time and billing. However, all other applications have started the move to the cloud.
Concerns: Can I really get my data back if I switch vendors, in what format? These are becoming major issues as firms move from cloud to cloud.

 1. Mobile Apps: Savvy firms are already rolling out mobile apps for iPads, and Android tablets (in some cases). These apps allow attorneys to enter time, inquire on contacts, documents and overall client information.
Concerns: IT needs to quickly get on board with how to handle mobile apps, provide security and support users. This is only going to expand exponentially over the next few years.

 

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Categories: Productivity, Sharepoint, Technology

Security: how to ensure your software vendor is securing your information “in the cloud”. What to look for

By on October 9, 2011

I recently read an article on cloud computing security and implementation. Always considering moving legal “enterprise software” to the cloud, it reminded me how important it is to insure the utmost security for clients. The subject of security in a cloud environment is expansive, but here are a few things to look for in a cloud provider:

  1. Access Control
    It makes a user feel secure when asked for passwords, etc., but how secure is your provider’s routine maintenance and other back-end and front-end performance controls? This leads me to the next point…
  2. Internal Management Control
    In other words, who in the “cloud” organization is authorized to view your information?  Most cloud vendors have secure procedures in place.  One of the benefits of cloud computing is it circumvents storage of information on the in-house server; less risk of information leaking.  Very few cloud companies have had problems with internal “leakage,” and those that have are probably, newer. When dealing with a cloud vendor, just make sure the internal process is secure and proven.
  3. Internal Security
    A quality cloud software provider will have a secure authentication and authorization process in place, but not to the point of being annoying (of course). IP addresses should be checked and security breaches should be easily flagged. 
  4. Encryption
    This is kind of a no-brainer. Again, most cloud vendors honor this obvious requirement, yet some vendors either do not or cannot have encrypted information within the cloud. Internal encryption is the best case scenario and it’s something you ask for from the cloud software vendor. Additionally, the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)-140 security standard specifies the requirements for cryptology modules.
  5. Internal/External Audits
    Even with all of the security red tape, intrusions still occur. How does your vendor detect a breach? The vendor should be capable of monitoring and measuring any breach of information and how will they communicate that to you? These are very important things to keep in mind when signing a service agreement.
  6. Disaster Recovery
    This is a must; every cloud vendor needs to have a back-up plan. They should be able to communicate this plan to you. This plan should be as solid as the back-up plan they have for the software itself. Also, any impending disasters should be communicated to you, in addition to how the disaster will be handled. All data should be protected at every level – no ifs ands or buts.

Cloud computing is a brave new frontier and there are many things to learn. What do you look for in a SaaS vendor?

 

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Categories: Best Practices, Going Green, Management, Productivity, Technology, Uncategorized

War of the Smart Phones: BlackBerry versus iPhone: which is the “smartest” for the business of law

By on September 25, 2011

I am sure this Blog post has been done before, but I really wanted to weigh in. At my company, the smart phone camp is somewhat divided. We have quickly dropping few “retro” smart phone users who prefer the Blackberry’s solid calendaring and Outlook capabilities and then we have the “newbies” who appreciate the flash and function iPhones and Androids have to offer. I made the switch from an ill-conceived Windows Mobile 6 phone to an Android Motorola Droid 2 Global and I’m happy with it. It has so many cool bells and whistles and I like the “pimped out” apps that come along with it. On a business level, the Blackberry has a long history, seems more solid, it’s been around longer and it seems more secure. So, really, based on facts alone, what smart phone is really better for the business of law? Let’s take a look (side: the following comparison is based on the BlackBerry Bold 9930 vs. iPhone4 (the iPhone5 will be released soon but specific specs are not yet 100% available) :

 

 

Features Blackberry Bold 9930 iPhone4
Security BlackBerry has traditionally been more secure than the iPhone. Case in point (and I read this on another Blog), it is used by the President and other government organizations. iPhone4 is more secure than its predecessors. According to the website: “All apps run in a safe environment, so a website or app can’t access data from other apps… iOS 4 works with Microsoft Exchange and standards-based servers to deliver over-the-air push email, calendar, and contacts. iOS 4 protects your data by encrypting information in three separate areas: in transmission, at rest on the device, and when backed up to iTunes. You can securely access private corporate networks through industry-standard VPN protocols.”
Calendaring A virtual full agenda planner. Offers fewer calendar views and fields.
Email Connectivity to the Microsoft Exchange server and the ease of mobile email make BlackBerry a better option for business, although iPhone is catching up. In 2009, the iPhone became compatible with Exchange Server, and it supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync accounts for business use, which makes it more business friendly. 
Battery 1230 mAh removable/
rechargeable lithium-ion batteryCDMA Talk Time: up to 6.6 hours
CDMA Standby Time: up to 12.8 daysSolid battery life. Users can usually make it through the day on one charge.		 Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery Talk time:Standby time: Up to 300 hours Internet use:Up to 6 hours on 3GUp to 10 hours on Wi-Fi

