*BETA TESTERS NEEDED!*

Attorney's Back Office, Inc. is pleased to announce that the BETA release of Attorney's Back Office 2.0 is scheduled for March 20, 2015. This BETA release will be made available to allow users to test and evaluate the next major version of the Attorney's Back Office application.

Here's a great opportunity to help us make the upcoming release even better.

What's new in Attorney's Back Office 2.0?

The most immediately visible change to Attorney's Back Office 2.0 is the new, redesigned and dynamic calendar with the ability to sync with Google Calendar. A closer look shows that V 2.0 has a myriad of new and greatly improved features. Notable improvements include: custom created filtering for calendar events, a "search & report" processing component, a newer version of the Menu Editor, support for better collaboration through document sharing via the Client Portal, improved Tag Cloud search functionality, an addition of Tasks and Attached Documents in the Client Portal, a "new document folder" creation process, internal document attachment to outgoing emails, increased document size upload capacity to 25 MB, a streamlined accounting process, an addition of different field types in the Module Studio, and much more.
Behind the scenes, Attorney's Back Office 2.0 will support the new OpenDocument Format (ODT) standard, which will drastically improve the Document Generator's capabilities, and its ability to accept files in different formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc.). This is in addition to other notable enhancements to the Client Portal. V 2.0 comes also with enhanced login security - it disallows 2 users to be concurrently logged in with the same user name. We’ve also made smooth upgrades from Ext JS 4 to Ext JS 5 in order to improve the application's functionality in the IE browser, and much more.

Bilingual BETA Availability

Attorney's Back Office 2.0 BETA will be immediately available in both US English and Spanish for the front-end and Client Portal.

Help us catch the bugs!

In order to release Attorney's Back Office 2.0 on schedule in July, users of the BETA release are encouraged to report any bugs, issues or errors to the following e-mail address: support@attorneysbackoffice.com

Special Incentives for the testers!

Those who join us in the testing of Attorney's Back Office 2.0 BETA version will be automatically eligible for our very special offer: a one-year, free-of-charge subscription to our services with no limit on the number of added users - an annual value of $360.00 per user. But hurry! Only the first 250 applicants will be eligible for this offer. If you are interested in participating in the BETA testing, please email us with your contact information (first & last name, title, company name and phone number) at support@attorneysbackoffice.com (include BETA TEST in the subject line).

Help us improve Attorney's Back Office!

If you are fluent in Portuguese (Portugal or Brazil), please contact us, as we are looking to add a Portuguese version of Attorney's Back Office by the end of this year. If you're willing to help us, please e-mail us:  info@attorneysbackoffice.com

Our developers look forward to receiving your feedback on this beta release of Attorney's Back Office 2.0!

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Attorney's Back Office
www.attorneysbackoffice.com

Attorney’s Back Office™ Feature Introduction

RSS Feeds Module 

Today we’re introducing the RSS Feeds module designed to be your helpful assistant, so you can spend less time conducting research, and more time enjoying it.

RSS is a Web feed format, used for Web syndication and stands for Really Simple Syndication.

Web feeds are widely used by the web community for sharing the latest entries headlines or their full text, and even attach multimedia files. Some providers allow other websites to incorporate their syndicated headline or short summary feeds.

Attorney’s Back Office™ RSS Feeds module is used for many purposes, including marketing, research, or any other activity involving periodic updates and publications. Many companies use RSS feeds for delivering their news, replacing email and fax distribution. The news media also widely uses RSS by bypassing traditional news sources. Users access news and other information instantly and no longer waste time searching.

Attorney’s Back Office™ application comes with an RSS reader - it can check a list of feeds and display any updated articles that it finds. Every RSS feed has a unique address similar to the Web URLs. You don't need to use any other program or application to read the feeds - it is delivered to you right within the Attorney’s Back Office™ application

To view an RSS feed, enter the addresses into the Attorney’s Back Office™ RSS Feeds module and the information will be available to you with a click of a mouse. You can change the RSS Feed URL, delete it or create a new one.

