PerfectLaw Podcasts

Episode #13 - Further Advice On Cloud Decisions

Wrapping up our series regarding firms who are considering cloud products, PerfectLaw has brought together three knowledgeable users to get their final opinions. Betty Cunningham and Valerie Williams, featured in Episode 10 join Gerald DeMaria II to share their insight into the legal marketspace today. They provide advice for firms who are considering their futures and how the cloud may play a part. They also make their final comments regarding why PerfectLaw® may be the right choice for firms questioning their future.

Full Transcript

00:00:00 Anthony Beasley

OK, good afternoon everybody. This is Anthony again with the perfect world podcasts and today we have a very interesting group of folks.

00:00:08 Anthony Beasley

We have some very experienced users who've been with perfect law for quite a few years. A couple of folks, actually. All of the folks have done at least one podcast with us so.

00:00:20 Anthony Beasley

What what I'd like to do is first we're going to have Betty Cunningham who is the office administrator for Metcalf.

00:00:30 Anthony Beasley

Wolf in Austin, TX. I'm going to bring her in but also we have on the call with us. Jerry Di Maria, who's with Duffy and Sweeney and also Val Williams who was with Pender and Coward but now has recently retired.

00:00:43 Anthony Beasley

So we're going to kind of get some viewpoints on a couple of different things as it relates to cloud software and things going on in the software industry.

00:00:50 Anthony Beasley

So with that said, Betty, you know we talked in the past about cloud software in the back office and things that people are doing.

00:01:00 Anthony Beasley

And then in one of our calls with Maggie Behar who's a consultant like you, Maggie gave us some pointers for folks who are looking at software things that they're considering.

00:01:11 Anthony Beasley

And and we wanted to get your viewpoint based on some of the things dealing with the back office, things that people should keep in mind.

00:01:18 Anthony Beasley

So once you just kind of tell us from a consultant standpoint your view your thoughts on you know what people should always consider as they're looking at software.

00:01:29 Betty Cunningham

Thank you Anthony. I'm glad to be here today and I.

00:01:35 Betty Cunningham

The online always addressed things from an accounting standpoint. Since I am a CPA and always think about what the end result is going to be from a financial statement and general Ledger et cetera. So I think one of the things is.

00:01:48 Betty Cunningham

Transaction flow, I think that it's very important when they're looking at software to know.

00:01:55 Betty Cunningham

From the time and billing system and the trust accounting systems, how that is going to flow into the general Ledger that produces a financial statement. So I think one of the is most of the law firms that I deal with are.

00:02:11 Betty Cunningham

Partnerships and because their partnerships, it's important to capture that information on either a cash or quasi cash basis. That's and it's important to be able to have that functionality. So when when you set up the subledger modules etc, the time and billing then the question becomes.

00:02:32 Betty Cunningham

How is that going to interface to your general Ledger and financial statements so that you don't have to do a great deal of work to produce reports that you need in the end or for management purpose?

00:02:45 Betty Cunningham

Uhm, and from a law firm standpoint. With partnerships they they're going to see that money coming through and they wanna know you know where do they stand?

00:02:55 Betty Cunningham

Most of the time they don't know they don't want to look at it from a net income, but more of a cash basis, so that's that's something I think is very important is having the.

00:03:04 Betty Cunningham

Functionality to produce to bring in the transactions on either cash or accrual or modified depending on the type of business. So that's one thing that I would think people would need to look at and then also the.

00:03:20 Betty Cunningham

How the reputation of what they're feeding into. So if you're starting with a subledger module, that's going to feed into like intuitor QuickBooks, then you need to make sure that there's integrity in that data, and how those transactions come across.

00:03:34 Betty Cunningham

And how can you double check and make sure that you know once you get it over to the financial statements?

00:03:40 Betty Cunningham

In the financial system that truly all the transactions are there and that's something very important that a lot of these smaller cloud like based systems are not giving you that comfort level or not providing you that kind of audit trail.

