iPad Developer Interview: Clio

This time around in our developer interviews, I reached out to the good folks over at Clio to get their impressions about the iPad. SaaS applications seem like a natural fit for a mobile device like the iPad with its powerful mobile version of Safari.  Check out what they had to say:

TL: For those who may not know, give me a little background about Clio.

The idea for Clio came to us while we were working as consultants to the Law 
Society of British Columbia. Their practice standards division expressed 
concern that much of their solo-small firm membership were under-utilizing 
practice management technology for lack of sufficient technical or financial 
resources, and as a result were having higher rates of competence-related 
issues than their peers in larger firms. Inspired by this, Clio was designed 
to be a turn-key web-based solution that afforded solo & small firm 
attorneys a complete practice management system without the associated 
technical hurdles or financial burden common to the incumbent solutions. In 
our minds, Clio was an opportunity to level the playing field in favor of 
solos and small firms.

TL: Why did you decide to go the SaaS route as opposed to traditional 
installed software?

When we first conceived of Clio back in 2007, early SaaS products like 
Salesforce.com and 37signals’ Basecamp were storming onto the scene and 
legitimizing the web as a viable medium for delivering business-class 
applications. New web-based applications like Gmail and Google Maps were 
also proving that a rich, interactive, highly responsive experience could be 
delivered via the web. We really felt that the writing was on the wall: 
traditional desktop software was fading in importance, and the web was 
emerging as the new platform upon which an entirely new generation of 
applications would be delivered.

We also saw SaaS as a perfect fit for the needs of solos and small firms. 
For a typical 3 or 4 person firm, getting up and running with a traditional 
installed product would involve buying a server, buying multiple software 
licenses, hiring a consultant to install and configure a bunch of software 
and settings, and training staff on how to use and maintain this system. 
Aside from the time investment in setting this up, hard costs could easily 
run in the $5,000-$10,000 range. Clio, on the other hand, can be up and 
running in a firm in less than 5 minutes with no software purchases, 
hardware outlays, or consulting expenses. With SaaS lawyers can focus on 
practicing law and running their practice rather than wrestling with 
technology.

Aside from the platform benefits of the web, we saw building on the web as 
an opportunity to build a simpler, easier-to-use practice management system. 
We’re big believers in the “less is more” design ethos of 37signals, and we 
really built Clio with a “blue sky” approach – we threw out all the baggage 
of how existing desktop-based systems did things, and started from a blank 
slate. We build a solid foundation of base functionality based on what our 
early alpha and beta users wanted to see in the product, and have been 
iterating rapidly based directly on user feedback ever since. That formula 
seems to be working pretty well.

TL: What do you think the advances in mobile devices mean for the legal 
profession? To SaaS vendors such as yourself?

Our hope is that advanced mobile technologies will help to facilitate 
location-independent productivity that allows lawyers and other business 
professionals more readily achieve a work-life balance that isn’t strictly 
challenged by working location. When we were initially developing Clio I 
remember interviewing a lawyer that was taking the bus into work every 
Saturday – this was a two-hour round trip, by the way – to get to the 
computer that hosted his practice information. I knew then that something as 
simple as a laptop and a web-based practice management tool could have saved 
him hours on every weekend that he could have been spending with his family. 
Its situations like those that I hope technology like the iPad and Clio is 
able to solve.

TL: Lawyers are stereotypically very slow to adopt new technologies. Do you 
think this is accurate?

I think people are often too quick to target lawyers as the influence 
slowing the pace of technology adoption. Although the legal industry could 
be said to be very precedent-driven in its thinking, I think much of the 
blame for slow technology adoption ought to be borne by the legal software 
vendors themselves. When we entered the market in 2008 we were surprised by 
the seeming absence of anyone innovating in the practice management space 
along with a general lack of awareness by vendors to the undeniable 
importance of the web in the evolution of industries everywhere.
The same thing appears to be happening on the eve of the launch of the iPad. 
We’ve read hundreds of blogs and twitter posts by lawyers that are keen to 
use the iPad in their practices, but comparatively little from the vendors 
about how they intend to cater to this demand.

TL: It seems that your users are more technically 
sophisticated, but don’t you have to convert the technophobes to grow?

As is the case with all technologies, there will be the laggards and 
technophobes that are hesitant to ride the wave with the early majority, 
but, from our perspective, there’s plenty of technically-minded lawyers who 
have learned to leverage the value of new technology in their practices, and 
we’re more than happy to concentrate our efforts on this demographic – the 
rest will follow eventually.

TL: You currently have the web based product. Is it usable on mobile Safari 
(iPhone) or Blackberry browsers? Does a user suffer any limitations when 
using a mobile browser like on the iPhone or iPad?

Our mobile interface is fully compatible with most newer smartphones such as 
the iPhone, the Droid and the Palm Pre. The site has been optimized for use 
over mobile networks and allows users to access virtually all of the 
functions available via the standard Clio interface.

TL: Are you planning any apps for the iPad?

Our current Clio mobile interface will be compatible with the iPad, as will 
the standard interface. We are, however, looking ahead to leverage the 
opportunities the iPad will undoubtedly offer, and expect to be making some 
announcements regarding this functionality in the near future. We are big 
believers in the open web, and see the iPad supporting next-generation web 
technologies such as HTML5 as an indication of how instrumental Apple sees 
web applications to the success of the iPad.

TL: What will a device like the iPad bring to a Clio user?

I see the iPad as a companion device that virtually every Clio user would 
benefit from having on hand. I say companion because I don’t see the iPad as 
a desktop- or laptop-killer. It’s a device that you would have in addition 
to a primary desktop or laptop computer. It would, however, change the way 
your approach these devices – you’ll find yourself leaving your laptop on 
your desk more often, walking away with only your iPad to review case notes, 
read a document, check your schedule for the week, or update time entries 
for the day through the Clio iPad interface.

What I think will surprise many is how much less they’ll use their desktop 
or laptops once they’ve purchased an iPad.

Thanks to Clio for the perspective on the iPad and hints perhaps of things to come from Clio. Thanks!

If there are other app or SaaS developers you’d like to see featured in this series, drop me an e-mail.