 

With all of the apps and screen size, the iPhone tends to suck up more battery power than the BlackBerry. With all of the “toys” included, it’s probably because the iPhone user can’t put it down.
Storage 768MB RAM, 8 GB eMMC,
Expandable memory: Up to 32 GB uSD card(optional) 		 16GB or 32GB flash driveThe iPhone has more storage, a faster CPU and more RAM making it a great candidate for game playing.
Keyboard Choice of touch screen and tactile buttons. Touch screen.
Video Can play videos, but no built-in video phone capability. iOS 4 integrates video chat into the phone over Wi-Fi
Web Browsing Small screen size. Tedious mobile browser.  Large display; multi-touch system. Touch screen makes the experience easier.
Apps Not super strong app-wise, but it does have the ones that lawyers need, including timekeeping and calendaring. Yes, there is an app for this and that.
Versatility Come in every shape, size and a few colors. You can get the Pearl flip phone or a new Storm touch screen or the standard Curve and it tends to be pretty durable. What you see is what you get. Touch screen it is, in black or white. And, sometimes that touch screen can crack very easily if dropped, etc.

 There you have it. At first glance, it seems the BlackBerry is a better option for legal business users; however my suspicions are that Blackberry users are flocking to the iPhone because it’s really cool. Security was once a major issue for the iPhone but it seems they have beefed up the security, especially while using apps.

 The BlackBerry was the stalwart provider, but, after reporting a very poor 2nd quarter this week with zero cash from operations one can only wonder how much longer they’ll even be a relevant competitor. I’d actually like to trade in my 3G Android for a Verizon LTE 4G phone, I’m just concerned about the cost of the data plan. How about you are you still using a Blackberry, why?

 

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Categories: Productivity, Technology, Uncategorized

The skinny on Google+ Business Profiles vs. Facebook: what it can do for your law firm

By on September 18, 2011

A while back, I wrote a blog about Google+’s capabilities vs. Facebook. As mentioned in the post, Google+ is still relatively new and yet it has been constructed in an organically pro-business manner that simply needed to tie all of the pieces together.  Business profiles are to be released later this year. When they are, it should be a more compelling environment for businesses than the current Facebook business profile pages.

One major thing Google has going for them is the Search feature, you know, the one that made them famous. Google has been built for businesses. Google+ will be able to leverage not only the Search feature, but also a live feed into the Google+ business page search. Some time ago, Google disabled Real-time Search, which helped to display Tweets from Twitter and limited content from Facebook in real time. If they integrate real time into business searches, people will use the Google+ live feed to post information, “in real time”. This gives businesses a huge advantage on the Google search front.

In addition to the Search feature, Google has the Apps for Business productivity suite, with tools that include word processing, calendars, and a marketplace of proprietary apps as well. Law firms won’t be quick to leave their Microsoft Office Suites anytime soon, but the Google apps are great for those of use that are Android phone and tablet users.

Google+ hasn’t quite reached Facebook status in terms of eliminating email, but it may have an edge on Twitter. With real time search features and the capability to “like” a post, it may give Twitter a run for the money and it could enhance the business users’ bandwidth on the web by organically optimizing posts.

Another benefit Google+ has is its Blogger website. Facebook’s limitations are very obvious. Unless you understand its coding, the page is pretty succinct and “plain”. Google’s Blogger sites are much like this as well, however, the capability to add more text and more value added information is much better than that of Facebook’s. Google may have a one up in the business category just for the mere fact that it is more “serious” in nature.

The largest benefit next to the Google search capability is the built-in Google analytics. Not only does Google offer pay-per-click advertising, they also can see link activity. In other words, who is hitting what link, what time and from where?  This is a major advantage over Facebook for law firm marketing efforts.

