White Papers | Remote access 101: Steps to an anytime, anywhere legal practice.

Overview

Remote access is not a new IT issue for law firms. Keeping lawyers productive on the road, working seamlessly with branch offices and keeping lines of communication open with clients and co-counsel have long been practice priorities. But with the sophisticated technologies now available for remote access, increased work-from-home requirements and pressure from clients for automated communications – remote access is not the luxury it once was. It's now a virtual necessity for firm competitiveness and productivity.

This paper provides a brief overview of the basic issues a firm should address in designing a successful remote access strategy.

Industry trends

The forces that drive IT change at law firms have evolved over time. In the ‘80s, enhanced staff productivity – via automation of word processing, accounting and other administrative tasks – enabled firms to get more done with less and focus more resources on billable efforts.

In the early '90s, attorneys, too, began demanding better technological tools. A PC became essential for attorney productivity, speeding non-billable tasks and dramatically enhancing research, authoring and communications capabilities.

Today, it is increasingly the client that motivates a firm to deploy or enhance IT systems. Clients want better integration with the firms that represent them – whether to achieve greater control over billing or to enable real-time document access. And unless a client is opposed to any online system for security reasons (and many still are), remote access is often the solution.

So where to begin?

Choosing the right architecture for a remote access system involves careful examination of your firm's requirements and priorities.

Which data?

For most firms, there are generally four data stores to which remote access might be required:

Email/calendaring data
Financial and accounting data
Litigation support data
Document management data

Within these data stores, the applications themselves may determine the approach a firm chooses for remote access. For example, for certain mature document management applications, a Web interface is built in, making remote Web access through a conventional browser a straightforward proposition. But for many of the most popular financial applications used by law firms, this is not yet the case, and a terminal server solution must bridge the gap. Conversely, the desire for a certain type of interface may drive the firm to a new application. Consolidating to a single methodology across all applications may help the firm reduce hardware and support costs.

Figure 1

Which applications support which architectures?
		Email/ messaging	Document management	Financials/ accounting	Litigation support
Web access via browser	Most major applications today offer native Web compatibility or access via dedicated client software (e.g. Microsoft Outlook).			Few applications are compatible with these technologies today.
Dedicated access
Terminal server	All four data stores can generally be made remote-accessible via terminal server (via dedicated land-line or over the Internet).

2. Who needs access?

The firm's next step is to identify who needs access to the data stores and from where. Travelling attorneys with laptop PCs? Client sites? Branch offices located in other cities? Outside firms? Who needs the data, what technology they have in place and how much additional technology they can tolerate will play an important role in how the remote access system is designed.

3. Which route to the data?

Which interface is the most appropriate for the data, user and application environment in question? Within the limits imposed by the application, there are choices to be made and trade-offs to be considered:

Interface familiarity

This is often a critical criterion. How similar is the remote interface to what the user is familiar with "at the office?" What's the learning curve involved? Will any special training be required? Will frustration prevent users from accepting the system?

Security

The more sensitive the data to be accessed, the more clients want assurances of relative security.

Complexity of client-side installation

How much "stuff" will have to be installed and supported on the client side? For attorney laptops or branch office networks, this may not be a major concern. But at client or outside firm sites, the less invasive the system the better.

Cost

Hardware and software, deployment and integration, management and support, training and other incidentals – these costs vary and may or may not play into a firm's choice of technology.

Figure 2

Technology trade-offs
	Web browser access	Terminal Server			Dedicated access
Interface familiarity:	Good	Best – the remote user interface is virtually identical to that used on the firm network
Security	Good	Best via modem, but may limit bandwidth	Good via Internet	Good
Client-side requirements	Least complex – access is provided via the user's own Web browser	More complex – requires dedicated client software		More complex – requires dedicated client software, (although Microsoft Outlook is commonly already installed)
Hardware costs	Less expensive – low software and server costs	Most expensive – requires sophisticated server technology and dedicated software		Least expensive – no additional servers needed
User support costs	Less expensive	Most expensive		Less expensive

Conclusion

Every firm has a unique set of remote access requirements, priorities and application- and environment-specific limitations. Rafte & Company has helped firms of all sizes implement effective remote access systems, from package implementations to complex customized deployments. Our experience in the legal industry makes us an outstanding resource for firms who want to extend information access outside their walls without compromising security or productivity. Rafte & Company can provide the expertise, implementation experience and ongoing support to make remote access a cost-effective proposition and a competitive advantage for your firm.

Printable Page | Email This Page