This Tuesday, we spoke to the Small Firm Management section of the ALA Capital Chapter on IT trends for small firms. What we encounter is that small firms have many of the same IT challenges of large law firms, just not on the same scale.

Both small and large firms alike are paying close attention to these IT trends:

Getting more for your money – Everyone is looking to stretch their IT dollars, so small firms are looking to managed IT services and large firms look to outsource basic tasks like daily server checks and monitoring. Firms are also looking at application services providers (Internet providers) for critical systems like time & billing, backup, e-mail and spam filtering.

Virtualization of desktops and servers – flexibility and ability to recover from disasters quickly makes this one of the hottest trends to watch.

Data vaulting – whether the firm administrator is tired of bringing back-up tapes home every night or an integral part of a disaster recovery plan, data vaulting—online backups—are the way to go.

Mobility – Including remote access, laptop and handheld computing, staying in the office is so last century.

Security – While constant struggle against malware rages on, now everyone should also pay attention to stopping data breaches that can cost your firm both money and its reputation.

What are the IT trends where small firms are sitting on the sidelines? WANs; desktop management and software deployment; and Storage Area Networks (SANs).

A common question our clients ask about IT in law firms is how much they should be spending and on what? While the specific answer varies greatly by firm, at the very least you should be spending 3-6% of gross revenue on your IT needs. Then we talk about getting maximum value for that money based on their business goals. For many companies, managed IT services can be a way to get more in the way of service, support, and productivity while spending the same amount.

We put together our thoughts in a white paper called "Getting More from Your IT Budget." It discusses where IT provides the most value to the firm and whether managed services are the right fit for your organization. In it, we cover the many different ways managed services are provided, and what it means to manage your IT provider. Throughout are tips and ideas on how to maximize your IT dollar.

Download the sample, or get your complimentary copy of the complete white paper, a 25 page, full-color PDF.

EWeek’s Knowledge Center posted a handful of new articles this week on security, providing answers to your questions about:

• Multifactor authentication;
• Device identification;
• Digital watermarking; and
• Password hardening.

These are proven technologies. The hardest part is getting attorneys and professionals to accept and use them. That means getting buy-in from senior management. Perhaps talk about the bad things that can happen from data loss, like bad press; loss of client confidence; professional liability and restitution damages.

SAGE has spoken before on this topic of mobile security to organizations. Drop us a line if you would be interested in hearing more.

Here is an idea to think about and discuss. This isn’t an endorsement. Hopefully, it is the start of a conversation.

Chris Anderson, Editor of Wired Magazine and the main who coined the them “the Long Tail” has an interesting post about dual IT networks—one official, the other not—at Wired’s offices. One is the corporate network that is locked down and heavily managed to protect its core functions like accounting/finance, file storage, backup and Exchange. The second is an “open” Internet connection, providing full access to Skype, instant messaging clients, and Facebook.

Now Wired magazine is about living on the digital edge, and law firms and professional services firms are not. Law firms especially need to protect data because the professional and financial ramifications of not doing so are devastating. But innovation is required in any industry, and we have touted the many advantages of new Web applications and services like RSS, social bookmarking, wikis, and more. Giving employees a playground to experiment could lead to a better way to provide client service or an innovative approach to services via these new Internet technologies.

As Anderson mentions in his blog, many corporate CIOs are implementing or seriously considering this dual networking strategy, either with physically separate networks or virtual networks. Time will tell, however, what problems could arise from this intriguing approach. At the person and workstation level those networks converge, causing potential headaches like lost productivity to fantasy sports leagues; malware pickup up from risky web sites and apps, and random questions about obscure web applications into the help desk.

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

We have been off the blogging for a week, so if you were out over the long holiday weekend like we were, here is what you may have missed.

Windows Server 2008 Delayed too… 2008. Surprise! Microsoft has delayed the launch of a major operating system.However, this slip pushes back other Microsoft products, like its Viridian Hypervisor for server virtualization that is supposed to get them into the virtualization market in a big way. And as we all know, it means that much longer until the first service pack is released, which is when most people make the jump to a new operating system.

Speaking of Service Packs: Vista SP1 Coming Winter 2008. Rumors of its arrival have swirled for a few months, but Microsoft makes it official, hoping that it will drive sales of the troubled OS. Shortly after its release, Microsoft is expected to release Service Pack 3 for Windows XP.

…Speaking of the Virtualization Market.This EWeek article has a rundown of the latest developments in the industry where VMWare had a successful IPO and is flush with cash, Citrix bought XenSource, and Microsoft is still looking to make inroads.

The Next-Gen Web Application, in Five Easy Steps. AJAX, Web Services, Dynamic Data, Offline Availability and data flexibility are hallmarks of the next generation in web applications. Indeed, now is a time of great experimentation in web sites and web applications and each of these characteristics are in use today to varying degrees. Combine these with the next generation of mobile devices like Apple’s iPhone, and the Web will be where you work, no matter where you are.