There is no question as to the importance a solid CRM application plays in a firm's overall business strategy. But just having the best-of-breed CRM app doesn't mean that you've connected all the dots in the end-to-end customer experience. Having your CRM integrated at the record level with your client-specific data will enhance not only the interactions with your clients, but also aid in predictive up-selling and retention initiatives.

Do your friends call you a "techno nomad" or a "21^st century minimalist"? If all you need to run your legal practice is any web enabled device, than you've probably been labeled by one of these terms.

You see, in the 90s, the prevailing trend was bigger is better: bigger cars, bigger hamburgers, bigger houses and bigger technology. But with a downturn in the economy, more fuel conscience consumers and the rise cloud computing, consumers and businesses alike are learning how to do more with less, including their technology needs.

The Applied ICT A2-level Project Management class at Haslingden High School, located in Manchester, England, needed a better way to collaborate on projects in order to fulfill a requirement to learn project management techniques and work together from school and from home.

Wise Systems and Solutions put them in contact with Matt Duncan of NetDocuments who granted the class a NetDocuments basic account to enable them to complete their project.

It's that time of year again, kids are getting ready to go back to school, the snow cone stand outside NetDocuments HQ is packed with sales and support staff and the annual ILTA technology conference is about to begin.

This year, the ILTA Conference is being held in Las Vegas and will get underway on August 22nd and run until August 26th. We'll be there all week at booth #809/811. The theme for this year is Strategic Unity and should cover a number of relevant topics such as mobility, cloud computing and more.

Hello techies, look at your hardware...now look at mine. Now back to your hardware. Now back at mine. Now look at your's again. Sadly, it may not be like mine. But if you got rid of your old servers and legacy software and moved to the cloud, it could look like mine. Look down, now look up. Guess what techies? You are in the cloud with the man whose hardware your hardware could be like...welcome. Here in the cloud we do things differently, and so do our friends.

This week I discussed the current trends in UK legal technology with Jason Plant, who is an IT manager at a large UK law firm and also writes a popular legal technology blog titled No Option for Law Firm!.

Q: Thanks for your time and sharing your knowledge with us Jason. First off, what do you see as the most important current trends in legal technology in the UK?

A: I posted on my blog what I thought were the top 5 legal technologies in 2010 at the start of the year. I stand by them although I probably would reorder them a little to give the following as the top three.

This week I had a good discussion about technology for financial advisors with Bill Winterberg, one of the most technology forward minds in the Financial services market. Before joining the finance world, Bill was a software engineer for Hewlett Packard and this background in technology has allowed him to become a thought leader in the industry.

Bill currently writes technology columns for Morningstar Advisor, Advisors4Advisors.com as well as on his own blog called FP Pad. You can also find him doing his thing on Twitter from @BillWinterberg.

Has the world been rid of its cloud computing security concerns?

Probably not...but that day is getting closer. According to a few recent studies in a few technology conservative industries, people and businesses are becoming much more comfortable with storing and managing their data in the cloud.

Even the most technology risk-averse markets such as health care, finance and government are rapidly adopting, and even advocating, disruptive cloud technologies at an ever increasing rate.

Part I: SaaS for Lawyers; Part II: SaaS for Financial Advisors; Part III: SaaS for Accountants

With SaaS technology, the PC can be made to serve as a global network. Today, in part 2 of a 3 part series, we will discuss how financial advisors and broker dealers can reduce hardware costs, decrease their carbon footprint, increase mobility and enable collaboration with clients while providing SEC and FINRA compliance through cloud computing and SaaS.

Part I: SaaS for Lawyers; Part II: SaaS for Financial Advisors; Part III: SaaS for Accountants

JFK's goal was to send a man to the moon; Bill Gates wanted to put 'information at your fingertips'; and Sun Microsystems claimed that the computer was the network. JFK's dream was realized by Neil Armstrong, Bill Gates's dream has been realized by the iPhone and Blackberry, and Sun Microsystems dream is now truly being realized by anyone with a Facebook, Pandora, or Google account through cloud computing and SaaS.