00:03:55 Betty Cunningham

So that's my thoughts on just a basic. What you would look at.

00:03:59 Anthony Beasley

OK, now Jerry, being a member of LA and talking to a lot of different administrators, can you know could you plug in on the back end of a lot of the things that Betty just passed along to us?

00:04:10 Jerry DeMaria

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of what I see and hear out there.

00:04:15 Anthony Beasley

00:04:19 Jerry DeMaria

Uhm, in terms of back office is especially with a lot of the the various cloud based systems.

00:04:27 Jerry DeMaria

00:04:27 Jerry DeMaria

00:04:27 Jerry DeMaria

Is that's not there.

00:04:29 Jerry DeMaria

It's right there, strength is front office looking look and feel looking pretty. You know lots of bells and whistles from a visual standpoint. However, when you get in.

00:04:44 Jerry DeMaria

Home deep dive into it and look at the back office functions like billing like General Ledger or like accounting. That's where they're all kind of basic. Or simply don't even have it.

00:04:58 Jerry DeMaria

And so that's where a lot of falling down happens with a lot of these cloud based systems. Now again, not all of them, but but a lot of them just don't have the strength in the in the back office. I also find or have seen and heard.

00:05:16 Jerry DeMaria

Uh, where the reporting is very basic and if you need any type of.

00:05:24 Jerry DeMaria

Of a much more customized reports more you know, complex reports that is very difficult to get out of these systems because they just they're built with very basic standard reports.

00:05:41 Jerry DeMaria

Uh, but you know when you when you go up in size in law firms and in any service from your complexity for reporting increases.

00:05:51 Jerry DeMaria

And so if you're getting yourself into a system that can't support what you need, you're going to start to have trouble. And also you're going to have to try to get.

00:06:02 Jerry DeMaria

Work arounds.

00:06:03 Jerry DeMaria

Uh, for getting the data out that you need that you should just already have access to. So I I'm seeing a lot of that.

00:06:13 Jerry DeMaria

I'm hearing a lot of that that people are just not satisfied with the back office and the reporting aspects of these systems and.

00:06:24 Jerry DeMaria

In and out.

00:06:25 Jerry DeMaria

Of kind of a different note too, although somewhat related, is you know whenever you're switching to these systems. Conversion is such a big.

00:06:33 Jerry DeMaria

Big, uh, such a big deal. You want as much of your data converted as possible so that you can.

00:06:43 Jerry DeMaria

You're not bouncing between two systems to try to get old data out, because you're going to have that transition time for at least a couple of years.

00:06:55 Jerry DeMaria

For you, you need to look back at old data, and if it's if it's just static data.

00:07:01 Jerry DeMaria

I'm kind of in the as of date that and that's how they do the conversion.

00:07:06 Jerry DeMaria

Right, so you're gonna constantly be in those two systems for some length of time and and I think that that also makes it hard to learn a new system because you're you're not fully enveloped it in it.

00:07:07 Jerry DeMaria

00:07:23 Anthony Beasley

Right now, here's here's real, where you get the plug in because you know you're being a a person who's used perfect lawn who's transitioned from what is.

00:07:33 Anthony Beasley

Our on premise on traditional system into the cloud system just kind of speak to some of the things that you've just heard.

00:07:41 Anthony Beasley

Jerry and Betty mention and your experience knowing that you know in most cases people when they are using a cloud system, they're using some sort of a web interface and they don't necessarily have some of the same functionality.

00:07:53 Anthony Beasley

Then you would have in your in-house systems.

00:07:56 Anthony Beasley

But just give.

00:07:57 Anthony Beasley

Us some of your experience in the things that that Betty and and Jerry talked about.

00:08:03 Valerie Williams

Thank you Anthony it is.

00:08:06 Valerie Williams

Always a challenge when you're trying to battle with the look of an application.

