The financial crisis has resulted in severe budget reductions in the public sector and cost base reductions in the commercial sectors. There has been an increased demand for collaboration that will enable joined-up government to improve citizen-centric services in the public sector and help the commercial sectors to better engage with customers and suppliers. Now more than ever, it has become imperative that organisations do more with less, or otherwise risk financial and operational failures.

Promises from large global ICT suppliers have too often not been satisfied and major changes in the provision and use of ICT are required to satisfy the financial and operational improvements now demanded by customers. This agenda is also often driven on the supply-side by the consumerisation of ICT – to bring to organisations, in a secure way, the kinds of powerful content sharing and collaboration capabilities that consumers now use in their daily lives, with pervasive and highly compliant technology, for only a modest fee.

The strategic opportunity exists to enable organisations in the public and commercial sectors to not only radically improve communications internally but also to critically engage externally with their customers, suppliers, partners and government authorities. This will be done in ways that are highly collaborative and adaptable, using software technologies that are delivered by utility-like infrastructure, which is highly scalable, available, secure and low cost.

Extraordinary challenges mandate extraordinary transformations

Government and commercial organisations face challenges that would have been regarded as truly extraordinary just a few years ago. Only recently it was reported in the press that yet another major IT provider, CSC, has told its shareholders that it may lose about £1B as the dismantling of the NHS National Programme for IT continues. This follows a write-off of £260M by Accenture in 2006 and a write-off of £340M by BT in 2009. It has even been questioned in Parliament whether some of the major global IT providers should ever again be allowed to bid for public sector contracts.

No less an authority than McKinsey, based on interviews with 3,249 executives across a range of regions, industries and functional areas, reports that organisations leading in the use of innovative collaboration technologies derive very high levels of benefits… involving employees, customers and business partners. Furthermore, McKinsey found these benefits to sustain real gains in competitive advantage and market share which correlate significantly with the widespread use of such collaborative technologies and especially so where external collaboration is enabled with customers, suppliers, partners and government authorities.

The future most definitely will not be business-as-usual.

To summarise, across the commercial and public sectors, organisations have an urgent need to:

1. Adopt modern ICT capabilities for cost saving and agility
2. Engage more closely with customers, suppliers, partners and government authorities
3. Use innovative and highly collaborative ways of working
4. Utilise infrastructure that is secure, scalable and cost-effective

In order for this to be enabled effectively, a software platform is required which is cloud-based and provides a wide range of integrated capabilities including secure document exchange and enterprise-grade collaboration and project management.

When such a software platform is designed to be highly intuitive, it can be configured quickly and easily by business assistants for each project or use case, and crucially management are then able to focus on the real challenges of encouraging people to collaborate on the most appropriate purposes.

Putting your management attention, energy and resources where it counts – enabling mass collaboration

Modern cloud-based computing and secure collaboration capabilities offer valuable new solutions to enable people to work together much more effectively and efficiently. It is set to be one of the most influential technological developments of the past 50 years. As reported by Anthony Bradley, VP of Gartner, mass collaboration is the next big evolution following mass production.

Given that the goal is focused on enabling people to collaborate, one has to recognise the primacy of helping people to address appropriate purposes together and to help them to be willing and able to work openly and intelligently with others of diverse personality. Enabling technology is necessary but not nearly sufficient to address such a challenge.

It is the age-old challenge of leading a diverse community of people to succeed against the odds, where each person’s prime goal is to be comfortable but where comfortable just doesn’t produce enough – that’s the core of the challenge.

What we are now seeing is actually the early stage of a democratisation of business and government, which is not only facilitated by cloud and collaboration technology, but which is also fuelled by a persuasive and persistent call for a fairer distribution of rewards.

Collaboration – with the right technology, it’s all about the people!

To enable and to maintain high performance collaboration, management must be freed from cumbersome technologies, to focus their valuable expertise on these interpersonal issues.

This strategic idea presents a more complex challenge than one might first suppose. Leading a community of diverse personalities, each having its own subtle ego with its fears, aspirations, prejudices and opinions, is one of the most difficult and rewarding challenges. It is a complex challenge in which success is never easy or simple, and sustaining success is an ongoing struggle.

