Fancy a Martini? A New World Cocktail of BYOD, Mobility, Consumerisation and Free Applications

04
Feb
2013

Mark Fawdon

There's certainly been plenty written and debated in recent months on the topics of BYOD, mobility and free to air applications in the workplace. Each tends to be considered as an individual, albeit significant, challenge that law firm IT departments must address.  My contention however, is that these new world phenomena, when considered all together, represent a shift in the IT landscape that is comparable to the move to client server in the 1990s and the explosion in the internet in the 2000s. In this column I will support  that claim by setting these challenges in a law firm context and then consider how IT departments  might realign their services to be effective in the new world.

Let's avoid the traditional IT mistake, rather than starting with the technology I will first consider our customer's needs. I was discussing the mobility question with a senior partner in a well known law firm recently - thinking about how IT departments can best meet his mobility needs. He summed it up perfectly - he said, in fact he wrote:

“I (want to) work all of the time”

What does this mean to IT in terms of technology and services? Well taking that 'light bulb moment' and other conversations I have had recently, I contend that: 

lawyers want to work whenever it suits them, wherever they happen to be, using whatever device they have to hand and using whatever application they find most useful.  

Borrowing the old advert “any time, anyplace, anywhere ' - this might be termed Martini Computing. 

The Martini Challenge In Context

Before discussing how IT might respond to the changing needs of lawyers, I'll first try to explain how different this is from the IT offered only a couple of years ago. 

Simply put, a lawyer wants to access either firm hosted applications or free to air apps using either firm supplied devices or his or her own device. Oh, and from wherever in the world and 7*24. In a simple diagram it looks like this:

So, box 1 is the challenge of mobility and is where we've been working for some years now.  Using Blackberries and laptops, lawyers have been able to access DMS, PMS, email reasonably well for a number of years. IT has (quite rightly) done all the things that it did when client/server arrived - it has nailed down the configuration, standardised across devices and secured access. Some new technologies such as VPM and EMM tools are here now but by and large it's the processes and standards that enabled the distributed computing of the 1990s.

A quick look at history explains why boxes 2, 3 & 4 represent such a seismic shift to IT management. Over time, IT has managed the gradual movement of computing away from the data centre (where it had complete control in the host/terminal days of the 1980s) through the tried and trusted 'command and control' approach - standardise and lock down - and through these mechanisms high levels of availability and performance of IT services can be provided. The gradual distribution of computing from the data centre started by moving some processing and data to office desktops in the 1990's and then to laptops via the internet in the 2000's  - but all along the IT department maintained control by managing assets and configurations and secured data and devices from the centre.  If lawyers now use their own devices and/or use free to air applications then the 'command and control' approach is no longer available to IT. This is the shift - law firm computing has moved beyond the perimeter of control of the IT department!   

Of course much of the computing remains within the perimeter, delivery of core applications and management of firm provided devices is still at the heart of what IT does. However, I suggest that IT Directors and IT departments who state that computing outside of the perimeter is 'not supported' are misguided and will become increasingly marginalised in their firms. Instead, IT must look again at its raison d'etre - to offer technology based services such that the firm's objectives can be achieved - on this basis, supporting and promoting the use of public apps where business benefit can be gained must be within their remit.  IT moving into the world where the 'command and control' approach is not available is a challenge as it's against everything IT has done for thirty years - but it has to be done!

So What to Do?  

Obviously a full analysis of IT services and management in the new Martini world would take far more time and space than is available here. However, I suggest the following principles would provide a solid starting point to re-align the IT services and capabilities to be appropriate in the Martini world:

1. Embrace it. Getting this right means that IT departments are offering a better service than ever by  ensuring that lawyers have all of the tools they need available an at their fingertips. Putting in place the optimum range of services, policies, standards and technology will allow IT departments to rightfully claim to have a strategy that really enables the success of their firm. Further, discuss the strategy with the firm at large, talk about how the IT service is extended but also the limitations of that service in terms of availability and performance.
2. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.  This is not a call to ditch all of the 'command and control' mechanisms  - rather it's a recognition that you need to carefully assess which of the standards, tools, controls and processes are appropriate and in what combination for the new and different services offered in the various environments now supported (boxes 1-4).
3. Security - a fundamental.  Along with HR and Compliance, IT still has a key responsibility for the security of the firm's data. A comprehensive and rigorously enforced information security policy remains at the core of all of the firm's computing activity.
4. Box 2 - This is, in my view, where the BYOD debate centres. If lawyers wish to access firm's systems from their own devices then IT has the right to establish certain configurations on those devices - remote wipe being one of them.  However, certain elements of control are available but others are not - establishing the appropriate balance is the key challenge here. 
5. Boxes 3 & 4 - Take the lead on researching free to air apps. IT has a responsibility to understand how technology can help the firm be successful - this hasn't changed it's just that the range of solutions is now much greater. Just as you always did, understand the needs of the business and assess where these applications can help.

Summary

The world has changed in both how lawyers work and what technology can be deployed to support their success. Business computing has now extended beyond the 'command and control' perimeter  - forward thinking IT departments must acknowledge this and tailor their services and management processes to be appropriate for the Martini world.