00:08:12 Valerie Williams

Uh, I I was always in accounting and IT so I'm always more focused on the back office part of it.

00:08:22 Valerie Williams

It can look great on the front end and not give you what you need. And I concur with Jerry on what he said. The larger your firm guess as you grow.

00:08:32 Valerie Williams

Those things, those reporting requirements and things become more complex and you don't want to find yourself in a situation where you can't meet the needs of the shareholders of the firm on a reporting level.

00:08:47 Valerie Williams

We went into the cloud having used perfect law as a premise based system for many years and went into the cloud just before COVID struck and.

00:08:59 Valerie Williams

I can tell you that was probably one of the smoothest conversions that that we've had. It went very quickly.

00:09:07 Valerie Williams

We had no loss of data that that we could see and and in the months since we've been on there, you know, no oddities have popped up.

00:09:19 Valerie Williams

With our older clients where we had to go back and get historical data for them, it's been very stable.

00:09:27 Valerie Williams

We've been very fortunate in that regard, and we had.

00:09:32 Valerie Williams

An excellent support from perfect law in making that transition during a time where I'm sure they were busy with every other client that was trying to address remote access and things such as this.

00:09:47 Valerie Williams

With their perfect law systems.

00:09:51 Anthony Beasley

OK, now Betty come.

00:09:53 Anthony Beasley

Again, you know you have a, uh, a unique stance in our user base, because obviously you're supporting a perfect lock client, but you also have other clients that you support as well, and you know we talked about some things in one of our last calls where you you mentioned some of the issues that you've come across and so.

00:10:12 Anthony Beasley

Supporting other products.

00:10:16 Anthony Beasley

But if there's, you know if there's some any oddities or things that you would say you know. When I look at some of the cloud based systems, and I think Jerry and Val kind of hit it where it's about looking feel you know a lot of times where people are looking at software.

00:10:32 Anthony Beasley

And you can always have something that looks.

00:10:35 Anthony Beasley

Great, but you know when it comes down to doing the job, it may look like that in a demo, but when you get into it it you know you're gonna have to deal with certain types of issues and things to overcome.

00:10:46 Anthony Beasley

So in the fact that you do have other folks who may use other systems kind of give us an idea of you know some of your thoughts on things that we're commonly.

00:10:55 Anthony Beasley

Hearing from different folks just as it relates to the look of software and things of that nature.

00:11:03 Betty Cunningham

I think that I really agree with Jerry on the First off on the conversion utility. I think when you look at it a new software package which is great and there's some great thought they look fantastic, some of them up front.

00:11:16 Betty Cunningham

Uhm, converting your data. Whatever you're using presently has to move and.

00:11:22 Betty Cunningham

And that he made Jerry made a great comment about having to use two systems, and I see that a lot on some of these smaller cloud based systems.

00:11:31 Betty Cunningham

This what happens is being able to convert, for example, a client. Even if you got two years of their history. So let's say instead of just bringing forward a beginning.

00:11:42 Betty Cunningham

Balance you're gonna want to know what went on in that client file in that matter to know the transaction flow.

00:11:50 Betty Cunningham

And so I think when people are looking at software, they really need to say, OK, show me an example of what's going to convert up into this new system, because what I have found in some of the smaller systems.

00:12:01 Betty Cunningham

On the time, billing, et cetera, you don't get that you get a balance forward and I was involved in recently in a practice Panther and that's what we got about forward and so we kept having to go back to the older system to look and see what the transactions, what made up this balance so that I think.

00:12:22 Betty Cunningham

Was a really important thing that that Jerry brought up was the conversion utility. Other things to be aware of exactly what valves it too is reporting?

00:12:31 Betty Cunningham

00:12:33 Betty Cunningham

And it's not just the look and feel of the report. If I was to look at software right now for someone, I would go through a complete demo because you want to make sure that the reports that they're showing you it.

00:12:45 Betty Cunningham

They look great and groovy, but where did they really get those transactions? And so I would go through a demo and have someone.

