You could be forgiven for thinking the last thing the legal IT market wants today is another software system but in this article Robert Dougan of Solution Canvas ( 0870 361 3190) explains why he thinks his company's new Justia offering is a product whose time has come...

There is a lot of talk around today about Web 2.0 and the benefits and improvements that this new range of internet technologies will bring to consumers and businesses. Software as a Service (SaaS) is a key element to Web 2.0 which facilitates a break from the traditional model of software deployment whereby a vendor sells a product to a consumer, who then installs the software locally and runs it using their own computers resources. SaaS reverses this model and allows users to access powerful applications through their web browser, with the computing power provided by the vendor’s servers. This type of software provision means that expensive investment in hardware and software can be avoided.

Typically SaaS products exist as subscription services rather than using the typical licensing model. This flexibility means the consumer has a greater freedom to switch services if they are unhappy. The 24/7, always-on nature of the internet and improved broadband connections are driving the push by software vendors to deliver more powerful and useful applications online. Microsoft Office Live marks the company’s entry into this domain with a comprehensive range of applications and services targeted at small companies who may not have the financial power and technical know-how for large scale computing investment but who want access to applications that will help them to drive their business and improve the efficiency of their day-to-day processes.

Office Live provides a domain name, a content management system (CMS) based website, hosted web mail (also accessible through Outlook using the Office Outlook Connector) and a range of business applications ready to use out of the box. More advanced users can take advantage of the flexible customisation features to develop in-house applications. Office Live has also opened up a new market for independent software vendors to develop applications to work on this new, SharePoint powered platform. With a potentially large audience in the official Office Live Marketplace, there is a real opportunity for developers to tap into this new branch of software development and to use their expertise to produce SaaS solutions.

Justia for Microsoft Office Live is Europe’s first third party, commercially available Office Live® application and has been developed by Glasgow based Microsoft Gold Partner Solution Canvas. Targeted at small legal firms, Justia aims to deliver the features and functionality of more heavyweight and expensive practice management systems (PMS) but at a fraction of the cost and in a much more easy to use and flexible way. The system will also be on show at the Scottish Law Society’s Beyond nothing.but.the.net (sponsored by Legal Technology Insider) conference in Edinburgh in October.

Many small firms struggle to find a cost effective solution that will easily fit into their firms established processes and that their staff will be able to use straight away. Justia’s quick and easy installation and user friendly interface means that the system can be up and running with a minimal amount of fuss. An Office Live Essentials or Premium account is required to run Justia which is charged at a reasonable monthly rate. The rate is for the entire firm, regardless of the number of users. Because Justia is based on Microsoft Office Live, everyday infrastructure tasks like backups and maintenance are handled for you.

Justia contains comprehensive matter and client management features, task and milestone management, document libraries, integrated mapping, a diaries system, invoicing and work recording. A Red Amber Green (RAG) system alerts fee earners to matters that require attention and alerts can be tailored to be fired off when different conditions are met allowing for the constant monitoring of issues to ensure that they are handled in a manageable way.

Obviously, there already exists a wide range of legal software systems available on the market. Justia stands apart from other PMS solutions due to its focus on availability and ease of use and also its target audience; the small practices who thought that powerful legal applications were beyond their reach. Justia takes a fresh approach to legal practice management, aiming to offer a more streamlined application which will quickly produce results for the practices who decide to use it. Its hosted nature means that any updates to the system can be carried out centrally, with no action by the user required. Hosted solutions will become more and more common in future years – Justia is leading the way for legal software in this increasingly popular area and shows exactly what is possible in the Web 2.0 age.
www.justia.co.uk