#Extranet Files; (musings)

[0mnitrixter]

     As the bright green light filled the empty room, the loud, unceasing beeping made him suddenly wake up.

Ben growled, trying to cover his ears with the pillow to ignore whatever was happening. But after that sound became louder and louder, the boy finally peeked from the pillow, trying to locate the source of that fuzz.

It was coming from the night table next to his bed. It took a moment to realize, but once he understood that it was the Omnitrix going off, he quickly sat up, reaching for the device to see what was happening.

Instinctively we wore it; Dexter pressed for him to take it off at least when he was sleeping, both fearing that it could malfunction while Ben wasn’t aware and because of the damage it was creating on the boy’s wrist.      Finally, he pressed on the device, to see what the alarm was for.

[WARNING: NEW ALIEN DNA DETECTED]

     That completely caught his attention. He navigated through the settings, trying to determine the location of that new extraterrestrial life form the Omnitrix was detecting.

Strange... it said it wasn’t coming from anywhere near Offworld Plaza or the Space Port. He tried to scan the Nanocom Map, but everywhere he looked, the Omnitrix kept saying that the source of the new DNA wasn’t anywhere in there.

Sighing, a bit annoyed, he got up and walked to his desk, switching on the computer to try and solve that mystery once and for all.

He connected the watch to the network and started a larger scan of all known area to find this new alien form.

It took a while, and Ben was really about to fall asleep again on his chair when finally, something came up.      Yawning, the teen stretched and looked at the big screen in front of him. What he saw, left him speechless, and made him wake up completely.

The computer was detecting the source of the new alien DNA on Planet Fuse.

That couldn’t be right,      There was NO WAY the Omnitrix was detecting ANY sort of life form on that disgusting excuse of a planet.

He tried to get more information, scanning all known alien species to see if there was a match with what the watch was detecting. Of course, there were some species the device hadn’t scanned yet, but them being on Planet Fuse? Was that monster keeping hostages for some obscure reason?

But the answer that came up from his search was even more unsettling that he could ever imagine.

[NEW ALIEN DNA FOUND] [SOURCE: PLANET FUSE] [SPECIES: FUSE]

     That... couldn’t be right at all. They passed YEARS trying to understand who Fuse was and how to destroy it. The Omnitrix started malfunctioning once that invader arrived, and it was never able to acquire or even DETECT that monster’s DNA.      He tried to repeat the search more than once, but the same result came up, over and over again.

Ben leaned back on his chair, looking down at the watch, shocked and confused.      He tapped on the device screen, and a hologram popped up.

[ACQUIRE NEW ALIEN DNA: YES/NO]

     Maybe he needed to call Dexter and tell him about what was going on; that could be a big breakthrough in that war.      As he thought this, the signal coming from Planet Fuse began to weaken, and the Omnitrix started a countdown for the acquisition.

He could record all that data and send it to the boy genius.      Or... he could... scan the DNA, store it into the Omnitrix and show it to him the next day...

[COUNTDOWN: 3]

His eyes darted from the computer screen to the Omnitrix, trying to decide what to do.

[COUNTDOWN: 2]

There was no time to copy the information or even contact Dexter.

[COUNTDOWN: 1]

     He whined, and with a quick, resolute movement he smacked the screen of the Omnitrix, allowing it to acquire and store that new DNA.

The beeping immediately ceased. The room went silent, except for Ben’s hard breathing. He was legit shivering from a mix of relieved stress and fear.

It... was there. He had Fuse, LORD Fuse’s DNA stored into the Omnitrix.

That was BIG. That could allow them to really win that war that had been going on for so long. It didn’t seem real.

     He sighed loudly, rubbing his face with both hands and bending down to his legs, trying to calm down a bit, collect his thought and decide what to do next. He even stopped breathing for a few seconds.

Finally, Ben pulled up, taking a deep breath.      He looked down at the Omnitrix once again and tapped a shivering finger on the dial, letting the new alien hologram appear.

Fuse.

It was real.

And now... he was curious. Should he... try it?      Should he verify that that was, in fact, Fuse’s form?           What if it was a trap?

Too many questions and doubts rose up as he looked at that green miniature of the alien who was trying to destroy their planet.

He needed to be sure so that no one would get hurt.

     His hand moved to activate the Omnitrix, right arm up in the air and left one bent in front of his face. He hesitated as all the possibilities passed in his mind on how that could end.

In the end, his instinct prevailed, and his hand flew down and collided with the device, filling the room with a bright green light.

     And a painful, ear-piercing scream of agony.

[eliaandponto1]

Digital Transformation: Key Implications for Law Firm Technology Services and Offerings

In February, I read with a keen interest in a two-part series in Legal Executive Institute on Digital Transformation and Practice Opportunities for Law Firms. It started me thinking about how these trends impact the technology function of the typical law firm. While there are numerous implications, here are a few which caught my eye.

Transforming The Customer Experience

As one might logically assume, and the series repeatedly states, true transformation and improvement of business processes is exceptionally important. Within an application, for example, part of the user experience is the look and feel of the system, no doubt about that. So, reworking systems into the “HTML5/client-side/node.js” universe, so applications are more usable on mobile devices and “look prettier”, is clearly part of the game, and not something to be underappreciated. Some people do judge books by their cover.

But, many will contend that reengineering processes are perhaps an even bigger contributing factor to business success. Taking a shot at streamlining processes with workflow technology, attempting something like the predictive population of data fields or document creation based on prior user activity, better logic-based edit checking and many other strategies are all useful ideas. Why? Because they promote efficiency, data quality and the ability to leverage past work product to develop new. Improved work product at a more competitive price. Clients are looking for more value, and task automation or reduction hits the mark in this area.

