The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50833
TECH SUPPORT Th e design objective, says Th emis co- founder Rian Gauvreau, was that lawyers would be able to fi gure out how to use it in a few minutes. Most probably could. It doesn't have the depth of functionality of VB or more mature practice manage- ment system, but does cover all the bases and includes some surprisingly sophisti- cated features, including a "dashboard" that uses billing information to graphi- cally summarize practice performance. Th e SaaS business model off ers advan- tages and disadvantages. Your vital data is stored on "enterprise-grade" servers instead of your clapped-out laptop, so it's safer. It's regularly backed up, well-pro- tected from hackers and viruses in the provider's data centre. It's also available wherever you have Internet access, even over your iPhone. On the other hand, you no longer have complete control of data, although you can keep copies of some Clio data on your computer to use offl ine. Th ere needs to be considerable trust and confi dence in any relationship with a SaaS provider. Performance is typically not quite as lickety-split as with a piece of soſt ware running on your computer. You have to wait for your request to be sent over the Internet and data to be sent back. A good, fast connection is vital. In our brief testing over a multi-megabit-per-second connec- tion though, Clio was quick enough. Th e capital cost is low or non-existent, but you pay forever. On the other hand, Newton points out, you avoid hidden costs related to managing and providing technical support for licensed soſt ware and keeping it up to date. With SaaS, you get all the soſt ware patches automatically and new features without having to buy the latest version. Bottom line: I didn't review these products, but both impressed. If you're thinking of adopting a practice manage- ment system — and you certainly should be if you're not already using one — add both to the list of possibles. (You can test drive them at www.goclio.com and www. vbfm.net.) But also be sure to look at the mature products. Gerry Blackwell is a London, Ont.-based freelance writer. He can be reached at gerryblackwell@rogers.com CL ICKFRE E EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE starting at just US$120. The Clickfree external hard drives are available in H two sizes: 120GB or 160GB ($160). They're USB drives that come with very easy-to-use backup software that runs automatically as soon as you plug the Click- free into a computer's USB port. The beauty is that it makes backing up your fi les so easy and hassle free that you might actually do it. And the drive is compact enough (11.5 x 1.7 x 7.6 cm, 180g), you can slip it in a pocket or bag and take it home at night. That way if the offi ce burns down, you still have your data. There is no software to install and little or no confi guration. It backs up most common fi le types right out of the box. The software runs on the Clickfree drive — but displays its interface on your computer monitor — leaving nothing behind on your computer when it's fi nished. You can use it to back up several computers in the offi ce. It will even back up open fi les such as Outlook PST fi les when Outlook is running. Many backup systems cannot do this so you have to remember to shut the program down before you begin a backup. — GB www. ntitled-3 1 mag.com NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 2008 27 4/4/08 10:02:41 AM ere's another Canadian-made solution primar- ily of interest to small fi rms and sole practitio- ners: Clickfree, a dead-simple backup solution Business Gadget Watch