For more information on how to set the RSS Feeds up within the Attorney’s Back Office™ application watch the video tutorial.

What Do You Need to Know About a Virtual Law Office in the “Cloud”

Recently, we received a message, or rather an inquiry, from one of the Attorney’s Back Office application’s immigration paralegal professional users and Google + circle members. We would like to share it with you since it is related to the topic that we are discussing today.

“Dear +Attorney’s Back Office. In your recent articles you've shared information about the on-line software applications and virtual law office that operate in the "cloud", and your software program, Attorney’s Back Office, as example for those. I've heard the term "cloud" before since it’s hard to get away from it these days. Trouble is, most of the information out there is written for IT pros who eat, sleep and breathe this stuff. We, legal professionals, are not familiar with it and the terminology that they use for it. Could you please explain what does the term "cloud" mean in a no-nonsense, plain-English? Thank you, Jessica”

So, what's the cloud, where is the cloud, what does it mean? Why it is called cloud and not something else? These are all questions that you, just like Jessica, have probably heard or even oftentimes asked yourself.

The simplest explanation for the term “cloud” or "cloud computing" is as follows: “cloud” or "cloud computing" means computing that involves a large number of computers connected through a communication network such as the Internet. It also means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer's hard drive. When you store data on or run programs from your PC's hard drive or local network, that's called local storage and computing, and, of course, storing your data on a home or office PC or network does not count as utilizing the cloud. With "cloud computing," you need to access your data or your programs over the Internet, hence, with an online connection, cloud computing can be done basically anywhere, anytime.

So, what do you need to know about the Cloud? One important, irrefutable fact: cloud software is accessed over the Internet. Really, that's all you need to know about it. The cloud software application is accessed over the Internet, using different types of browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc., or via mobile devices that are connected to the Internet. A good “cloud” software application must be also compatible to be accessed by different devices with different operating systems as well, such as PCs, Macs, Android, Linux, etc.

When using the virtual law office in a cloud, like the Attorney’s Back Office’s on-line practice & case management software application with an integrated bilingual client portal, we strongly suggest that you consider opinions, rules, recommendations and regulations issued by your state’s Bar Associations regarding precautions geared toward client confidentiality and privacy rules. State bar associations point out that attorneys and other law professionals, when using a virtual law office in a cloud similar to the Attorney’s Back Office’s on-line practice & case management software application with an integrated bilingual client portal, should perform their due diligence to understand if all their client data, whether it is related to internal communications, accounting and billing data, or just e-mail, is safe. Taking into considering that computer data and information theft are a hundred times more likely to be physically done by burglary, rather than via an on-line high-tech attack or data hijacking, the physical security of the computers and servers located in your office is your number one concern and worry when it comes to a data breach. Therefore, all data, with no exception whatsoever, whether it is confidential or not, communicated to, from, or within the cloud server, must be encrypted with at least 128-bit SSL encryption. Providers of a virtual law office in a cloud must keep the servers secure, the backups should be performed routinely, and you, as a customer, should be able to retrieve data if you need it because that data is yours. Another big advantage of using a virtual law office in a cloud, like the Attorney’s Back Office’s on-line practice & case management software application with an integrated bilingual client portal, is the ease of its maintenance. You, as a user, no longer need to think or consider software updates or server maintenance – with web-based software the application’s provider updates it and takes care of the servers. You no longer need a costly IT support or additional software installations on the staff’s client PCs or network servers.

For more information on the features and functions of the On-line Practice & Case Management Software Application visit our site @ www.attorneysbackoffice.com

How to Successfully Select an On-line Practice & Case Management Software Application in Eight Simple Steps

Since our first article publication, we've received a lot of feedback from both attorneys and paralegals with questions regarding the different strategies on how to select the right type of an On-line Practice & Case Management Software Application.

So, what is an On-line Practice & Case Management Application? It is a web-based software program that represents a wide variety of software tools and modules that provide attorneys, paralegals, and other industry professionals with a convenient method of effectively managing their day-to-day operations, from collecting data from your clients, matters, billing and accounting, to marketing, finance and reporting into a common database so that your law practice can share information, coordinate activities, and collaborate with your clients.

