Small business does not mean small problems.

Kevin is not in the technology business; he's the owner of an up and coming law firm. But technology issues are often what keep him up at night. He realizes that for his business to thrive, he has to stay current on technology. His firm has two locations and case work is constantly shared between locations, making the management of paper documents cumbersome. Long work hours mean the ability to connect from home is a must. With never enough hours in the day, Kevin can bear neither the headache, nor expense of computer system downtime, nor the hassle of filtering through e-mail spam to respond to legitimate case requests.

He wants to make it easier to share documents between the two offices and ensure the lawyers can access files when away from the office. More importantly, they need a better way to store – and in the event of the unthinkable – recover their ever-increasing volume of client and case information. The firm currently uses a backup tape solution, but the last time the server went down, they lost a weeks worth of data and billable hours trying to restore their information. And though Kevin does want to retire early, he knows the emails he receives daily promising the secrets to untold wealth and the next great stock tip are just spam or the next virus lying in wait to take down his office network.

Kevin takes the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it — and if it is broke, fix it fast, or get someone else to do it" approach. Kevin relies upon his paralegal to handle much of the firm’s basic IT tasks. Her IT skills are largely self-taught, and in many cases she is able to resolve some of the basic problems the firm encounters. But as the firm grows, this on the job learning is becoming less feasible.

Kevin needs a solution that can suit all the firm's needs – something simple and affordable, yet sophisticated enough to keep the firm's offices connected and all their casework secure.

IBM Lotus Foundations Start provides Kevin's up and coming law firm with the essential tools it needs to keep the business up and running, without the hassle or worry of the firm's staff having to monitor or maintain the technology that it leverages:

• A security-enhanced virtual private network (VPN) ensures that the team can work from home or the other office location and still access the files they need
• Integrated anti-virus, anti-spam and firewall protection helps keep the inboxes free from spam and the network free from viruses
• Backups for their case and client data are frequent, and automated. And in the event of a system failure, it can be recovered in minutes

With this level of sophistication and automation in a single IT solution, Kevin can rest his case on IT and get back to the business of the law.

* Fictitious character designed to illustrate customer pain points.