Legal IT Professionals published an interesting ten-minute interview with Jack Newton, President of Clio. Clio is web-based practice management system mostly targeted at small law firms. Jack has some interesting things to say about 'Software as a Service' (SaaS), the future of mobile devices and his own company/product. Worth listening to at Ten minutes with Jack Newton (Clio).

De iPhone was al een krachtige zakelijke telefoon/PDA/mini-computer. Neem bijvoorbeeld de Mail applicatie met Exchange ondersteuning of de duizenden zakelijke apps in de App Store. Zakelijk gezien - vooral vanuit het perspectief van de IT ondersteuning - miste de iPhone echter nog een paar functies ten opzicht van het - in de Legal IT gebruikelijke - Blackberry platform. Het gisteren officieel aangekondigde iPhone OS 4 (ook voor iPad en iPod Touch) voegt een aantal nieuwe zakelijke functies toe die de iPhone nog een betere Blackberry-killer maken.

De grootste nieuwe "feature" in iPhone OS 4 is natuurlijk de introductie van "multitasking" (juist nu Microsoft multitasking uit Windows Phone 7 grotendeels heeft verwijderd). Dat haalt meteen één van de grootste bezwaren tegen de iPad onderuit. Daarnaast zal de "unified" inbox (één mailbox waar alle mail van je mailaccounts in worden weergegeven) ook een welkome aanvulling zijn voor zakelijke gebruikers. Tevens kunnen attachments in e-mails nu ook direct worden geopend in de bijhorende App.

Verbeteringen die volgens Apple puur op de zakelijke gebruikers zijn gericht zijn:

• Data Protectie - e-mail en attachment encryptie wordt nu standaard ondersteund en Apps kunnen gebruikmaken van nieuwe API (Application Programmer Interfaces) om informatie te versleutelen.
• Draadloze App distributie - bedrijven kunnen nu Apps installeren op hun iPhones via Wi-Fi en 3G (zonder de iPhone met een computer te hoeven te verbinden).
• Verbeterde Mail - meerdere Exchange accounts op één iPhone én de hierboven al genoemde "unified" inbox en 'attachment openen in App' ondersteuning.
• Centraal beheer - alle iPhones binnen bedrijf kunnen nu centraal beheerd worden (instellingen aanpassen, Apps installeren en updaten, remote wipe (wissen van iPhone (bij bijvoorbeeld diefstal of verlies) of remote lock (vergrendelen). Het is even afwachten wat voor een applicaties hier voor beschikbaar komen maar het zal ongetwijfeld het beheer eenvoudiger maken dan met Blackberry Enterprise Server.
• SSL VPN support - standaard support voor beveiligde verbindingen met het kantoornetwerk met toekomstige Apps van Cisco en Juniper. Hierdoor wordt het mogelijk om de iPhone automatisch verbinding te laten maken (of houden) met het kantoornetwerk waardoor interne web-applicaties bijvoorbeeld toegankelijk kunnen zijn via de iPhone browser of via custom-build Apps.

Vooral de encryptie van mail verkeer maakt de iPhone een nog betere Blackberry-killer. Inclusief de verbeterde beheersmogelijkheden maakt dat het investeren in een Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) (inclusief de benodigde serverhardware, onderhoud en updates) in mijn ogen redelijk overbodig.

Enige struikelblokken in de iPhone vs. Blackberry discussie zijn nu nog:

• touchscreen toetsenbord vs. echt toetsenbord (voor de meeste Blackberries)
• voor Nederland - de iPhone wordt officieel alleen via T-Mobile geleverd

iPhone OS komt deze zomer uit voor iPhone (3G en 3GS + waarschijnlijk het nieuwe iPhone model dat tegen die tijd uitkomt). De iPhone 3G zal niet alle functies ondersteunen (geen multitasking bijvoorbeeld).

Big News: BigHand just announced that they acquired nFlow Software Ltd! This comes as quite a surprise as nFlow gaining ground in their competition with BigHand. With this move, BigHand strategically eliminates the competition from nFlow and establishes itself as the de facto digital dictation software (for Legal, +10-20 users).