Any community of collaborators is multi-faceted. Some people naturally focus on the big picture, others on the details. Some people focus on the rational, others on the emotional. Some people jump to conclusions, others reserve judgement. Some people get energised from public interaction, others from internal dialogue. It is not true that any of these predispositions is better than another – rather that in some circumstances some traits are more useful, and in other circumstances other traits are more useful.

It is necessary for people to consciously act most usefully and collaboratively in each particular situation, even when it feels counter to their natural predisposition or at least to understand what’s required and to acknowledge the useful input of others rather than fight against it for no good reason. If one can identify people who are willing and able to lead by example, to show the necessary respect, openness and intelligence, rather than self-serving prejudice, it’s surprising how people often respond positively, especially if they have the additional benefit of some formal development programme.

Cloud computing and collaboration finally give us the opportunity to maintain respectful, open, intelligent, questioning, rewarding and trusted relationships, usually in that order, with a world wide web of colleagues, customers, suppliers, partners and government agencies. It can generate results that are financially and operationally superior to the traditional command-and-control approach, which for so long has dominated commercial and governmental organisations.

This is why the current movement towards collaboration, with all its technological, economic, political and social dimensions, through local action and global reach, is so profoundly democratic, and has a positive effect on creating a better future for government and business.

Concluding comments – a nine-point plan of action

1. Choose a cloud-based software platform for secure document exchange and collaboration
2. Make sure the platform is very easy to configure by business assistants for a wide range of uses, and is highly intuitive to use
3. Be sure that you have a hotline to the senior executives of the platform provider, who not only provide the right kind of platform as outlined above but who also appreciate the strategic context in which it operates and who are open to ongoing dialogue about your requirements
4. Be clear about the key purposes for which you need people to collaborate with colleagues, customers, suppliers, partners and government agencies
5. Identify people who are known for their openness, balance, intelligence, integrity and mental courage and who are willing and able to lead and mentor such communities of interest – if you don’t see any such mentors in your organization, you’d better get yourself some or perhaps take another look
6. Help people in every possible way to understand what’s required and to play their part
7. Have no patience with people who consciously destabilise the initiative because of unfounded personal fears or prejudices
8. Take great care not to be duplicitous or dishonest or biased in any way (people will see through it and rightfully treat you and the initiative with indifference if you’re lucky or otherwise with barely-disguised contempt); rather, be clear-headed, honest and transparent and share all the rewards of success equitably
9. For your own sanity and direction, remember the insights of some of the world’s most extraordinary people ever to have addressed this leadership challenge; they are found from all ages, all walks of life and all cultures, such as Peter Drucker from the contemporary West and Lao-Tse from the ancient East:

“The important decisions involve either finding out what the situation is, or changing it
… what we need is to replace the externally imposed spur of fear with an internal self motivation”
Peter Drucker

“To lead people, walk beside them …
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear, and the next, the people hate.
When the best leader’s work is done the people say, We did it ourselves!”
Lao-Tse

For more information about HighQ can help your organisation to use cloud computing and enable more effective enterprise colllaboration, please get in touch.

At the HighQ Forum on 29 March, HighQ unveiled the stunning new features, functionality and design that are coming with the imminent release of HighQ Collaborate 2.3 and then HighQ Collaborate 3.0, which will be released towards the end of the year.

At the Sky Bar in the Grange Hotel, overlooking St Paul’s Cathedral and the River Thames, 62 members of the legal and legal technology community gathered to discuss a range of topical issues and challenges that are being faced by the legal profession and learn more about the development roadmap for HighQ Collaborate as well as the capabilities of HighQ Publisher, HighQ Dataroom and other products. Forum attendees included representatives from law firms such as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Simmons & Simmons, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Bird & Bird and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.

Forum discussions centred on Legal Project Management, Internal Collaboration, Client Demand, Consumerisation of IT and the Legal Services Act. Ruth Ward, head of central KM at Allen & Overy also delivered a keynote speech on initiating internal collaboration within a large international law firm.

