Just a quick thought and please excuse the brevity of this post but I figure some of these things are easier to discuss over the phone or over coffee. For all of our wonderful legal clients out there, many of whom are avid Mac users, we are often asked at I Know IT whether LEAP Office 10 or LEAP Legal Software in general can be run from a Mac.
Purely from a best practice point of view, LEAP was designed to run 100% on a Windows Server and Windows desktops or laptops. LEAP are quite strict about what sort of hardware and software you use, and rightfully so, they have a reputation to protect and when their product isn’t run in the correct environment things can go wrong.
However, there is a workaround to this. LEAP approves that you can run their software on what we call a “terminal server” which is a Microsoft technology that enables virtually any platform to connect to a Windows desktop. In geeky terms we call this desktop virtualisation and it means your firm can meet LEAPs specifications even though it uses a hybrid of technologies i.e. Macs or even iPads and iPhones.

Up until recently, the cost of setting up a terminal server and all of the hardware and software needed was far too excessive especially for a small law firm which was really bugging us for a long time because we couldn’t provide the most flexible service to anyone wanting to run LEAP Office 10, so we (I Know IT) put our heads together and came up with a model that we think will work with virtually any law firm. In fact, even if you’re not looking to run Mac in your environment, the cost savings are dramatic when compared to how firms traditionally spend money on computer hardware and software.

I won’t get too detailed here but suffice to say it’s worth discussing and finding out what your LEAP requirements are and whether your firm can qualify for such a unique service.

Wev’e put a LEAP Partner information page on the IKIT website and either myself or one of my colleagues can talk you through what’s required. Hope this helps you at least in understanding that LEAP Legal Software can run virtually on any platform so long as you get the foundations right.

OK here’s the link I Know IT LEAP IT Partner Info

Cheers,
JV

Speaking on behalf of employers out there (because I just feel I can) - we’re kind of cheap.. Well, perhaps that’s just me but let’s face it, given the choice of supplying brand new, state of the art laptops, tablets and smartphones to our staff on what appears to be an endless cycle of upgrades and do-we-really-need-these-gadgets/devices isn’t nearly as attractive as getting your employees to pony up for their own equipment at an apparent nil risk or cost to the business. Hence, the evolution of ‘Bring Your Own Device’ or BYOD in the workplace has gathered a lot of momentum in recent years.

BYO

So, if bring your own is the new thing to do, why are so many small, medium and large businesses still investing millions per annum in desktop hardware and software?
Yes, BYOD can work, motivate staff, improve productivity and increase ROI on existing IT equipment, but there are some large caveats and it’s not nearly as simple as shutting down the IT department or firing the IT guy just yet… [...]

Seriously.  We conducted a mission critical, emergency offsite test for our company I Know IT last Friday.. what we didn’t tell our clients is that we’d be busy taking care of their IT systems while soaking up some rays, enjoying some waves and better yet.. being more productive at.. the beach!  If you haven’t read “the fun stuff” take a look now, watch the videos and give us your feedback.

Whilst it was a successful day in a unique location, a LOT of planning went into this, and what we want to share with you is just how critical it is for your company to consider what would happen if you needed to relocate your organisation offsite during an evacuation, a flood, a fire or any other reason why you could not operate from your office.  Remember, we had 2 weeks to plan this from design to implementation.  We have a written plan which is now permanently in our operations manual and a set of notes to go by in case this really does happen.  What would your organisation do in a disaster? [...]

Over the past week I’ve spent time with various peer groups in Sydney including HTG, a specialist group of leading IT and Managed Services providers globally of which I Know IT is a member, as well as Connectwise, the leading platform for these same types of organisations.

One of the key discussions that has shadowed this and previous meetings is the sudden influence of Apple over the organisations we service.
Up until recently, many company’s had a predominant IT platform and were either staunchly PC with perhaps a handful of Macs not connected to many of the mainstream resources such as servers and backup systems, reserved for those who refused to work with anything else – versus Mac, where people would actually leave the company if so much as a PC were to be found in the organisation for fear of Microsoft penetrating their minds. [...]

There has often been a clear divide between business owners as to whether one should purchase equipment outright versus rent, lease or finance equipment.  Often these decisions were based purely on cash flow or tax advantages as well as many company’s preferring not to be beholden to a financier.  However,  recent economic uncertainty is not the only driver in changing these attitudes and is leading many CFO’s and IT decision makers toward more palatable pay-as-you-go options.  These options include HaaS (hardware as a service) but have also recently been referred to as IaaS (infrastructure as a service) or TaaS (technology as a service).

Substantial tipping points have occurred in technology, so much so that owning a piece of hardware or software that is likely to be superseded in a matter of 2-3 years (or less) [...]

