Metadata, Miscellaneous, Technology

2009 ABA Legal Technology: Our Survey Says!

Sorry for not posting as often, folks.  Not to be a broken record, but I'm busy these days…

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The American Bar Association recently published the first two volumes of their annual Legal Tech Survey (Disclosure:  I'm a prior member of the ABA, but have no current interest).  I've had a look at some excerpts and they tell a very interesting story:

METADATA

46% of those who responded to their survey report that they use Metadata removal software.  Adobe Acrobat was at the top of the list.  This won't be surprising, but the highest percentage, 86%, are large firms and only 27% are solo firms.  I would assume cost would be a major factor, but also, large firms are more likely to have an IT group that would push use of these products out to the enterprise.

PDAs

Get this.  A whopping 77% reported that they use some form of PDA, with BlackBerry leading the way at 64%.  When drafting your "litigation hold" letters, this is a big one to keep in mind.

MAC ISN'T BIG

Don't get me wrong – I'm as big a fan of MACs as anyone; in fact, in the 90s I was a MAC networking specialist at Hughes Space and Communications and Universal Music Group (don't get me started on Appletalk!).  But, this doesn't change reality.  Only 4% reported MAC OS as the operating system on their primary computer.

WINDOWS
Vista has not been a very popular OS (I can attest to some issues myself – I have one Vista and two XP boxes) and this is borne out by the data – 74% still use XP and only 9% use Vista.  Windows 7 anyone?

ONLINE STORAGE

47% of firms use it, and this is another area of concern – at least in my opinion.  Heck…maybe I'm just a control freak…

SaaS

Software as as service is gaining ground, albeit slowly.  16% report using some form of SaaS.

For anyone who is tasked with advance-planning, this information is invaluable because it guides us to where the enterprise is moving over the next few years.  I just hope we can keep up!