Dear Readers,

What If is a column dedicated to finding a better way.

Often we find that people are still doing things the hard way, because "that's the way it's always been done." The What If contributors are a community of problem solvers...always looking for a better way.

This collaboration is geared to draw from a larger community. So as you read these columns think about your contribution to the next one. Do you have a technology pain point, challenge, or gripe, or just wonder if there is an easier way to handle some task that might be slowing you down. Share it with us.

Sincerely,

What If 

What If ... You Get That Call at Midnight?

What If the attorneys from your firm are working feverishly at home to finalize a brief for filing in the morning  -- and suddenly your firm’s document management system or Exchange server crashes?  When you get that panicked call from a partner at midnight, does your tech staff have a plan and the right resources in place to support your firm’s business critical applications?

In the technology field, it’s important to bear in mind Murphy’s Law – if something can go wrong in a given situation, it eventually will.  And for those of us in the legal tech world, there’s a corollary to Murphy’s Law, which is...Read more

Why Is Patching So Important?

Patching servers is a time-consuming and tedious task that many firms have been putting off due to resource constraints.  It is one of those issues easy to overlook, but critical to address due to the alarming increase of high profile Cyberattacks. 

Simply put, unpatched servers pose an immediate and present danger to your firm's network security.  The software that keeps your firm’s business critical servers running... Read more

Securing Electronic Waste for a Remote Workforce

What if you’re working from home and it's time to replace your aging laptop and smart phone.  Now that you can’t just drop off your old machines in the IT Support office to be ‘wiped’ clear of client sensitive data, is there some other secure way to dispose of your old devices?

High-profile data thefts and losses have been all over the news in recent years. We have all seen movie scenes of folks going through dumpsters to try to find... Read more

Breakout Rooms for Microsoft Teams

Have you ever been in an online meeting where you wanted to have a side conversation with some, but not all, of the meeting participants?

Most law firms have designed their brick and mortar offices to provide small break out rooms adjacent to large conference rooms. This can make large meetings and negotiating sessions far more productive, by enabling confidential side-bar discussions where settlement trial balloons get floated or lawyers and clients speak privately about particular points in a merger or public offering.

Now the virtual world is catching up. Read more 

Before the Next Storm Comes

At this point it’s only natural to wonder what will go wrong next. Hurricane season is here and a majority of us are still working from home, in varying states of lockdown. Ten days ago, tropical storm Isaias swept up the East Coast, knocking out utility service for millions of homeowners from South Carolina to Maine. So what is your back-up plan to ensure you can stay productive working from home in the face of the next named storm? Read more

How to Dictate a Memo While in Lockdown

Working from home means we must adapt and change our long-established routines.  That can pose a major challenge for some lawyers, particularly for those who depend on their legal assistants to take dictation for all correspondence and legal memos. Senior partners spending all their time hunting and pecking on the keyboard results in major declines in productivity. Read more

Is There an Easy Way to Expand Screen Space in your Home Office?

Over the last few months, we’ve all had a chance to discover there are both pros and cons to working from home.  One of the major drawbacks is that all too often we end up feeling bleary eyed and unproductive because there never seems to be enough screen display available in our home office setup. Read more

Who are we?

Kraft Kennedy is the technical and strategic consulting partner for law firms and corporate legal departments. We have been solving essential business and IT challenges since 1988.

The knowledge resource for industry best practices, we are known for our uniquely deep expertise in IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, desktop design, project management, DMS, advisory services, and procurement.