A buzzword that has been gaining increasing attention over the past year is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). With the SaaS model, software is delivered via the Internet, and is paid for by a monthly subscription; there is no need to install or configure desktop or server-based programs.

For example, in my own practice, Ledgit Consulting , I have been using a new web-based practice management system called Clio . I became a subscriber immediately after they launched back in October 2008, and thus far I have been very impressed with the program's scope of functionality and ease-of-use.

With the Software-as-a-Service delivery model, I don't have to purchase, install and continually upgrade software or servers, which helps to keep my firm's technology-related overhead at a minimum. Also, since the software is web-based, I can get to my practice's data securely from wherever I am - a major benefit for a regular traveler such as myself. Given the ease of deployment, anywhere accessibility, and outsourced security/backup benefits of SaaS, I predict products such as Clio are going to change the way lawyers, especially solos and small firms, look at software.

We started to hear rumblings of SaaS at TECHSHOW 2008 - expect it to be a major topic of discussion at TECHSHOW 2009.