Articles about the White Paper (Apps by UK law, accountancy and property firms – Are we missing the digital revolution? http://kimtasso.com/white-paper-apps-by-uk-law-accountancy-and-property-firms-are-we-missing-the-mobile-revolution continue to appear – the latest was in the Society of Computers and the Law magazine. I continue to receive requests for copies as well as further comments and suggestions about notable Apps from the professions.
Stephenson Harwood solicitors (“Outsourcing adviser of the year”) drew my attention to “The Source” (which is free) which is a newer version of an earlier App called Outsourcing Compendium providing a reference guide to the legal issues of outsourcing.
The graphics are nice on entry – there are blue and orange people on interconnecting cogs which move in the opposite direction to a news ticker tape. However, once inside the App it resorts to a left handed navigation pane with text on the right.
The contents are as follows:
Commentary (chapters written by various legal experts)
- Outsourcing and the common law
- Transfers of Undertakings
- Pensions issues
- Taxation issues
- Competition law issues
- Public procurement guidance
- Data protection
- Commercial pricing decisions
Legislation (12 Acts and statutory instruments)
- Agents
- Companies
- Contract
- Data Protection
- Electronic Commerce
- Employment
- Intellectual property
Directory (Photos and biographies of seven outsourcing legal experts with email links)
News (Twitter-like news summaries that link to external content and articles in a range of media)
The way you can slide open various windows is slick. There’s also a nice pop up facility of the cases referenced in the main text. There are bookmarking, highlighting and search facilities but sadly no ability to email pages.
I appreciate that it’s a reference App – providing a helpful resource of the relevant law and expert commentary but I couldn’t help feeling that it could go a little further. Some case studies of successful and problem outsourcing project or maybe insights into different sectors, scales or types of outsourcing would add some life. And it could be a little more interactive by, for example, taking the user on various journeys through the outsourcing process or even offering a simple diagnostic to help users identify the relevant issues to their situation. I’m sure that they are working on that…
