Fred Cohen is the CEO of Zola Suite where he focuses on developing technology that enables law firms to massively scale their operations. Over the past few weeks of 2020, millions of business owners have been forced to reevaluate their technology infrastructure and many have faced a grave reality — they weren't prepared to pivot and adjust course to ensure business continuity. In the context of a crisis like a global pandemic, this isn't surprising. Most of us have never experienced anything like this.
What is surprising is just how brittle many enterprises' technology stacks are, even in the most ordinary times. Over the past decade, I've spoken with hundreds of business leaders who weren't prepared to keep their businesses afloat when a piece of their technology puzzle failed. Most of these conversations had nothing to do with a national crisis: The call came after the IT director made an unexpected exit, there was a security breach or a local server failed in the middle of the night.
While all of these problems are inherently different, they could have been prevented (or at least, the affect of them could have been mitigated) with the right systems, people and planning.
You've probably heard you should "future-proof" your tech; that's become the new buzz phrase and one that gives me pause, even as a technologist. I fear it gives business leaders a false sense of security. Technology planning, like any other form of business planning, should be continuous and intentional.
Initial planning conversations can be difficult and industry-specific, but I have found the following universal questions helpful in clarifying your approach:
Is your data in the cloud or on-premise?
Even though the technology has been around for years, many businesses aren't leveraging cloud-based software and prefer to host applications and data on local servers. The top reason I hear for not embracing the cloud? Security. Most business leaders hold their data sacred, and they fear having it live outside of their office's four walls.
As a CEO of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, I may be biased, but if your organization's mission-critical programs rely on a local server, you could be opening yourself up to risk. Perhaps that risk is not in the form of cyberthreats (though, cyberattacks can and do occur locally) but in risk of inaccessibility. Servers fail. Pipes burst and offices flood. Natural disasters strike and make it unsafe for your employees to commute. When these things happen unexpectedly, businesses can find themselves in an operational tailspin.
As you think about the evolution of your business, think cloud.
Can your software scale as your team scales?
An attorney recently reached out to me saying his team had outgrown its practice management software. When I looked at the firm size, I was rather surprised — they only had five attorneys. It was still small by any standard; how could they have outgrown the software? As we spoke, I realized it wasn't about size; it was about the evolution of their business model.
When the firm started with three attorneys, they did flat-fee transactional work for local businesses. As their client base grew, so, too, did the opportunity for litigation work. They expanded their team by hiring two litigators. Suddenly, their practice needed hourly and contingency-based billing. It seems simple enough, but their billing system lacked the sophistication to support three different billing arrangements.
visit for more https://www.madsjunction.com/
Comments