An increasing demand on corporate resources has seen company networks under perform, Internet run slow, applications not as accessible as they used to be and remote employees and contractors struggling to connect to company IT systems. This has been amplified in 2011 with the rapid adoption of mobile devices and an increasing shift on websites to incorporate video, audio and rich interactive content.

Of course, most business owners aren’t complaining when web sites such as Facebook and YouTube are slow and inaccessible – but it’s this social media phenomenon coupled with more intuitive ways to use technologies especially mobile devices that is changing networking so much so that many IT departments and IT support providers struggle to keep up with the demand on resources. The cost of upgrading networking equipment can also be prohibitive leading to band-aid approaches such as blocking or “throttling” internet access rather than addressing (or embracing) the future technology needs of the company. [...]

January is often a time when business owners set their mission, make plans for the year ahead and focus on the organisations vision. Well, January is half way through and today I was fortunate enough to be in Canberra and visit the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex which is run by NASA and the CSIRO. Not only was the giant satellite awe inspiring in and of itself, but the centre is full of historic articles, videos and pictures documenting astonishing feats of technology over the past 50 or so years. I’m a bit of a techie (in case you hadn’t gathered) so when I think of how far we’ve come from developing rockets to putting a rover on Mars it truly does show the value of setting a mission!

One thing caught my eye – it was the objectives for Project Mercury. A team of individuals were formed in 1958 with the following ‘mission’.

To orbit a manned space craft around earth;
To investigate mans ability to function in space;
To recover both astronaut and spacecraft safely

That’s not just a stretch goal – to many that was mission impossible!

But yet, the project was successful. In 1961 (just 3 years later) the US launched Alan Shepard into space for a total of 15 minutes. Not long after, more goals were set, more missions were established and many have shaped our lives (who knew that NASA invented CDs and sunglasses?).

Given the enormity of such an undertaking, during a time when much of this technology was yet to be developed it demonstrates just how capable our organisations can be when we clearly articulate a mission.

Unless you’re in the deep space business your mission probably differs from this one (and if you are in the deep space business I’d still love to hear from you)- tell me, is your 2012 mission a big stretch, a small goal or nothing at all?

If you have one, or you’re even thinking about one then it would be great to hear from you – what is your 2012 mission?

Having been an avid iPad supporter since they came about, lately I’ve been tempted by other tablet devices – pretty much anything running Android.. And soon I’ll be salivating over a Windows 8 tablet.

But I keep getting stuck on the fact that I have so many apps, not to mention my iTunes music and tv shows I’ve bought that are paired up with my Apple devices.

Don’t even get me started on even considering an alternative to my iPhone.

How about you? Have you been tempted by other devices but can’t
make the shift? What are your reasons? Is it your app library, the cost, Apple addiction? Lack of comparable features? Interested to hear your comments.

With summer finally getting underway here in Sydney and the new year well and truly arriving in style, it’s time to reflect on what was trending in 2011 on JamesVickery.com.au. Perhaps you missed them last year, so here are the top 5 articles from 2011.

#5 Solved! Simple Solutions to Common IT Problems

Seems quite a few readers of our blogs wanted answers to common IT problems. These IT problems are still relevant to many businesses today and this was our 5th most read article of 2011.

#4 Microsoft, A Dying Dinosaur or Cunning Giant?

There was much discussion about Microsoft last year and their perceived loss of market share to other industry giants like Apple and Google. Seems that this was our 4th most read article of 2011.

#3 Should You Buy an iPad?

Well, the iPad has come a long way even in this short space of time. I don’t know what I’d do without my iPad and Citrix Receiver or my favourite app for keeping meeting notes synched across all my devices – OneNote. And, now that many of the annoyances of the first series of the iPad have been beaten out – this was our 3rd most read article of 2011.

#2 What on Earth is Cloud?

So much talk about cloud, it’s all a bit confusing – so this 7 part series aimed for blue skies with a little cloud. The series was our 2nd most read article in 2011.

But.. it seems Australian’s in particular were just wanting to know how to get away from work with their laptops, iPhones and iPad’s, and the number one article, with more than 1500 views was (drum roll please..)…

#1 How To Get Online When Travelling Overseas

This go to guide for getting online overseas was in response to numerous calls and emails to our service desk from so many clients either travelling for leisure or heading off to overseas conferences (or a bit of both) It seems that we all need to be connected no matter where we are, so this was the #1 article in 2011.

Stay tuned to JamesVickery.com.au this year for new articles, more tips, advice and free content from myself and the I Know IT team to help you grow your business through technology.

Happy new year!