The forum revealed a number of challenges that attendees were facing. Many forum participants were enthusiastic about Legal Project Management (LPM), but were concerned about “cultural resistance” and partners preferring to manage a deal or case by “gut instinct”. Forum participants recognised that LPM is about control, defining what is required and managing necessary changes, but acknowledge that lawyers are generally “reactive” and prefer to manage things as they go along. Attendees believe that the economic downturn has put a downward pressure on costs, with an increased focus on alternative fee arrangements, and that LPM can certainly help manage matters more effectively and deliver “more for less”.

“It is always reassuring to talk to your peers and understand their issues and challenges.” David Fitch, Knowledge and Learning Director, Simmons & Simmons.

“I was impressed with the range of different people around the table and they all brought different perspectives to the discussion.” David Boulds, Head of Development, Berwin Leighton Paisner.

Forum participants are eager to embrace social tools for Internal Collaboration. Email was classed by one delegate as a “de-productivity” tool, because it pushed an issue onto someone else. In any case, firms are thought to be relatively serious about internal social collaboration because the younger generation are used to using similar consumer platforms and they can deliver genuine value inside the enterprise. Forum delegates said that lawyers are able to share knowledge and collaborate with colleagues in disparate locations on important pitches and other necessary tasks.

Forum attendees questioned the productiveness of scheduled conference calls and suggested that collaboration sites could be better at setting an agenda and delivering a conclusion. Delegates indicate that internal collaboration sites help to focus minds on the task-in-hand and that they generate more constructive discussions. One commented: “We have monthly partner calls from around the world and nothing really happens. With a collaborative site, partners can post anything relevant or interesting on the subject, or just not bother. It is about driving the business forward rather than merely talking about commercial law.”

“It was good to validate with like minded folks, the challenges and opportunities offered around the mobile and social toolset space.” Mark Dibble, Head of Online Services, Allen & Overy.

Amongst a number of other key discussion points, delegates pointed to clients’ increasing demand for firms to provide a personalised or tailored perspective on topical issues. There is a recognition that a one-size-fits-all alert or memo is not a way to generate a greater connection between the client and firm. Firms must successfully reveal what something means to the client rather than merely detailing the minutiae of a piece of legislation. Client extranets or knowledge portals are viewed as an effective way of publishing matters across a variety of platforms as well as personalising it to the individual or company.

“It was interesting to hear about the big firms and how they are organising their projects, particularly as we are facing the same challenges.” Esther Albers, Head of Legal Analysts, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.

To complete the forum programme, HighQ Director Stuart Barr provided a detailed overview of HighQ’s development and release schedule. This included the imminent release of HighQ Hub, a single sign-on solution to be used on any instance of HighQ Collaborate.

Stuart also demonstrated the integrated publishing and marketing platform HighQ Publisher, a tool that has been adopted by several of the largest City firms. This allows firms to get information out to clients quickly and effectively through a variety of formats and channels including publications, video, events, microsites and email campaigns.

In addition, HighQ is to release HighQ Dataroom for clients that prefer on occasion to set up a data room on an ad hoc and pay-per-use basis.

Finally, the stage was set for a revealing update on HighQ Collaborate.

HighQ Collaborate 2.3 is to be rolled-out imminently and will include over 40 new major features. It includes a redesigned documents interface, a completely new task management module and an improved editor function. It also includes a document preview function that removes the need for the user to download large documents in order to view them.

HighQ Collaborate 3.0 is scheduled for release towards the end of 2012. It is a complete redesign and major leap forward in functionality. Crucially, it is optimised for smartphones and tablets. With its responsive design, it will adapt to the device in use. This new version also introduces micro-blogging and focuses on heightening internal collaboration within a firm. Furthermore, it provides additional features for deal rooms and data rooms.

“The HighQ Collaborate roadmap looks incredibly visionary. It takes the best ingredients from all these services in the market and has created something incredibly special. I’ll certainly spend a few months salivating in anticipation of 3.0.” Andrew Neil, Global Programme Manager for Business Transformation, Withersworldwide.

“I think 3.0 looks hugely interesting. It has massive potential for internal collaboration and to replace the law firm intranet. I just have every confidence in HighQ as a company to deliver something that is workable.” Kathryn Pearson, Knowledge and Learning Manager, Bird & Bird.

