The new year is the traditional time to make resolutions. We evaluate our personal relationships, flaws and failures, and resolve to improve. This year, don’t limit your resolutions to your personal life. Start the New Year right by considering these 10 resolutions.

• We will back up our files regularly. Even if you have a single computer, recreating your work can be time-consuming and expensive. If you’re on a network, you should have a high-capacity, high-speed tape drive that can make a snapshot of all the files on your server each night. You should have enough tapes to alternate. A typical backup system might include 10 tapes to allow daily backups over a two-week period. Depending on the nature of your data, you also may want a set of tapes to archive the files onto a monthly tape stored offsite.
   
  In addition to the server, you also should back up critical programs. Timekeeping and billing programs and case management programs have become essential databases to the functioning of law firms. Imagine losing all the information stored in any of these programs or having to recreate a month’s worth of time entries, expenses and payments.
   
  You may wonder, “Why do we need to back up our case management program when we have a tape backing up our server each night?”
   
  First, by backing up the programs with their own internal routines, you ensure the files that must be closed to make a reliable backup have been properly shut. Second, by making daily backups of these databases, you place five days’ worth of backups on the server, which, in turn, copies them to each evening’s tape. This redundancy will provide more options should you have to restore data. Finally, by backing up your practice management or billing program to your server, you can, if needed, easily restore data using the built-in options within the program rather than spending time locating the previous evening’s tape and restoring it through the tape backup software. You may even want to go further and do a midday backup to ensure the current day’s data is recoverable if something terrible happens later.
   
  Too few people know how to restore files from tapes or even how to run a test. Even fewer know how — or go to the trouble — to test what data is on the tapes until a crisis arises. Just as we have become trained to check the batteries on our smoke alarms when we change our clocks, it’s a good idea to periodically make sure you know how to restore and test using a small file.
   
  If your firm has a computer with a CD-ROM drive that can record data onto CD-RWs, you also might want to copy your firm’s forms and databases to CDs as extra insurance. The main benefit of CDs is that the files stored on them are more easily transferred to other computers when needed. In contrast, tape systems use proprietary formats and require a similar tape drive in the receiving computer.
   
• We will do more training and support our staff better with technology. When firms convert from one program or version to another, they often accompany the conversion with some training. Unfortunately, for many firms, that’s all the training their staff and lawyers ever get on the new application. Most people can’t absorb more than an hour or two of material at a time. Shorter, more regularly scheduled training on specific topics can be very effective in improving people’s use of a firm’s critical applications. For example, when starting with a program as complex as case management, most people can master the basics of entering contacts, cases and events. Fine-tuning could focus on advanced search techniques, reports and other functions.
   
• We will send out bills to our clients regularly. Your firm’s cash flow depends on a steady stream of income. Sending bills regularly in a format that is clear and accurate will go a long way toward improving your firm’s finances. Consider your bills part of your firm’s marketing. It’s another way to communicate with clients and let them know what you’re doing on their behalf. Adapt to electronic billing if your client prefers it. Think about making your end of month earlier so your bill is on your client’s desk when bills are paid at the beginning of the month.
   
• We will use our existing technology better. If you haven’t taken the time to convert your standard documents into merges or document-assembly templates, take the plunge. Preparing fax cover sheets or basic letters shouldn’t take more than a minute. If you’re using a case management program, set up the links to your documents so you can leverage the information already available to create and manage documents.
   
• We will view technology as an investment, not a cost. Historically, law firms saw the technology component of their budget as a biannual or half-decade cost. By saving and doing major transitions, firms reasoned they would get a significant benefit from the new hardware and software. This philosophy overlapped with an unrealistic expectation that with technology there would be a need for fewer support staff. Ironically, these major upgrades usually were accompanied by the need for extensive training, conversion of data and general disruption to the office.
   
  Forward-looking firms recognize that technology is an investment, not a cost. It must be maintained and updated regularly. By staying current or close to current with hardware and software, firms have less traumatic upgrades, require less training and conversion assistance, and usually become more proficient on the new programs more quickly and easily. Jumping one or two versions of a program is an easier transition than moving from a no-longer-supported version that can’t be converted. While it sounds counterintuitive, in the long run the costs associated with more frequent upgrades are less than those for firms that nursed their old technology to its demise.
   
• We will carefully analyze our current procedures and problems before buying new hardware or software to resolve them. It’s tempting to focus on the category of application when it comes to solving your firm’s technology problems. Before figuring out what program you need, spend some time determining what problems you are trying to solve. Often, you will find existing programs can resolve an issue or that a change in procedures would provide a better solution than purchasing more software. For example, if lawyers take too long editing and finalizing client bills, you may not need a new timekeeping and billing program; you may need some assistance in streamlining the process so associates’ time is edited prior to a partner reviewing the pre-bill worksheet.
   