Overall, it seems that the framework of Google+ is to benefit all businesses, including law firms. It has been cultivating the back-end and front-end tools through the years to enable businesses to easily optimize information. It seems to me that Facebook is truly a “social network”.  Although businesses still benefit from this, its capabilities seem less “business-like” than Google’s overall. I guess the proof will be in the pudding.

What are your thoughts on Google+ for your law firm?

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Categories: Best Practices, Legal Marketing, Technology, The Legal Market

Disaster Recovery – How to get an affordable plan in place

By on September 11, 2011

I would venture to say that in this point in time most mid and large sized firms have a dell documented and tested disaster recovery plan in place. If they do not, then – quite bluntly – they haven’t a clue. Most have created sites in remote locations that come Live” when something goes wrong. In addition, they have replicated data so that additional copies are available in almost real-time should hardware fail.

 So how about smaller firms, they too should have not only local data back-ups but also offsite storage. The costs of these items should be considered a “cost of business” expense. In the past, disaster recovery was something that only large enterprise businesses could afford. Now there are many tangible options for the smaller firm that may lack IT expertise and/or the budget to afford it.

 Here are a few options:

  1.  Try to use SaaS (Software as a Service), wherever possible. Whenever the vendor is hosting the application, there is almost always a back-up plan in place. In addition, if your system goes awry in the office, you can access the application, and all the information within, remotely.
  2.  Take it off-site. There are some super cheap back-up options out there. One option for smaller businesses is Carbonite – $49.95/year. Another is Dropbox and other shown on this web site link: http://freenuts.com/top-10-free-cloud-storage-services-for-you-to-back-up-and-sync-files/
  3. Duplicate info in-house. Some firms purchase a network attached storage box to store extra copies of data onsite. Some options are Iomega StorCenter Pro ix2-200 desktop appliance, Seagate BlackArmor NAS 110, LaCie d2 Network 2. These all run around $200, when it’s all said and done. Here is a good site to research network attached storage boxes: http://network-attached-storage-review.toptenreviews.com/. Most offer up to 4TB of storage and are available for less than $1,000.
  4.  Make sure to have a non-techie plan. Be sure to assign back-up plans firm-wide. Have someone in charge of calling departments in case of an emergency. Make sure to back-up copies of important documents, via hard copies. Review protocol and assignments. Don’t be in the dark.

 Disaster recovery, whether on a big or small budget, is a must for every firm. Make sure to know what resources are available, who is in charge of what and do what you can to insure a trouble free, data loss free process.

 

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Categories: Best Practices, Productivity, Technology

Leveling the e-Billing Playing Field – Eliminate “Haircuts”

By on September 4, 2011

The e-billing battle plays itself out every day. Corporate clients and insurance carriers look to “enforce” their billing requirements and law firms look to get paid for work done even though it may not fully meet requirements. Lawyers would prefer to just practice law, but it’s just not that simple anymore.

As Mark Herrmann, Vice President and Chief Counsel – Litigation at Aon points out in his article “Inside Straight: The Truth Behind E-Billing”, clients have the benefit of using in-house computers to analyze e-bills more  efficiently, determine items that do not meet the rules and make short pay the firm. He states, “When clients make those adjustments in the world of e-bills, the law firms are typically able to press a button and print a report of the disallowed charges”. The client has the benefit, in many cases, of specially designed e-billing software that spin- through thousands of time and cost entries and kicks out entries that don’t conform to the billing rules.

In my experience, many firms do not have the option of “press a button and print a report of the disallowed charges”. They instead just accept a 2-5% “haircut” on e-bills as the costs of doing business. Till now firms just didn’t have a way of easily scanning hundreds or thousands of bills going out each month for compliance to client rules. It’s not that firms want to send out non-complying bills, it’s just too difficult to manage complex rules on a manual basis.

The solution, automated rules! Law firms can use newly introduced technology to electronically “scrub” bills before submitting them to clients. A flexible rules engine can, just like the clients in-house system, spin- through thousands of time and cost entries and kicks out entries that don’t conform to the billing rules.

Bill Scrubbing technology can level the e-billing playing field and allow firms to submit “clean bills” and eliminate “haircuts”.

