Decide How Your Firm Works Before You Buy the Software
Most firms buy technology fast and implement it slowly, because nobody decided what problem it was supposed to solve. In this conversation on the FileForms Business Compliance Podcast, Kenny Lloyd explains how to make that decision first.
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About this episode
Frank Tumminello, CEO of FileForms, asked Kenny Lloyd a question every operations lead at a law firm is facing right now. With new AI tools launching every week, how do you decide which ones are worth buying?
Kenny’s answer starts before any tool. A firm needs to know what business problem it is solving and how a new system will fit with everything it already runs. Only then does it make sense to look at integrations, the quality of an API, and price.
The conversation also covers what clean data does for a firm, why faster intake is a revenue question and not only a time question, how recurring compliance work can become a service instead of a cost, and why a firm that runs on one person’s memory is harder to hand off.
Five takeaways
1. Start with the business need, not the tool.
It has never been easier to buy software. A polished website and a low monthly price can make almost anything look like a solution. Kenny sees firms buy quickly and then stall, because no one decided what the tool was for. His first two questions are always the same. What problem does this solve? And how will it affect the rest of the firm’s technology? Year-end discounts make this worse. November and December are when firms buy the most, so that is when a plan matters most.
2. Judge the API, not the logo.
Once the need is clear, Kenny looks at how a tool connects. Does it integrate natively with the systems the firm already uses? Will it need a middleware tool, which is one more bill and one more thing to maintain? Does it have an open API, and is that API well documented? He also asks whether the API can do everything a person can do on screen. That matters more every year, because AI tools work through APIs, not by clicking around.
3. Manual work is a source-of-truth problem.
Paralegals and associates copying the same information from one browser tab to another is a common sight. It is slow, it costs billable time, and it creates two versions of the truth. When the data in one system does not match the data in another, people stop trusting either. Clean, connected data gives leadership a clear picture of where the firm stands and where to push or pull back.
4. Recurring work can be a service, not a cost.
Frank shared an example of an attorney who forms four or five entities a month. Over ten years, that is roughly 500 entities with annual filings that her firm has been treating as a cost. Firms that handle this kind of work can look at whether it should become a recurring service for clients. Kenny connected the same idea to billing. Clients care about the value of the outcome, not how long it took, and faster delivery can mean better margins.
5. A firm that cannot be handed off is worth less.
Many firms run on tribal knowledge that does not transfer to the next hire or the next partner. Kenny saw this early in his career, at an accounting and bookkeeping firm going through a family succession. If an owner wants to retire, sell, or pass the firm on, the systems and processes need to work without the founder in the room. Leave AI out of it entirely if you want. Clear processes and connected systems protect the value the owner spent decades building.
About the conversation
Host
Frank Tumminello is CEO and co-founder of FileForms, which provides entity compliance, annual report, and registered agent services. Kenny and Frank met through ProVisors.
Guest
Kenny Lloyd is the founder of Lloyd Solves. He works with law firms, usually five to 12 attorneys, to design how the firm should operate before anyone builds or buys anything.
What to do next
If this conversation sounds like your firm, the next step is a plan, not a purchase. The Revenue Architecture Blueprint maps how your firm should work, which decisions come first, and what to build, so your team, a developer, or AI can execute it.
The blueprint is the product.