“I’d have to say a big wow. There is so much stuff to digest and there are so many more buttons. All credit to HighQ for seeing where their clients are going.” Ruth Ward, Head of Central KM, Allen & Overy.

We are seeking a System Administrator to join our dedicated team to provide a first-class service to our clients. This is an important technical role and you will be expected to have at least 3 years demonstrable experience managing complex, virtualised infrastructures. We run a Windows / Apache / Tomcat / MS SQL / Java based environment and you will be expected to set up and configure new servers, make application deployments, patch and maintain servers, run SQL queries, provide database dumps, troubleshoot network issues, MS SQL performance monitoring and more.

The role may involve speaking directly with clients and will certainly involve liaising with our offshore development team in India, so you must have excellent written and oral communication skills and be able to competently handle unforeseen problems and situations that will come your way.

The Candidate

We are looking for someone who is a quick learner, can think on their feet and is ready to take on the challenge of running a complex, enterprise-grade environment. This is a great opportunity to join an exciting organisation at the cutting-edge of enterprise cloud computing. For more information about us read the rest of our website.

Key responsibilities

• Infrastructure set up and maintenance
• Application deployments (often out of normal working hours)
• Problem solving and troubleshooting
• Disaster recovery and backup maintenance
• Performance monitoring and optimisation
• Running SQL queries
• Providing log files and DB dumps to the dev team
• Network troubleshooting
• Applying Windows patches and rebooting servers

Essential skills

• Solid Networking skills (Routers, Switches,  Firewalls, VPN, VLAN, trunking)
• Microsoft AD / DNS server (management and replication)
• Windows Server 2003/2008 (set up, performance, resource allocation, troubleshooting)
• Windows 2008 Hyper-V virtualisation / VMWare
• MS SQL 2005 (queries, backup, mirroring, maintenance plans, alerting)
• Apache Web Server and Tomcat
• Infrastructure monitoring
• Excellent written and oral communication
• An aptitude for learning quickly and thinking on your feet
• Proven problem solving ability
• Flexible with working hours

Desirable skills

• Cisco ASA 5510 ASDM with site to site VPN
• SMTP server management and configuration
• SSH
• IDS / IPS
• SAN

To apply, please send your CV with a covering note to jobs@highqsolutions.com (no recruitment agencies please)

We will be at stand H83 so if you’re planning on attending, please come by and see us. If you’re not registered click here – registration is free.

We are seeking a dedicated Web Application Support Analyst who can work in our dedicted team to provide first-class support to our clients and assist with trouble shooting other technical issues.

This is an important support role and you will be expected to have at least 2 years demonstrable experience working in a support desk environment preferably within the legal sector or a similar industry. The role will involve speaking and communicating directly with clients, our other support team members and will also involve liaising with our offshore development team in India, so you must have excellent written and oral communication skills and be able to competently handle unforeseen problems and situations that will come your way.

The candidate

We are looking for someone who is a quick learner, can think on their feet and is ready to take on the challenge of working in a dynamic support team based in London. This is a great opportunity to join an exciting, innovative organisation at the cutting-edge of enterprise cloud computing. For more information about us visit www.highqsolutions.com

Key responsibilities

• Answer client queries raised over the phone, email or through the helpdesk ticketing system
• Ability to resolve queries quickly with a high issue resolution rate
• Ability to communicate professionally with clients via the telephone and through written communication
• Ability to troubleshoot new issues and work through them logically until they’re solved
• Ability to fit into a small team and work towards common goals

Essential skills

• Excellent communication skills both verbal and written
• Experience in web application support
• Ability to be proactive and take the initiative
• Ability to adapt and learn quickly on your feet
• Flexible and commited approach to work
• Experience in a high volume environment
• Experience of the Legal or other professional services industry
• Proven problem solving ability

• Good understanding of browser, plugin and computer settings that can affect web applications

Desirable skills

• Experience supporting or delivering legal online services such as extranets and deal rooms
• Knowledge of different web browser behaviours and known issues
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Blackberry and iOS
• Ability to prepare and run SQL queries
• Experience using the Zendesk help desk system

To apply, please send your CV with a covering note to jobs@highqsolutions.com (no recruitment agencies please)

The open discussion on “Strategies for Client Extranets” was lead by a panel of experts who debated requirements, platforms and solutions for client extranets. They focused on the driving factors that have initiated client extranets, the components of successful extranets, best practices and business goals.