 

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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, Law firm billing, Management, Productivity, Technology

Migrating a Phone System to the Cloud – A Personal Journey

By on August 27, 2011

When Nortel went bankrupt in 2009, we were faced with a phone system that was at its end of life, expensive to maintain, impossible to upgrade and lacking in advanced features like unified messaging, find me-follow me, voicemail to email and built in multi-party conference rooms.

 We contacted our long-time, trusted consultant Rick Pommet of Nelson Communications who introduced us to the Abacus virtual PBX. We went live with the Abacus system on December 7, 2010 and have been overwhelmingly satisfied with the service. As I said to Rick at the time, “if half of what you say is true, I want it”.

 All call control, voice mail, conferencing and call center functionality reside on servers in a secure SunGard data center with full redundancy and geographic backup. We have no phone system equipment onsite except a secure gateway device installed between our site and the data center. All of the intelligence lives in the network and features are always on and accessible from any device – desk phone, smart phone, virtual extension, etc.

 We selected Polycom high definition (wideband audio) phones because of their superior quality and the built-in speakerphone. Listening to a voice on a “high definition” phone is quite an experience. The Abacus service is compatible with all SIP compatible phones including Cisco and smart phones – iPad2, iPhone, Android, Blackberry. We can mix and match devices so we will never be locked in to a single proprietary vendor.

 Our Blue Bell, PA and Richardson, TX offices are treated as one virtual PBX, so calls between offices are free “on net” calls. We share resources: call paths (sometimes called SIP trunks) and local, long distance minutes between the sites. Since our offices operate in two different time zones, we never max out on call paths because our respective busy hours are always 1hour apart. If we did exceed the number of call paths we subscribe to, we have a feature called “cloud bursting”, which automatically provisions more virtual circuits, but only when we need them.

 A business continuity (disaster recovery) plan is “baked in” so if we lose internet connectivity or power, our auto attendant and voice mail is replicated in the proverbial cloud. Callers are automatically re-routed to cell phones, home numbers, remote offices, and the caller will never know that it’s not business as usual. If no one answers, the caller goes to voice mail and the recipient gets an email with a .wav file attachment to play back the message. We got a lot of snow last year in Blue Bell, PA so we purchased an extra Polycom phone with a sidecar so our receptionist can work from home on snow days. That keeps everyone happy.

 Several of our sales representatives and implementation people work from home throughout the United States. This gives us the flexibility to hire local talent and recruit based on knowledge and skills rather than commuting distance from our corporate office. The virtual PBX platform makes the home workers an integrated part of the overall look and feel of our organization.  

 Was the transition problem free? No. We had a major cutover problem that resulted in seriously degraded voice quality calls in our satellite office. In our Blue Bell headquarters, we had diverse internet providers and were able to separate voice traffic from data traffic. Blue Bell went “live” without issue. We installed a 3.0 bonded T1 VPN between Blue Bell and Richardson. The plan was to share the bandwidth in Richardson between voice and data. In theory, there was plenty of bandwidth to go around. Our carrier improperly configured the circuit so 100% of the bandwidth was allocated to VPN traffic between our sites. This killed the VoIP calls. The problem took an inordinate amount of time to resolve because the carrier could not “see” any errors in their router. Abacus worked with our consultant and the carrier and the reports provided by our session border controller gateway, and convinced the carrier to “nail down” the bandwidth, i.e. allocate 1.5 Mbps to voice and 1.5 Mbps to data. This solved the problem temporarily but was not a permanent solution because we would never benefit from the full 3.0 Mbps we were promised on the data side. Long story short, we implemented “Plan B” and added a diverse internet carrier in our Richardson office and split off the voice from the data. Our consultant negotiated three months credit with our carrier for the mishap. And I learned more than I cared to know about bandwidth allocation.

 We do a lot of conference calling, and now, every employee can have their own conference bridge and set up ad hoc conference calls on the fly. This service is integrated into our virtual PBX and we were able to transition from a 3rd party conference service that was more expensive. Everyone is happy with the call quality built into the network and the Polycom phones.

 We’ve been told that IP Fax will be integrated into our virtual PBX this month. We’ll be comparing those costs to our 3rd party fax service down the road. One of the advantages to a hosted PBX is that as new features are added, they become available automatically to everyone on the network. There are no hardware upgrades, software updates, bug fixes, licenses, maintenance contracts, etc. to worry about.

 Our new service meets our needs and our total monthly costs are less -not a bad deal in this economy.

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Categories: Management, Productivity, Technology
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