It will be very interesting to see how this is going to play out in the Netherlands. nFlow is being represented on the Dutch market by dFlow while BigHand has been sold and supported by I.R.I.S. (formerly Morningstar Systems). The two companies where directly competing as such.

Jon Ardron (Chief Executive Officer, BigHand) wrote:

Last week I wrote to your firm to invite you to share your product suggestions and ideas about BigHand going forward. Many responses and ideas have since been flooding in, so thank you for taking the time to feed back your thoughts.

I mentioned in that letter that this is an exciting time for BigHand and that we would be looking to invest in order to enable improvements for our clients. I am delighted to announce that this week we have acquired nFlow Software Ltd, a leading innovator in the provision of digital dictation technology. The acquisition of nFlow takes our international client base to some 1,250 organisations and 117,000 users worldwide.

For some time the similarities in the approach of BigHand and nFlow have been clear, and when we identified a chance to accelerate our global strategy through acquisition we did not hesitate. nFlow quite rightly has a reputation for client responsiveness and product innovation that has led to it to become a leading supplier in the UK legal & professional services digital dictation sector. We knew both companies share a strong commitment to customer delivery, but as I have come to know Rob Lancashire – nFlow Managing Director - we have discovered a joint vision of open, flexible, and highly accessible voice productivity technology. We are all excited by the positive impact this will have on our customers. In fact, we already have some key technology announcements due within weeks that will benefit both nFlow and BigHand users regardless of what product they may be using.

Rob Lancashire will become Managing Director of a newly formed BigHand UK Legal & Professional Services Division. The new division is specifically designed to allow us to maintain the highest levels of customer responsiveness and innovation as we continue to expand internationally. As part of the new structure I have also created a new UK Healthcare Division, and following his success as BigHand’s UK Sales Director, James Kippenberger has been promoted to Managing Director UK Healthcare. 

Jonathan Carter has decided to leave the group following these structural changes and a refocusing of corporate strategy. However he will remain involved in a consultancy capacity in the coming months. Many of you will know Jonathan and I would like to thank him for his significant contribution over many years and wish him well for the future.

We have not discounted further acquisitions designed to benefit our clients. In the meantime if you have any questions about the deal, please feel free to call me on +44 (0)20 7940 5943 or email at Jon.Ardron@BigHand.Com. As a client, I would like to thank you for helping us to make this investment possible.

Regards

Jon

It seems that I am one of the first to blog about this news. BigHand has not even mentioned anything on their own website yet - they could use a new web-marketing strategy...

LinkedIn heeft onlangs een nieuwe app voor de Blackberry uitgebracht. De LinkedIn Blackberry app is gratis te downloaden voor Blackberries vanaf OS 4.3.0 (officieel geven ze aan alleen de Tour, Bold en Curve te ondersteunen). De app integreert volledig met de mail, contact en agenda applicaties van de Blackberry en biedt hierdoor een aantal interessante mogelijkheden. 

Een aantal functies van de LinkedIn app zijn:

• Zoeken: kom voorbereid op elke afspraak door snel LinkedIn profielen bekijken
• Berichten: beheer je LinkedIn inbox overal
• Netwerk updates: blijf op de hoogte van het gesprek van de dag
• Connecties: maak nieuwe contacten zonder computer
• Uitnodigingen: stuur uitnodigingen om je professionele netwerk verder op te bouwen
• Aanbevelingen: ontvang suggesties voor mensen die je wellicht wil toevoegen aan je professionele netwerk

Als iPhone gebruiker (waar al langere tijd een geweldige LinkedIn applicatie voor bestaat) zeg ik maar: "beter laat dan nooit". Het verbaasde mij eigenlijk dat er niet eerder een fatsoenlijke LinkedIn app voor de Blackberry beschikbaar was.

In het algemeen vinden de meeste gebruikers de LinkedIn (en ook bijvoorbeeld de Facebook) app van de iPhone eenvoudiger en fijner in gebruik dan de gewone website versie. Dat is een interessante trend die met de komst van iPad (en bijhorende apps) zich hoogstwaarschijnlijk verder door zal zetten. Het zal interessant zijn om te zien of de Blackberry hier ook mee in kan gaan.

