A technology seat for the partnership
Partners keep approving one tool at a time. A fractional CTO separates keeping the network up from deciding what the firm should do, and starts with a written Operating Brief.
The office manager should not have to be your chief technology officer
Most firms already pay someone to keep email running. That person is usually an outside provider, sometimes a staff member who became technical by surviving. They are not paid to tell a partner that the firm does not need another system. So the tools accumulate: practice management, documents, time and billing, e-signature, phones, and a file share that was supposed to be temporary.
The expensive problems are rarely “the server is down.” They are overlapping products, client material in places it should not be, and a three-year agreement about to be signed because the demo was polished.
What the Operating Brief looks at
- Where client and matter information actually lives, including personal mail, phones, and folders that were never approved
- Who can export a file, and whether that list matches who should
- What happens to accounts, holds, and retention when someone leaves
- Which vendors have a contract and a renewal date, and which were put on a card
- What the firm is about to buy, and whether it replaces a system or merely sits beside it
- The questions a cyber-insurance application will ask, answered before the form is due
What this does not do
It does not start by ripping out your practice-management system. Most firms should not. It does not replace your provider if that provider is doing the job you hired them for. Keeping a network healthy and deciding what the firm should do next are different jobs. A fractional CTO does the second one, part time, and answers to the partners rather than to a sales quota.
If you want the written brief, send the facts about the firm. There is no engagement until you read it and decide you want one.