As we prepare for this year’s ILTA conference, I pause to reflect on our very first (then) LawNet experience: Microsystems attended as the “babes” who manned the Microsoft booth! You see, back then, the company rarely interacted directly with its customers – and certainly not within the WordPerfect-laden legal vertical. Rather, Microsoft bought booth space, then staffed it with ‘partners’ to perform its customer-facing duties. Just imagine: our tiny company with only four employees at the time — half of them (Tom O’Sullivan and I) attended LawNet that year – representing the biggest software vendor in the world.
So began our long allegiance to the ILTA organization and the tenants of its annual conference.
What a difference a decade makes. Not only does Microsoft host its own floor space, it now commits 30 of its staff to each conference, and its software products frame subject matter for the largest SIG in ILTA today (yes, I know, Peggy: we don’t call them SIGs anymore. Some formative habits are hard to break…). (Ed. note: SIGs are now called Peer Groups.)
As for Microsystems, our four employees and a single, back-office product has grown to an organization with 60+ employees (over half in our Client Services team alone) and four products designed to address the needs of an entire enterprise.
While much has changed, Microsystems mission remains constant and steadfast: we are THE company law firms seek to enlighten their transition to next generation technologies. Take, for example, the Webinar series my colleagues and I delivered on Word 2007 Ribbon Design. Over 500 legal professionals – from conference rooms across three continents – learned new ways in which the Ribbon will enhance document workflows and accelerate on-boarding of Office 2007.
This is why I am so excited to see this year’s chairs of ILTA’s educational tracks working together to assist attendees in advancing their knowledge of the 2007 Office System. Microsoft’s Peer Group Track, chaired by Kara Portwood of Armstrong Teasdale, provides real world lessons learned and best practices in a session titled “Office 2007 Deployment Tools”; the Applications Track, chaired by Tony Hartsfield of Bryan Cave, features “Untangling the Office 2007 Ribbon” and in the ILTA U Track, chaired by Ceyda Tocsoy of Torys, features an extended, hands-on session titled: “Office 2007 – Customize Your Ribbon, Quick Access Toolbar and More” – delivered by none other than my colleagues Eileen Schleicher and Kim Rice.
These sessions are certain to reframe your past perceptions of ‘just another Office roll-out’ or ‘just another ILTA conference’ and help you migrate your firm into our next, truly digital, decade ahead. We’ll be at conference again this year, in our very own booth (#421/423). And keeping with tradition, we’ll happily answer all of your Microsystems – and a few of your Microsoft – questions when you do.
Some things never change.
Filed under: 2009 Conference