00:12:53 Betty Cunningham

Demonstrate to me at from the trust accounting all the way through a transaction flow from it being billed, receiving the money, et cetera.

00:13:01 Betty Cunningham

How does that end up in a financial statement? I think that's very important and what I have found on the interface is from.

00:13:09 Betty Cunningham

Some of these smaller systems is the transaction flow is comes in either Duke duplicated or they're missing transactions, and to that is A to to look at these systems.

00:13:24 Betty Cunningham

These new systems and compare it to some of the older systems that we've used forever or just compare it to.

00:13:30 Betty Cunningham

Different software systems that are out there that may not be it law firm software, but there needs to be complexity enough that it is able to manage the transactions from sub ledgers into the financial reporting tool. And unfortunately some of these smaller cloud based systems. They do not have that management and.

00:13:49 Betty Cunningham

You know it's it's an issue perfectly. I have that they have that management you can you know what happens when you bring in the wrong type of cash, receipt, etc.

00:14:00 Betty Cunningham

You can go back and figure out where it came from, or when something is missing, so I think that's very important.

00:14:06 Betty Cunningham

To to know what your transactions are going to look like once they hit the financial statements.

00:14:13 Anthony Beasley

OK, great, now Jerry. You brought up conversion and again because you've had experience with perfect law at two different law firms, you know when we converted your initial law firm, we basically did just a back office conversion, but a pretty detailed conversion. We did a second law firm. We did.

00:14:34 Anthony Beasley

Both a back office system and a set up front office SIS.

00:14:37 Anthony Beasley

Don't and a lot of folks you know it it. It comes down to the fact that you know I've always told people on the phone when you know if whenever you're looking at a system you want something that's going to be as good or as good as or better than something you're leaving now.

00:14:51 Anthony Beasley

Obviously there's always those those types of decisions are subjective because until you're using a system day-to-day, you don't know.

00:14:57 Anthony Beasley

Every little thing about it, but the truth is, is the data that has to come over needs to be there.

00:15:03 Anthony Beasley

So knowing what people have faced when it comes to conversions and knowing that you've done 2 perfect, well, conversion and what's your thoughts on the conversion process and just things from a knowledge standpoint as it relates to conversions.

00:15:17 Jerry DeMaria

Yeah, I think I think conversion is is pretty much the single most important thing and is often.

00:15:26 Jerry DeMaria

Probably one of the most overlooked things because people just assume.

00:15:33 Jerry DeMaria

Uhm, unless you've gone through it that you're gonna get all your data that you know all the transaction history is there and.

00:15:42 Jerry DeMaria

Uh, everything that you had in your old system is going to be replicated into the new system, and that's always not the case. You have to understand exactly what the software that you're going to.

00:15:54 Valerie Williams

00:16:03 Jerry DeMaria

You have to understand that conversion process you have to understand exactly the level of detail that you're going to get.

00:16:13 Jerry DeMaria

And uhm, if you're not going to get it, why you're not going to get it? Are they? Do they not do that as a standard conversion?

00:16:22 Jerry DeMaria

But perhaps there's an upgraded version that that can be done that can you know for more money, of course, but that could be done to give you that information or.

00:16:33 Jerry DeMaria

Can they simply not do it at all? Also, I think there.

00:16:40 Jerry DeMaria

Familiarity with the software you're coming from is vitally important. Have they ever done a conversion from your software to their software and that you know? Again, a lot of these newer companies are not going to have the experience with all the different.

00:17:00 Jerry DeMaria

Vendors and and in software that are out there and and they may be.

00:17:04 Jerry DeMaria

OK, whatever you're coming from, you may be the first one they're doing, and so it is going to be a huge learning curve for them to understand the database that you're coming from in order to replicate it in their system. So you really, you know before you sign on that.

