Consultancy: small and medium-sized firms targeted

An IT consultancy founded by two solicitors has launched an e-mail management service as its first product for the legal market.


The consultancy, Cappuccino, was set up last year by Simon Page and Ernest Schneider of business and technology law firm Schneider Page, together with former client David Sturt.


Mr Sturt, who is responsible for technical direction at Cappuccino, had previously co-founded and managed Purple Lizard, a software consultancy.


Cappuccino is targeting small and medium-sized law firms and other professional businesses. Apart from the e-mail management service, it offers general consultancy advice in areas such as systems, data management and security.


Mr Page said: 'There are lots of firms that cannot afford to have IT departments but would like to have practical, common-sense advice on how to move forward. You can expect that there will be weaknesses in everybody's IT systems - it depends on how bad those weaknesses are and how much people want to get round them.'


Mr Page said a particular issue for law firms was how to deal with the confidential data they hold, adding that many are not as secure as they would like to think.


'It is remarkably easy [for other people] to get hold of data, and remarkably easy for firms to lose it,' he warned.


Cappuccino will also offer a completely remote managed IT service for firms.


Mr Page, who will continue to run their law firm with Mr Schneider, said: 'We can advise people on a system, and acquire or purchase the technology - hardware and software - and monitor it all remotely. We can even, through our partners, offer financial packages.'