“Our server is only five years old.” “Our eight-year-old billing system more than meets our needs, why do we need to upgrade?” “I want to work from home and remotely access my office programs and files, why can’t I do that?”

While the old cliché, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is good advice in some circumstances, it can be costly in connection with your firm’s hard-ware and software. Getting too far behind current versions can actually cost your firm more money than up-grading different aspects from time to time. A firm running its timekeeping and billing system on five-year-old computers will lose the benefit of the speed with which newer computers would process its data. For example, I was recently working with a client where we needed to do data repair to its large billing data-base. On its six-year-old Windows 98 computers, the re-indexing process took nearly an hour. Running the same process on my two-year-old laptop reduced the re-indexing time to 15 minutes. These differences in speed also hold true for printing bills, archiving slips and so on.

In other words, every day, every single function they perform on older computers takes longer than it would on a computer with a faster processor. Multiply this by the number of people in even a small office and you can begin to justify the expenditure to upgrade the hardware every few years rather than once a decade.

Less crashing

While not all improvements are worth the costs, most improvements to hardware result in faster processing and more reliable components. It has become increasingly rare to experience a hard-drive crash. While that’s not to say they don’t ever happen, it has been my observation they happen less often than they used to. When combined with more recent operating systems, essential accessories like uninterrupted power sup-plies work more automatically to prevent damage caused by power outages or spikes. Years ago, adding anything to a computer required a hardware technician experienced with the specific component and equipped with disks full of drivers to connect devices like a modem and printer.

We often rail against the planned obsolescence policy employed by Microsoft, which only actively sup-ports each version of its Windows operating system for three years. It will continue to provide more limited support for an additional two years and then you’re essentially on your own. During the first three years after a new operating system such as Windows XP or Windows Small Business Server 2003 has been released, they allow hardware vendors to install it on new computers and provide patches and fixes as needed. After three years, they begin limiting hardware vendors’ installations and limiting patches to those concerning security rather than bugs. While they offer a longer timeframe for business and developer products such as Microsoft SQL, which is used to develop large applications, there is a five-year window on most products.

The major byproduct of Microsoft’s policy is that it impacts all the hardware and software manufacturers, forcing many to adopt similar support policies. Many of the soft-ware companies have found that structural changes are made by Microsoft when it issues a new operating system, such as the transition from Windows 2000 to Windows XP. These changes caused many vendors to inform customers they could no longer support older versions on the newer operating system. For example, for a number of legal software vendors, the changes made by Microsoft caused data corruption in older versions of their products written years before XP was available.

Refuse to budge

Of course, this is the negative view of upgrades and often becomes an excuse for a law firm to refuse to budge from its existing hardware and software. Firms often are faced with the need to purchase an additional computer due to added staff. In these situations, they often are given no choice but to purchase a computer with the latest version of the Windows operating system. This can cause a domino effect as the firm has to upgrade any incompatible soft-ware at the same time. Another reason to stay on supported hardware and software is that it will cause less disruption to the firm’s functioning. For most offices, it is very disruptive to upgrade a server, workstations and application software all at once.

Sometimes, making incremental changes can dramatically improve your firm’s use of hardware and software. For example, if your firm is using a peer-to-peer network, up-grading to a dedicated server can be more reliable and ensure your data is centralized and backed up.

Replacing older wiring and network hubs with faster cabling and a switch can speed the flow of data through your network. Even more dramatic improvements can be had when connecting your office to the internet through a high-speed connection like cable or DSL. If still using dial-up, you are limiting yourself and, more important, wasting time when you check email or attempt search for information on the inter-net.

Scenario

I recently participated in an e-mail exchange among a group of consultants to assist one of them in advising his client on options to remotely access her office computer from home. The scenario was that the office manager used her laptop in the office and then took it home so there was no desktop in the office through which she could connect. We discussed options like using programs like PCAnywhere or online solutions like Gotomypc. To be viable, both require a high-speed internet connection. The consultants were all in agreement it was a bad idea for the office manager to connect to the office directly through their server as that would introduce the possibility of hackers reaching the office server through the opening made for PCAnywhere. Another concern was the office manager would be able to reboot the server and would require additional software licenses be installed on the server, essentially needing to use it as her remote work-station. In the end, the suggestion to purchase a low-end workstation for about $400 that could be remotely accessed was a compromise. The les-son here is it is sometimes worth the additional expenditure to get better and more effective results.

In addition to being able to perform functions quicker, upgrading your hardware and Windows version will give you the improvements (although some may differ as to whether all changes in more recent versions of Windows are, in fact, improvements) Microsoft has added. Consider working with USB hard drives or what often are referred to as memory sticks. As a consultant, I use my USB hard drive to share documents with clients or take a backup copy of customization or forms back to my office. Vintage computers often have no USB slots where you can plug them in. Even when they do, computers running Windows 95 or Windows 98 require special drivers — often impossible to find — to recognize the USB device. In contrast, modern computers usually have from two to four USB connections and Windows 2000 and Windows XP automatically recognize when a USB device such as a pen-size hard drive or digital camera has been connected.

The same way Microsoft has continued to improve their products, all software makers are in the business of selling product upgrades to their existing customers and luring customers of competing products to switch. Many times, you have cob-bled together complex workarounds that have, in later versions, been incorporated into programs you use. While not an advocate of “always upgrade,” I think there’s a delicate balance between strategically upgrading and falling too far behind the curve.

Prehistoric

Staying on an older version of software often means the company will not assist you with problems, fewer independent consultants will be able to assist you since they may not have worked with older versions and you may have problems recruiting staff to work on prehistoric versions of software rather than what they trained on in school.

Newer software versions have been tested to work with the current operating systems and usually are made to run faster and more reliably. Most software companies regularly survey customers to determine changes and improvements they would like. Most of these companies also carefully watch what their competitors offer and match or often surpass those features in their next version. Ultimately, we all benefit from this competition.

Small law firms rarely take the time to develop a technology plan to gradually implement new computers and software; instead, they react to crises like a computer being fried by an electrical surge or a company’s policy to no longer offer support on five-year-old software. In a time when many software companies are on a yearly or 18-month upgrade cycle, taking a more proactive stand and planning your upgrades will keep your systems healthy and serve your firm better.

Carol L. Schlein is president of Law Office Systems in Montclair, a training and consulting firm specializing in law firm automation. Copies of previous columns are on her company website, www.losinc.com. For information about her quarterly meetings for Time Matters users, check the website or e-mail info@losinc.com. Schlein formerly chaired the Computer and Technology Division of the ABA Law Practice Management Section.

Questions for Carol L. Schlein on law office technology may be faxed to New Jersey Lawyer at (732) 650-7010, e-mailed to news@njlnews.com or mailed to “Law Technology Questions,” New Jersey Lawyer, Edison Square, 2035 Lincoln Highway, Suite 3005, Edison, N.J. 08817.