00:17:25 Jerry DeMaria

00:17:25 Jerry DeMaria

Dotted line, you really wanna have an understanding of.

00:17:30 Jerry DeMaria

How the conversion is going to go on what exactly you're going to get in? Also how you're going to be auditing it because you know, that's something that no one likes to do. It's a very tedious responsibility to have.

00:17:51 Jerry DeMaria

But you have to make sure just because they tell you we're going to convert it, you can't assume that it's converting properly. You have to.

00:17:58 Jerry DeMaria

Check on that about test conversion if you will before you go live before you do the live conversion to make sure stuff is is going over properly that things are lined up that you're you're showing the same amounts in both systems, but understanding that process will.

00:18:18 Jerry DeMaria

Will save you.

00:18:20 Jerry DeMaria

A lot of headache on the back end when someone.

00:18:24 Jerry DeMaria

Come on day, one of being live is asking you for a report or pieces of info and you can't get give it to them or you don't know where to go to give it to them. You have to understand that conversion process.

00:18:38 Jerry DeMaria

Uh, like the back of your hand, you you have to know what you're getting and how you're gonna access.

00:18:45 Anthony Beasley

OK, great value. Want to chime in on those on those points.

00:18:48 Valerie Williams

I did, and Jerry, you're absolutely right of the conversion of.

00:18:54 Valerie Williams

I agree with everything you said on that because it is critical when you're going into something like this, we converted from what at the time.

00:19:04 Valerie Williams

There's a very large based product elite, and we, although we had signed the paperwork to go, we actually put.

00:19:16 Valerie Williams

Perfect law through the tent to the test by having them show us, you know this is the report that they're currently using.

00:19:23 Valerie Williams

This is what we get now. We did a I think they set up a trial database for us where we could just pull off some of our data.

00:19:32 Valerie Williams

Yeah, and actually look at it through the various modules to make sure everything was going where it needed to go so it wasn't just them telling us they could do it.

00:19:41 Valerie Williams

They actually showed us they could do it before we actually gave the go ahead to move forward with the full conversion.

00:19:51 Anthony Beasley

Now you know it's.

00:19:54 Anthony Beasley

It's one of those great things to have people. Obviously everyone here has a different experience or broad experience. I think Betty is one more than newcomer to the group of folks that have worked with us in podcast.

00:20:06 Anthony Beasley

You know, Ballenger of course have a history with us that goes back many, many years. But Betty's been using perfect all for a lot of years.

00:20:14 Anthony Beasley

So Betty, just in closing, you know, if you just like to give some some thoughts about some things, your experience with perfect lot of things that you know from the years you work with us or just some pointers that people should always keep in mind. 'cause obviously you know. As I mentioned, we're seeing more and more people. You know, the industry.

00:20:33 Anthony Beasley

Is changing technology is changing a lot of things are happening?

00:20:36 Anthony Beasley

COVID has changed how people work, but more importantly, it's kind of put people in a I'm not moving until I have to move scenario.

00:20:45 Anthony Beasley

And of course, I've always I tell people all the time. You know that there's a day of reckoning coming and there's going to be a lot of people who are looking for good advice and things to keep in mind as they make decisions. So what would you like to say is?

00:20:57 Anthony Beasley

For this concern, and as far as your experience over the years knowing who we are in the industry.

00:21:03 Betty Cunningham

Well thanks Anthony. I think that you know I we are still a server based system with perfect law and we are getting ready to move to their cloud based system and I would I have full faith in.

00:21:17 Betty Cunningham

The server based and moving it to the cloud just from even the upgrades we've been through on PERF log over the years.

00:21:23 Betty Cunningham

And believe me, we've been on it since I think 2006. We've had to do some major upgrades. 'cause luckily y'all continually upgrade software.

00:21:31 Betty Cunningham

It's a great process because you you give us a test set of data we have to test it and honestly.

00:21:38 Betty Cunningham

But it's more concerned about how things are coming up.

