“Instant Search helps us look smart with clients. When phones ring, we can instantly access the right documents. We work on time-sensitive deals, so we must deliver our services in the same manner.”
-Kerry Flowers, Partner, Flowers and O’Brien LLC
Flowers and O’Brien LLC (FNO) serves high-profile international clients primarily in real estate; many are from Brazil seeking business opportunities in the US, or US companies seeking business in Brazil. The year-old company is built on the principles of efficiency and high-value service. With help from eMazzanti Technologies, the firm utilized Windows Vista technology to streamline its handling of information, gaining operational efficiencies.
Business Needs
FNO has a laser-like focus on improving efficiency in its overall operation and responsiveness to client needs. For example, it wanted to find more effective ways to manage files. The ability to locate and manipulate files in better ways would allow the staff to work faster and more easily. “Being able to quickly find the right file or information when a client calls is essential to our business,” said Kerry Flowers, partner, Flowers and O’Brien. “We must be able to respond quickly to our high-profile clients, in English or Portuguese.”
Partners’ technology needs also included enhanced data security and reliability — the ability to work when and where they liked.
Solution
Flowers and O’Brien views new technology as a competitive advantage and the combination of Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 delivers. The firm found that Instant Search, Shadow Copy, Remote Access Connection, Windows Aero and Dynamic Security Protection are very powerful features in Windows Vista.
Instant Search
Instant Search helps ensure that FNO users are never more than a few keystrokes from the information they need. Instant Search is available almost everywhere in Windows Vista. Users just type a file name, a property or even text contained within a file for pinpoint results.
Faster Connections
“Windows Vista streamlines the process FNO users have of connecting to any type of network — local wireless network and corporate network through a virtual private network (VPN),” noted Carl Mazzanti, president of eMazzanti Technologies. “This view of connectivity options is just one click away from the Start menu.”
Shadow Copy
Accidental file deletion or modification is a common cause of data loss. FNO now has a solution. Windows Vista provides a useful innovation to help protect its data: Shadow Copy automatically creates point-in-time copies of files as users work so they can quickly and easily retrieve versions of a document that may be accidentally deleted. Shadow Copy is automatically turned on in Windows Vista and creates, on a scheduled basis, copies of files that have changed.
Windows Aero
When FNO users press Start + Tab, Windows Flip 3D dynamically displays all the open windows on their desktops in a 3-D, stacked view. Live Taskbar Thumbnail images also display the contents of windows that are open and those that are minimized.
Enhanced Internet Security
Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7 offer Dynamic Security Protection to help FNO defend against malicious software and “phishing,” the soliciting of personal data through fraudulent Web sites.
Benefits
Files at Fingertips
“Instant Search puts all my files at my fingertips,” said Kerry Flowers, Esq., partner, FNO. “Creation of new documents based upon templates can eliminate four to five hours in creating a set of documents for a new client or for a new deal for an existing client.”
Flowers continued, “Instant Search also helps me precisely control document versions, something that’s especially critical when I am working on multiple files and information sources and often translating documents between English and Portuguese.”
The client’s actual and perceived experience matters to FNO as well.
“Instant Search helps us look smart with clients,” said Flowers. “When phones ring, we can instantly access the right documents. We work on time-sensitive deals, so we must deliver our services in the same manner.”
Document Version Protection
“Shadow Copy is one of the ‘stealth’ features in Windows Vista that has proved to be a life-saver,” said Carl Mazzanti of eMazzanti Technologies, the law firm’s IT specialist. “It’s always working in the background to allow a user to revert back to or restore a previous version of a document.”
Technology Delivers Better Image and Efficiencies
“Our clients want sophisticated legal services without the thousand-dollar-per-hour New York City price tag,” said Mark O’Brien, partner, FNO. “We view our Microsoft technology as a major contributor to our cutting-edge image and the level of efficiency at which we must operate.” “With the combination of Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Windows Exchange Server 2003, FNO has access to its whole network while traveling, a complete mobile office,” said O’Brien. “Clients are impressed that the firm is technologically savvy.”
Better Security
“Online research takes FNO to law libraries, corporate filing records, municipal zoning statutes, real property records, court data and sources for personal background information,” noted Mazzanti.
“Together Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7 help shield against malware and provide personal data safeguards through Dynamic Security Protection.”
Wireless networking is also more secure, with enhanced support for the latest wireless security protocols, including Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2).
