I recently had breakfast with my friends, Jim Singer and Jim Cook, two St. Louis labor law attorneys. The topic of conversation was upgrading their twelve-attorney firm from DOS to Windows, but the subject turned to more philosophical issues as Jim Singer shared some of his concerns and experiences, which I believe are typical at smaller firms. Smaller firms can sometimes get caught in a technological no man's land.
Financial constraints can limit available options.
Some computer consulting firms, as Jim has found, will not take on or may terminate relationships with smaller clients who do not generate sufficient profits for the consultant. I recently dealt with some of this issues after our network administrator quit suddenly. Technology issues become much less theoretical the moment you find a manila envelope with a resignation letter, keys and beeper of your computer expert on your chair when you walk into your office in the morning. The process of replacing that person took about two months and we learned some valuable lessons. Planning for technology has changed greatly over the last ten years.