I’ve been deluged with emails about my most recent Technolawyer SmallLaw column entitled: “Ending the SaaS Stalemate in the Small Firm Market.” It will be distributed soon on the Technolawyer SmallLaw blog here if you didn’t get the regular distribution via email (and if you don’t receive them “freshly out of the oven” it’s free to subscribe here). Readers seem to be interpreting my statements regarding the need to focus more on core functionality of legal SaaS applications and just accept the fact that the logistical issues will work themselves out (i.e. ethical issues related to storing confidential client information with third parties, online accessibility and offline access, data security, business continuity in the event of entity failure, etc.).

To be clear – I am absolutely NOT suggesting we give SaaS applications a free pass on logistics issues. On the contrary, I feel as intensely strongly about those issues as I ever have, especially offline, real-world access to online data in the event of a loss of net connectivity or a business failure of the SaaS provider. My point is that it’s just time to stop letting the debate about SaaS getting mired in the muck about SaaS v. Installed Apps. My position is simple – if Salesforce.com can be a multi-billion dollar trusted SaaS provider to the enterprise corporate world, there’s no reason to believe that the young legal SaaS providers won’t address all the logistics issues. And of course, I want to see them addressed much sooner rather than later. I personally have a very hard time recommending a SaaS core application (i.e. billing or practice management) in the absence of an immediately usable offline module or capability.

But the improvement of the breed requires us to shift our focus from these near non sequiturs to the debate that matters: features. Do these applications have the functionality we need to accomplish whatever they are intended to do – to be the financial engine for our practices or the central beating information hearts of a law firm or legal department? That is the question we need to focus on – it’s what users ultimately care about. So blow away all the swirling smoke obscuring the real argument already guys – that’s what I was saying!

But SaaS folks – I’m not giving ANY of you a free pass on the logistics issues (take note Jack at CLIO – I think your blog post overstates my position here:  - get ‘em done – correctly and soon before many of us who influence others in the legal technology world lose patience.

With that said, I think it’s time to acknowledge SaaS is here, it’s not going away and that it’s on the verge of feeling “mainstream.”

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