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The annual legal technology conference in New York is being held this week. In addition to approximately 80 educational sessions, the show is home to over 300 vendors exhibiting legal technology. The technology ranges from the latest advancements in electronic document review to portable video conferencing, and everything in between. Our team’s focus is client-driven: learning about the most leading-edge legal technology available. With our packed schedules in hand (thanks, Chuck!), we met with numerous vendors to discuss their products, and to learn where their technology is heading in the coming year.
Three 2013 trends: 1. Information governance and security: we note an increased emphasis on the impact of effective information governance and security, reflected both in the educational sessions and in the available technology. 2. Simpler interface design: there is definitely more emphasis by vendors to enhance the user interface of established products. Vendors are recognizing that even if they have a solution with cutting edge technology, it will not be used if the end user is confused or doesn’t understand how to leverage the various features of the software. We have been advocating for simpler interface development for years, and are encouraged that it is now being embraced. 3. Oh Canada! We are also seeing more awareness of the Canadian marketplace. Several vendors who currently host data only in the U.S. have disclosed plans to host in Canada, either through new data centres or in partnerships with established Canadian service providers. This may open up new technology opportunities for organizations who elect to host solely in Canada due to privacy or security concerns. Stay tuned for more Legal Tech® news as the Wortzman Nickle team wraps up its time in New York. The technology sector is complicated and competitive, full of customers with strong opinions and divided loyalties. Is patriotism a factor when it comes to technology selection? It may be.
Consider Research in Motion (“RIM”). Long the darling of the Canadian technology sector, RIM’s aging BlackBerry smartphone units lost ground in the mobile device market over the past couple of years. However, RIM now appears poised to win back some of its lost market share with their BlackBerry 10 release. As reported by Iain Marlow in his January 21st, 2013 Globe and Mail article, RIM has seen a steady rise in popularity ahead of the launch of its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones (coming to a store near you on January 30th, 2013). Financial analysts, investors and recent company announcements has generated considerable interest in the BlackBerry 10 smartphone. RIM’s share prices have climbed from just over $6.00 per share in late September to over $17.00 per share this week. Marlow writes that the overall sentiment is the BlackBerry 10 promises to be a very solid product, one that will stabilize the business and allow RIM to compete with the sleek phones from Apple and Samsung. Ultimately, will patriotism play a factor in RIM’s recovery? Perhaps. Many Canadians believe in supporting local Canadian companies. Those of us who have held on to our BlackBerry devices in support of RIM may reap the rewards of our loyalty in less than a week. Will the hundreds of thousands of patriotic Canadians who love their QWERTY Keyboard (to follow in later releases of BlackBerry 10) and BlackBerry Messenger be enough to give RIM the push it needs to regain its once heralded place in the smartphone market …. Only time will tell. Wortzman Nickle is gearing up to attend LegalTech® New York, North America’s largest legal technology show. This particular show is huge, loud and can be very overwhelming. Our firm has the benefit of Chuck Rothman, who schedules the Susans’ LegalTech® lives for them (the only complaint we have every year is that he leaves very little time for shoe shopping!). For those of you who don’t have a Chuck Rothman, here are some Wortzman Nickle’s survival tips:
Stay tuned for more from the Wortzman Nickle team next week, live from LegalTech®! |
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