The event was a huge success. We had 13 attendees and, in true ILTA style, had great participations from the audience. Having both law firms and corporate law departments attend offered perspectives from both sides. We received excellent feedback from participants and the discussion was incredibly insightful – one attendee commented that it was a “great session with many new ideas on what’s possible.” We will publish a full report summarizing our findings at the end of the roadshow.

Next week’s event in Chicago will be lead by another panel of experts in a similar discussion. Confirmed participation from Jenny Friedle, Senior Manager of Online Services at Global Technology at Baker & McKenzie; Brent E. Kidwell, Chief Knowledge Counsel at Jenner & Block; Rick Krzyminski, Assistant Director of Global Knowledge & Web Solutions at Mayer Brown; and Lynette Lupia, Senior Manager in Legal Operations at Abbott Laboratories Legal Division.

Click here for more information and to register for the Chicago event on February 15.

HighQ ILTA Roadshows will be running throughout February, March and April at a number of locations including Boston, San Francisco and New York. To find out more contact Michael Worth on 646.490.3524 or email worth@highqsolutions.com

This open discussion on client extranets will begin by exploring the driving factors that have initiated client extranets and we will discuss the components of successful implementations (secure document exchange, team collaboration, knowledge management, client relationship sites etc.), best practices and business objectives. The presentation will also include a review of the various extranet platforms and how firms are using them today.

The event in Toronto will include participation from Joshua Fireman, Fireman & Company’s Founder and President; Jolie Lin, Associate General Counsel, Knowledge Management, Bank of Montreal; and Mara Nickerson, Chief Knowledge Officer at Osier, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.

Click here for more information about the presenters and to register for the event

Michael Worth, based in our New York office, will be hosting these HighQ roadshows throughout February and March at a number of locations including Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and New York. Working with ILTA, Michael will lead a different panel of experts at each roadshow event.

TheKnowList Awards for the legal technology community brings together over 300 technology professionals and senior decision makers to recognise their achievements of the previous year. More specifically, the award for Legal IT Rising Star acknowledges Ben’s individual successes to date and celebrates his contribution to the advancement of legal technology.

With over seven years experience within the legal technology industry, including senior business analyst and project management roles at CMS Cameron McKenna, Ben is now a solutions consultant at HighQ with core responsibility for the HighQ Publisher product. Since joining in October 2011, Ben has already become an integral part of our team and is currently working on a number of high profile projects, working alongside our clients to enhance solutions, design bespoke services and project manage core product implementations.

We are very proud of Ben’s win and pleased that our clients are able to benefit from his knowledge and expertise within the legal sector.

“We are very excited to be working with a growing number of the top Am Law 100 firms. Our solutions enable these firms to provide state-of-the-art client extranet and collaboration sites for sharing critical information and managing projects on a secure, cloud-based platform that can be deployed immediately with no in-house development lead time. It will form an integral part of their drive to deliver more personalized and integrated client services.” said Michael Worth, VP North America, HighQ.

About HighQ

HighQ is a leading provider of secure document exchange and team collaboration software. We provide innovative collaboration and publishing products to some of the world’s leading law firms, investment banks and corporations. We uniquely combine secure, enterprise-grade document management with the best corporate social tools. Now you can securely exchange critical business information and collaborate with colleagues, customers and partners globally, in one place.

For more information, please visit www.highqsolutions.com or contact Michael Worth at worth@highqsolutions.com or +1 646 490 3524.

In the last five or so years, enterprise social software and cloud computing have both transitioned from the fringes of corporate IT policy to become serious business priorities.

The benefits of cloud computing and software as a service in particular are generally well accepted and represent an effective way for organisations to reduce the costs associated with running their own data centres and developing applications in-house.