If you’re looking for your first On-line Practice & Case Management Application or looking to upgrade from an existing system, the evaluation, selection and implementation process is a long-term strategic decision for your law firm. Although, there are no perfect off-the-shelf software solutions that will satisfy your requirements completely, you need to be flexible and willing to learn how the program works to use it to the full extent of its capabilities. Work with the provider if you need help and, in some rare cases, to lightly customize the provided application. Those customizations might be the key elements that are missing in the solutions you currently use and might help improve your business workflows and successfully run your business.

The Suggested Steps

We suggest that you follow these eight simple steps before you select the On-line Practice & Case Management Application that is right for your business.

Step 1: Look for the On-line Practice & Case Management Applications with longer trial periods
Providers of the On-line Practice & Case Management Application usually offer trial periods ranging from 1 to 3 months. The longer trial periods, the better it is for you. It gives you more time to make the right decision. Be patient and willing to learn. If you need more time, ask the provider. Attorney’s Back Office ALWAYS extends trial periods up to 9 months in addition to the initial standard 3 months trial offer.

Step 2: Perform the Evaluation of the Software Application
Evaluate the software. You can do this yourself, or you can create a group of end-users from different departments within your company. If needed and budget permitting, hire a consultant to participate in the evaluation process. Establish an evaluation timeline cycle. Throughout the entire selection process, end each cycle with a meeting among all the group members that participated in the evaluation to come to an agreement and acceptance of the application’s functions and features.

Step 3: Make Your Own Assessment
Assess your daily company operations and routines. It will help you identify both your weak and strong points. This analysis and assessment will reveal problems that can be solved with the help and implementation of the On-line Practice & Case Management Application.

Step 4: Establish Your Own Standard Before Selecting the On-line Practice & Case Management Application
You will need to establish and develop your own selection standards to evaluate the available, on-the-market On-line Practice & Case Management Application solutions. The starting point for making a determination must be the applications‘ functions, pricing, platforms, compatibility, accessibility, support, and any other feature(s) that you and/or your application evaluation and selection group can think of. The standard must be set by the importance of the specific functions, features, etc., to your business, i.e. urgent, high, or low. To accomplish this, assign a score from 1 to 10, a progressive scale from 1 to 10 - low to high, to each identified standard in order to establish the assessment and evaluation process.
For example, if you are an immigration attorney practicing law in the Latino community where the majority of your client base speaks Spanish, you will need to determine whether it will be beneficial to both you and your clients to collaborate on-line using the same language. Therefore, during the selection process of the On-line Practice & Case Management Application make sure to find out whether or not the provider offers a multilingual solution.
Attorney’s Back Office is the only provider on the market that offers a BILINGUAL, both English and Spanish, solution for attorneys, paralegals and other industry professionals.

Step 5: Schedule a Demo
Call and set up a 15 – 20 minute phone meeting with an On-line Practice & Case Management Application vendor’s representative. Arrange an on-line demo of the application to obtain a better understanding and insight on the company-provider and the solution they offer. Be prepared to ask the selected On-line Practice & Case Management Application provider questions that will address your needs and concerns.

Step 6: Create a List of Providers
Create a narrowed-down list of up to three On-line Practice & Case Management Application solution providers that best meet your business needs.

Step 7: Contact the Selected Provider
Contact the On-line Practice & Case Management Application providers on your list to schedule an on-line or in-person (if the provider is local) presentation.

Step 8: Verify References
Ask the vendor to provide you with either one or two references where the selected On-line Practice & Case Management Application has been implemented and is being used.

Conclusion
By using and following this simple process, you should now be able to select the On-line Practice & Case Management Application solution for your business.

Call Attorney's Back Office at 818.217.0188 to schedule a free demo of the On-line Practice & Case Management Application. 

For more information on the features and functions of the On-line Practice & Case Management Software Application visit our site @ www.attorneysbackoffice.com