And, please remember, transformation does not only relate to the products a law firm technology department provides. Law firm technology groups also provide a vast array of services to their constituencies. Think help desk calls, practice support needs, requests for new applications, requests for advice on which tools to use on a business needs, and even general training needs. In all of these instances, like the trend in the new, modern economy, law firm technologists are providing services, not products. So, reengineering, for example, the process in which you integrate a third party help desk into your environment, developing solid relationships with E-Discovery software companies, and building a network of trusted consultants available to throw on urgent business needs are all part of the transformation of the customer experience process as well.

Regulations

The Digital Transformation series also describes emerging opportunities law firms have to help their firms navigate the perilous waters churned up by the alphabet soup of regulations now blanketing the industry. HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), Sarbanes-Oxley and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) are all on the books, and the United States Congress continues to look at other areas such as the management of IoT (Internet Of Things) devices.

I’m not here to suggest to law firms how to build practices to attract business in that space. I’ll leave that to others smarter than myself. But there are numerous implications to law firm technology groups in this area which come to mind.

One obvious topic is that of client data and governance. Law firms hold a plethora of data for clients, everything from trade secrets to financial results to customer information. They unequivocally need to be acutely aware of all salient regulations and be sure they are fully complied with. Clients and employees alike will want to send records to and fro, but lest we all forget, we shan’t be sending no Social Security Numbers, medical information or trade secrets cross organizations via standard email now, should we?  Of course not.

What does this mean? It means you, law firm technology leader, need to demonstrate on a daily basis that you are not an invertebrate and be darn sure concepts like email filters, secure file transfer, full-disk encryption, multi-factor authentication, need-to-know security models, frequent network security scans and many other tools in this space are not viewed as annoyances, but rather an integral part of the process.

Will end users like this?  Some will appreciate your efforts, others will accept and understand it, most will not be too thrilled and a select few will whine incessantly. The job of a technology leader in this theater is to ignore the noise, drivel, and complaining, keep your eye on the ball as it relates to core business issues and client service, and do what needs to be done. It’s what clients demand.

Integration

The series also discussed the topic of integration on a few different planes. To state the obvious, technology is now deeply integrated into virtually all business functions. And technology plays a huge role in integrating business functions, companies like SAP offer enterprise software to seamlessly connect formerly disparate functions such as sales, the supply chain, and finance. So, it is abundantly clear that integration is a leading element of the transformation process.

So how does this apply, more specifically, in the legal service delivery model?  Well, one way is that we typically have various players working together on a legal matter. If you are a corporate defense firm, for example, your typical litigation could involve a diversified number of entities such as national counsel, local or trial counsel, experts, court officials, plaintiffs and of course, most importantly of all, clients.

Integrating this divergent set of people and entities together provides great value. Why? Well, we all want team members to be working from the most recent version of a document, to have visibility to the most recent happenings on a matter, to have access to the current case calendar, and to have tools to quickly enable collaboration on issues of the day.

Most understand there is a slew of technologies to better integrate folks on work teams together these days. Client extranets or deal rooms are and always have been a logical place to start. From a process perspective, if one can develop a model and mindset of consulting a central system for the latest and greatest information, rather than calling or emailing others and waiting for a response or relying on a report generated a few weeks ago, that’s a place you want your working teams to be. Easy-to-use video and audio conferencing systems certainly help too, the emphasis here definitely being on ease-of-use (think of tools like Facetime or Facebook Messenger in our non-professional lives). If it’s hard to use, people won’t use it.

Keep this in mind as well. Integration does not only apply to people and organizations, but also to systems. We live in a world where information and data are vitally important. If a client wants to know why your law firm works more productively than another, or if your law firm expertise develops better results than another, many feel a quantitative response is far superior to a qualitative response.

If we accept this premise, how does integration help? For example, if a law firm can extract data like time entries and selected fields such as initial settlement projects and actual results into a data warehouse type of environment, mathematical conclusions about productivity and superior outcomes can be developed to support one’s contention that they are perhaps “the greatest firm in the land!”

Wrap-Up

Many believe that digital transformation is the new normal in the business world today. Are these the only areas related to change management and the spirit of innovation which is now present that law firm technology experts should consider?  Certainly not, I would say this is more the musings of one person on some areas of note rather than a complete roadmap. But, hopefully, it primes the pump a bit in terms of the thought processes and adaptation of solid practices associated with digital transformation in the legal technology field.

The post Digital Transformation: Key Implications for Law Firm Technology Services and Offerings appeared first on Law Technology Today.

from http://bit.ly/2W4mNjk

[0mnitrixter]

“Did you guys know that fusions make a great green screen?”

[0mnitrixter]

“Do you think this war will ever end?

Do you ever feel hopeless and think we might lose against Fuse and everything will just be... gone, in a second?

I am afraid sometimes.      It’s hard to keep it and keep a hero attitude to all the kids who are probably more afraid than you.

What can we do?

We just need to keep fighting.      Keep hoping.           Keep wanting a better future.”

[0mnitrixter]

“Can you guys believe it’s been 10 years and the war is still ON??”

[0mnitrixter]

That’s it. That’s Ben.

[0mnitrixter]

“All I wanna do is sleep.”

[0mnitrixter]

“TFW your cousin has immense cosmic powers but she can’t even create a simple smoothie.”