In addition, the adoption of enterprise social tools is increasingly seen as an effective way of improving workforce productivity, communication and knowledge sharing both internally and externally. This is often characterised simplistically as “Facebook for the enterprise” and usually involves some combination of file sharing, blogs, wikis, microblogs, task management, people profiles and activity streams.

Software as a service providers like Salesforce and Google have paved the way for organisations to embrace the cloud as an alternative to developing and hosting traditional enterprise software on-premise. The cloud offers cheap, scalable computing resources and software on demand without the need for companies to build out their own data centres or develop their own applications.

In theory then, enterprise social software hosted in the cloud should be the perfect combination of two of the hottest technology trends and give organisations immediate access to the latest wave of innovative software with no development resources or capital outlay necessary.

But is the cloud secure?

In reality, the problem for a lot of organisations comes when it’s time to actually move their software and data to the cloud. There is often resistance at senior levels and a concern around the security of data hosted outside of their network.

Much of the concern around security is born out of misconceptions about the cloud and software as a service in general. There is often an assumption made that cloud providers are less secure than hosting in-house in your own data centre. There are of course various types of cloud services and not all of them are targeted at the enterprise.

Consumer-grade services like Dropbox or iCloud are probably not the best places to store your sensitive corporate data but at the other end of the spectrum there are specialist providers who build enterprise-grade services specifically for those industries where security and control are paramount, such as the legal, banking, life sciences and government sectors.

These specialist providers often have their own private clouds and do not rely on public cloud providers like Amazon or Microsoft for hosting. They are advanced technology companies and their businesses depend on running secure and dependable services for high value clients. Their clients will audit them and require proof that their systems and services are secure via software penetration tests and adherence to information and security standards such as SAS 70 Type II or ISO 27001.

A law firm, bank or corporation is not primarily focused or dependant on providing a state-of-the-art technology platform. Whereas, a cloud provider is only able to stay in business if it has the trust of its clients and it can only do that by maintaining a robust, reliable and secure service. So it stands to reason that in order to win clients and then keep them, a specialist cloud provider must have at least as good security measures in place, if not far better, than the vast majority of organisations have themselves.

Does social mean insecure?

The second thread of resistance to the implementation of cloud-based social software is to the very concept of “social” itself. There is a common belief that “social” cannot be secure because it is based on the concepts of openness and sharing. It is also often perceived as a time wasting activity with no business benefit.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. The best enterprise-grade social tools have robust and advanced controls that enable you to share information and collaborate with other specified users inside and outside of the organisation in a secure way. You choose exactly who to share your information with and it can be as open or as closed as you like depending on what you are sharing and who you are collaborating with. Users can be given various levels of privilege and access, from full administrator rights to a read-only view on an individual content item.

What “social” really means is emphasising people and connections rather than just data. Being able to see who authored or shared a piece of content can be as valuable as the content itself. Enterprise social software is about enhancing communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. It enables users to make the connections and have a peripheral vision of the work going on around them with their colleagues, partners and clients internally and externally so that they can be more effective and productive.

So, I can have my cake and eat it!

Yes you can. Cloud-based social software is no less secure than a document management system, email or talking to someone by the water cooler but it can be a lot more effective at capturing, storing and then quickly redistributing information to the parts of the business where it is needed the most. Not all information in an organisation can be shared openly but in an enterprise-grade social system you have the opportunity to do so when it’s appropriate and keep it locked down and secure when it isn’t.

Social software and the cloud is like anything else, you need to look at all of the options and choose wisely. Do your due diligence, ask the difficult questions, speak to existing clients of the provider and ask them why they chose that solution. If you’re not comfortable with hosting your data in one of the big, public cloud platforms, look for a smaller, more specialist provider. You will probably get a more personalised service and solutions tailored to your industry or use case.

But remember, whilst there is nothing inherently insecure or risky about software as a service or social tools in comparison to traditional solutions, they can still be poorly implemented, abused and suffer from a lack of governance. However, if you choose the right cloud solution and implement it well it can lead to significant cost reductions, gains in efficiency, much more flexibility and access to cutting-edge technology that would otherwise take years to implement.

Below are the accompanying slides that I presented at the Infosecurity Europe 2012 press conference on 18th January 2012.