In the September/October 2011issue of The Pennsylvania Lawyer, published by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, practicing attorney and technology consultant, Shannon Brown, provides a very thoughtful and informative primer on the "why's and wherefores" of cloud computing. His article offers some important background for attorneys attempting to understand the "alphabet soup" of current cloud computing terminology.

Open Letter to CIOs everywhere:

As you've surely noticed, technology isn't just changing the functions of your employee's jobs, it's blurring the lines of work and life altogether by giving them a choice over how and where they work. We've all seen the stats, for example:

Today, work styles have become as unique as your people and your technology should reflect that. But you have choices, option #1 is to continue with the status quo. Option #2 is to embrace change and leverage the web and new technology to allow employees to be flexible enough to react to their clients needs in the most optimal way possible.

NetDocuments has long been integrated with Salesforce.com and thousands of our joint users have leveraged this tight integration to manage all of their client data from one secure place in the cloud.

This video tells the story of Reggie, a small business owner, who sees the light when he sends he sends his documents to the cloud and manages them in Salesforce.

Let us know how you are using cloud. Find us on Twitter at @NetDocuments or drop us a line in the comments section.

With the announcement of prestigious law firm, Foley & Lardner, switching from iManage to NetDocuments, our new user interface, and the growing Partner Program, the road was paved for a great Legal Tech conference in both New York and New Delhi.

Happening at virtually the same time, Smart Solutions, one of NetDocuments' Global Channel Partners, represented us at LegalTech India while we managed in New York; the result? Two amazing shows, with lots of exposure, highlighting our recent developments, high-profile clients, and international reach. Here are the thoughts from those who were there…

Nothing in life is certain, except death, taxes, and the T3 Technology Conference being the the go-to spot for financial services technology.

David Drucker and Joel Bruckenstein are the brainchildren behind the T3 conference and will be taking their talents to Weston, FL for the 2011 event being held February 16-19. This is the sixth year that the duo has been running the conference and they are extremely excited to see what new innovations will be discussed during this year's show.

Sure, most of us enjoy holding hands with the people we love, e.g., our significant others, children or grandchildren. But do we really like holding our IT person's hand? Or, for that matter, do IT staff really like holding the hands of those in their organization? My guess: umm, not so much. So, cue the NetDocuments New User Interface…

<See more screenshots at http://www.netdocuments.com/start/2011/>

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.

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."