Mobile, Remote and Wireless: Extending the Office

Recent headlines have noted that RIM has enjoyed a huge marketing boost in that Barack Obama, in his pre-presidential days, refused to give up his BlackBerry. He reportedly said he could not function without it. The news is especially gratifying to RIM since it didn’t pay Obama a dime to “endorse” their product (though it was estimated that his endorsement would be worth about $50 million).

The idea that people become addicted to their BlackBerry and other smartphone devices is old news, of course, especially to those who work with lawyers. But the usual smartphone functionalities — e-mail, voice, voice mail, text — are not enough anymore. End users demand “always on” communications, and they also expect any and all smartphone communications to integrate seamlessly with the document management needs of their firms and law departments. Not only that, they’re starting to require that their smartphones integrate with their landlines, both phone and fax lines.

Emerging technologies can accommodate these demands, but there can be hurdles to implementation. In this issue, we offer your information about these technologies and walk you through the challenges of
implementation. We also help you determine which technologies are the best fit for your end users.

Our members drive the direction of this white paper; and Eric Anderson, Vice President of the Mobile, Remote and Wireless Peer Group, was an especially effective leader. Thanks to him and all of the contributors who brought this important and timely white paper to press.