  Similarly, revamping the firm’s task codes or abbreviations might result in fewer typographical errors and time descriptions that are more consistent and closer to the final version. Often, changing manual procedures to complement the automation can go a long way toward streamlining the production of documents, bills and other information. Procedures frequently predate automation and have not been revisited to determine whether the reasons for the instructions are still valid with newer tools. Among my favorites are systems requiring multiple copies of correspondence when the firm’s copies are easily accessible on the firm’s network.
   
• We will implement a case management program to capitalize on the information already in our office and better coordinate our contacts, cases and calendars. If your firm does not yet have a case or practice management program, this is the year to buy one. Even though this might sound like a contradiction to the sixth resolution, the nature and scope of these programs are such that at least some of your firm’s issues can be solved with one of the leading case management programs. These programs let you link critical information with your time-keeping and billing programs, e-mail, fax software and Palm or Windows-based portable devices.
   
  They also allow you to use the information they collect to prepare and store documents. In addition to eliminating the need to manage multiple copies of the same information about your clients, these programs also assist in managing the firm’s calendars, client marketing and case management. With backing from Lexis-Nexis and West, respectively, the leading programs are Time Matters and ProLaw. Other major contenders for the small and medium-sized law offices include Amicus Attorney, Abacus Law and Case Master.
   
• We will keep our virus software current and be careful about what e-mail messages we open, even if they’re from friends. Those who write viruses and worms that can destroy data or clog the arteries of the Internet work faster than the companies that write the files to disinfect or disable the viruses. Ask any lawyer whose firm has been hit with a virus whether the few minutes required to update the virus definitions and scan the hard drive are worth it. Once you’ve been hit with a virus, you understand the frustration of having to restore a backup, disinfect your system and hope you haven’t lost any critical information. A few minutes is all it takes to download the latest virus definitions. You also should have your computer set to scan all its files on a weekly basis. This can occur in the evening or at lunchtime to minimize interference with your work. Corporate versions of anti-virus software, while more expensive, can be configured to automatically update your server and each workstation.
   
  The other aspect to safe computing is to use your head. If an e-mail looks suspicious, treat it with kid gloves. If you’re unsure, don’t open any attachment until you verify the file is not infected by manually scanning it with your updated anti-virus software. These days, virus or worm files often are spread by taking over users’ address books and sending a bogus message to the first 50 or so people listed. Viruses can be made to appear as if they came from people with whom you’re in contact.
   
  One way to check about possible viruses is to search for the text of the message, the subject or the name of the attachment on one of the research sites associated with the major anti-virus software makers (symantec.com or nai.com). Incidentally, I recently received several warnings about possible virus files I had been sent accidentally by family members. Before sharing your concerns with others, be sure the information you intend to disperse is legitimate. Most of the recent warnings I received about possible viruses attached to e-mail seem to be hoaxes. You can check the hoax section of both the McAfee and Norton Anti-Virus software sites to verify the danger of a virus or determine whether it is a hoax.
   
• We will try to use e-mail and our firm’s website to communicate more regularly with our clients and contacts. Those of us who finished our formal education before personal computers were common do not often think about how best to use this technology. Ever gotten a call from someone asking whether you received his or her e-mail? Have you considered using your e-mail software to communicate more often and better with clients? E-mail makes it easy to regularly reach large numbers of people without the manual tasks or expenses normally associated with marketing. E-mail doesn’t require folding letters, sealing envelopes, affixing postage and going to a mailbox or post office. Today, with HTML and Adobe Acrobat files, you can create smart-looking documents that are easily shared with clients and potential clients. Periodic updates are easier through e-mail.
   
  E-mail is a proactive mechanism to reach clients and prospects. You also can use your firm’s website to regularly communicate with clients and provide prospects with answers to frequently asked questions, thereby eliminating the need for staff to repeat information that doesn’t require an explanation, clarification or other personal touch. If your firm doesn’t have a website, add this as another resolution. Today, more and more potential clients are locating their attorneys on the web. Even if they get your name from a former client, they may want to “check you out” online before signing a retainer agreement. Use your website to show how your firm is the right one to meet their needs.
   
• We use our existing technology better. If your firm is typical, most of your existing technology tools are under-utilized. My guess is that most people use only a small percentage of the features on their word processor. If you own one of the word processing suites, when was the last time you thought to create a document for a client meeting using the slide-show presentation program included with the suite? Have you ever taken time to explore options under the different menus in your applications or read through the What’s New part of help when you upgraded?
   
  Even technologically comfortable people rarely have the time to fully maximize their own tools. Even equipment as comfortable as cell phones have shortcuts for more efficient and safer use. For instance, did you know you can program the number keys as quick dials for your most frequently called people? Every computer program is chock-full of short-cuts and features that were requested by people who had problems similar to yours. Make a point of learning more about what your existing tools can do.
   
  This past year, we all were reminded how fragile our lives are. Don’t forget the reasons you work hard and be sure to take the time to be with your family and friends.