Apple will be launching the iPad in the US soon (3 April 2010). Every geek's favorite fruit-company has tried to create as much hype around the iPad as there was around the iPhone. The success of the iPhone has been astounding. The corporate world still seems quite hooked on Blackberries though the calls for iPhones among lawyers is becoming increasingly stronger. The biggest advantages of the iPhone: it genuinely easy and intuitive to use and it has 'an app for everything'.

Modern computer operating systems are (still) simply too hard to understand for most people. The same goes for most smart phones. There are thousands of people who hold on to the "I just want a phone that can call" adagium. On the other hand, there are plenty of people that actually want - or even had - a smart phone (one that can read e-mail, browse the web, play some music, take and show pictures, etc.) - but were never capable of fully understanding it. If I ask a typical Blackberry user (even those who have a Curve, Bold or Bold 2): "How often browse the web on their Blackberry?", the answer is usually: "never" (or: "I did not know that was possible"). Every iPhone user browses the web (either through one of the apps or through the standard Safari browser on a daily basis.

A category of its own

Apple has seen that their version of a smartphone has redefined the way people use their phone and has made it possible for non-technical users to perform various tasks on this single device. The iPhone has started to outgrow the 'smartphone' label - it is now used a small hand-held computer.

The logical next step for Apple is to take the success of the iPhone platform - both the iPhone Operating System with its consistent and easy-to-use interface (multitouch and well-designed hardware and software interface elements) and the concept of Apps and the App store - to another platform. The simplest approach: to increase the size of the screen (and thus the device) so that the tasks that require a little more screen real estate (like reading a book, office documents or long e-mails) will become a lot easier.

Huge success

The Apple iPad is going to be a huge success. Maybe the initial success will be smaller than that of the iPhone but in many ways the iPad is a lot more revolutionary. The iPhone is still seen as a phone -- and we had many of those already. The iPad will be the first modern (2010s) hand-held computer that is truly easy-to-use and versatile. That is why the iPad is classified as a device that defines a whole new category of its own.

In your private life the iPad will (among others) be useful for:

• Any type of information consumption (reading, video's, podcasts, the web, etc.)
• Digital photo book - holding your photo database and sharing these pictures with family and friends ('here Dad, take a look at our recent vacation pictures')
• e-Learning (language learning, cooking instructions, DIY instructions etc.)
• Games and Entertainment (it will not be long before you can play Farmville on your iPad)
• Communication (mail, chat, phone (Skype), and eventually - in a future version - video calls)

Professional usage?

But what about professional usage? How will this be a useful device to have in your law firm?

At first, the iPad will mostly be a success in the private sphere of life, just like the iPhone initially was less focused on the business world. But as our business life and private life will continue to become more intertwined - so will the usage of the iPad. Even with the initial lack of multitasking will the iPad be useful for usage in your professional life. Multitasking is a myth in its own anyway - people can not really multitask and studies have found that active multi-taskers tend to be less productive than single-taskers. The iPhone does not have multitasking (yet) and is still extremely useful (also as a business device). Instead of having to bring a stack of documents to your next meeting, you just bring your iPad and flip to documents right there. Checking and responding to e-mail will be a lot easier than on your (smart)phone.

The iPad will be success in your private life - and therefore it will be a success in your business life. You might want to keep those two fully separated. But most of us are still slaves to our Blackberries (or iPhones). So as you are lying on the beach during your two week holiday this summer, you will be enjoying being able to read the latest news or that newly purchased eBook on your iPad. You will also be grateful that you can check your (work) e-mail on the device. After all - you were expecting an important message - but were reluctant to bring your laptop to the beach (who does that, really?). This is just one example of how the business usage of the iPad (or the category of devices that it represents) will be creeping into your business life through your private life. That is aside from the direct business application that the device will undoubtedly have a short while from now.

Conclusion - get ready for a new breed of computer devices to claim a role in your personal and business life. As soon as you see your fellow lawyer (or neighbor) sporting his or her new iPad - you will be wondering whether you should get one as well. Leave it up to Apple to continue making products that have that effect.