LegalTech New York claims to be the "most important legal technology event of the year." That claim will be put on trial very shortly as the show will take place from January 31st - February 2nd at the Hilton New York Hotel.

Last year's show was highlighted by Malcolm Gladwell's keynote speech, and this year's sessions promise to be just as good. The show will offer up to 20 CLE credits and will be a cornucopia of legal tech knowledge from cloud computing to social media and beyond.

Remember recess in elementary? That's right, a hundred kids running at full speed in different directions, headed for unknown destinations, totally oblivious of who would be there and why? Exciting, yes. Fun, yes. Total mayhem, you bet. The Cloud Computing industry is growing at a break-neck pace, recess is out, and it's time to make some sense of the chaos.

Collaboration is a broad and well trodden topic; in fact, it was Salesforce.com's theme at their event of the year, titled "Collabor8". But just because Salesforce.com can throw around phrases like "collaborative software", or taking a "collaborative approach" in their business vernacular, it doesn't make it any easier to grasp in a real sense, nor to implement in a real-life, competitive and fast-paced environment, especially if your business has nothing to do with Salesforce.com.

Is it game over for server based document management?

That was the headline in the latest edition of the American Legal Technology Insider Newsletter.

In his newsletter discussing the issue, Charles Christian pointed out recent developments in the traditionally conservative legal market as a signal that the dog days of server farms and boxed software are all but over.

"Are the days of traditional document management systems and traditional DMS vendors coming to a close? For example, over the last two months the cloud-based document management specialists NetDocuments have signed up eight new (legal) user sites, (six law firms and two offices of general counsel) and while some of the smaller sites are new to the concept of a dedicated DMS, the latest wins also include Open Text swapouts at Van Cott Bagley Cornwall & McCarthy in Salt Lake City and Lynn Tillotson Pinkler & Cox LLP in Dallas."

The All New NetDocuments - Rich Functionality. Enhanced Design.

In the spring of 2011, NetDocuments users will get a new user experience. Without sacrificing any of our industry leading functionality and reliability, we have redesigned the user interface to improve navigation and simplify the management of documents in the cloud.

The Makeover Process

This is the most significant update in the 12 years since NetDocuments opened it's doors and paved the SaaS document management highway. "We pulled together a highly qualified team of experts to enhance the NetDocuments user interface and to address areas that would greatly improve the user experience, while at the same time creating an attractive design that is more pleasurable to use. By using familiar design patterns and a more structured framework, the interface should require less investment in setup and also be easier to gain proficiency," said VP of Marketing, Leonard Johnson.

Green Debate: Cloud vs. On Premise

Does the cloud really make businesses more energy efficient? A recently released study done by Accenture and WSP Environmental Consultants boldly declares that it does.

The study states, "businesses that choose to run applications in the cloud can reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30 percent or more versus running those same applications on their own IT infrastructure."

I was very excited this week to discuss legal technology trends with one of the industry's most influential thought leaders, Monica Bay. I learned a lot and was fascinated by her knowledge on all topics ranging from cloud computing and social media to who will win the world series (although I hope her world series prediction is false).

Q: First off Monica, give me a little background on what you do?

Earlier we posted part I of this two part Q&A with legal technology veteran Tom Lee where we discussed the history and future of document management and he ended byjoking that I was giving him too many difficult questions. So in part II I lightened things up a bit but still managed to slip in some tough questions.

Q: OK Tom, a bit of light relief now, what Football Team do you support?

Tom: CHELSEA FC - I have been a Chelsea fan since I was eight years old.

This week in our ongoing Q&A series, we are joined by Tom Lee of Quintec International. Quintec is a leading cloud based technology company based in the UK that is aimed primarily at the Legal, Insurance and Finance markets.

Q: First off Tom, tell our readers a bit about you and your company?

Tom: Great. I have been in I.T. for over 33 years and have witnessed many changes in technology from the early Mainframes to Super- Mini's, Client/Server and now to the Cloud! At Quintec, we provide our clients with business advice, consultancy, software, training and technical support. These services are delivered by an experienced team of consultants, a rapid support team and a plethora of technical guys who never seem to stop working! I wished I had their energy!

Are you in the cloud?

Whether you answered yes or no, the gateway to the secure cloud just became wider and easier to navigate with the help of a new website aptly titled, AreYouInTheCloud.com.

The website contains a lot of life changing content but the most important feature of the site may be the fully customizable cloud TCO calculator. Intrigued? Let me show you how it works...

1. Calculate

Once you step onto the cloud (enter the site) and scroll down to the TCO calculator, all you have to do is enter the total number of employees in your organization, as well as total number of offices, click calculate and let it do its thing.

This morning in London, NetDocuments CTO Alvin Tedjamulia, along with UK channel partner Quintech International had a very lively and interactive webinar with a number of UK law firms and businesses. If you missed that, you need not worry. We have a slate of upcoming webinars on new cloud computing innovation, as well as our SaaS document management system and some of the new features.

Small Law Webinar - October 14th 4:00pm EST