00:21:41 Betty Cunningham

Second being updated then, then we are and I like that I like that that the support at PERF log make sure that all the X's and O's are crossed and you know tease that everything done before we move and you know I get a little impatient, but they make sure that hey, we can't just go ahead and.

00:22:01 Betty Cunningham

Move you up onto this new version until we make sure everything.

00:22:04 Betty Cunningham

00:22:05 Betty Cunningham

Clear so that I appreciate that, and I think moving to the cloud with Perfo will be a good experience too because of the support that you have and that you're keeping up with the times and and encouraging us to move off a server based system.

00:22:20 Betty Cunningham

And the main reason we're moving off of a server based system and and I think a lot of people are looking to the cloud.

00:22:26 Betty Cunningham

It's because of security. We know that we are.

00:22:31 Betty Cunningham

At risk, we know that our cyber insurance won't renew it next year if we don't make a change and they actually look at what versions were on what SQL licenses were running.

00:22:43 Betty Cunningham

Lots of different information that the cyber security people have have learned that if they don't force their clients into moving into.

00:22:51 Betty Cunningham

Not being more secure, people won't do it until they have to or until it's too late and you see it all the time and so. So I've loved working on PERF log for these years. You know, sure, there's been ups.

00:23:04 Betty Cunningham

And downs, but it's a solid system and that I appreciate, especially after seeing some of my clients move to the latest and greatest in the cloud and it not working out very well.

00:23:18 Anthony Beasley

OK, great, thanks for thanks for the compliments Betty and we appreciate your your comments. Now Jerry, you know. Obviously your experience is a with me is a little broad.

00:23:28 Anthony Beasley

But when we look at time and you know in the time that Betty's been with us, you guys actually have been around about the same amount of time.

00:23:36 Anthony Beasley

Give a few years. Take a few years, but it's pretty close to the same. So what's your thoughts that you would pass along as it relates to perfect lawn as it relates to the things you know about us and working with us over the years?

00:23:48 Jerry DeMaria

Uh, actually, based on what Betty said, we've been around for pretty much the exact amount of time we we converted. I converted our uh, of the first firm I worked with in 2006, so.

00:24:00 Jerry DeMaria

You know this is this. August will be 15 years with two different firms, so I would say the biggest thing that I have liked over the years is the flexibility overall in the software every law firm works differently and just that's.

00:24:20 Jerry DeMaria

Based on me being.

00:24:22 Jerry DeMaria

A couple of firms as me being based on talking with other firms who use perfect water. Don't use perfect law. We all work a little differently and perfect laws flexibility to be able to a comma.

00:24:37 Jerry DeMaria

Update, uh, different workflows throughout the software and nuances has been spectacular.

00:24:48 Jerry DeMaria

Uh, we I've always enjoyed that the the other.

00:24:53 Jerry DeMaria

An aspect light would say.

00:24:56 Jerry DeMaria

Uh, as well that we've been very fortunate with.

00:25:00 Jerry DeMaria

Is, uh, the the service department, the support department that perfectly?

00:25:05 Jerry DeMaria

Uh, we always have had a great support, love that it's completely in house and when I first got to the new, the new firm that I'm at now, we will win a product that had.

00:25:21 Jerry DeMaria

Very basic in-house support, but for anything custom custom reports, even actually training you had to go to a third party vendor for that and I just I couldn't understand that concept. I you know, if if you're pushing a product out there, you should in my opinion.

00:25:41 Jerry DeMaria

You should 100%.

00:25:43 Jerry DeMaria

Support our insight in House. Like you know, you're the you're the expert in inferior should be the expert about your own software and that's the the stance that perfect law has always taken over the years. So I would say flexibility and support have been the the the two biggest things.

00:26:04 Jerry DeMaria

For me, other than what we've already discussed.

00:26:08 Anthony Beasley

OK, great Jerry. Well again we appreciate the comments. You know you've always been a one of my favorite people to work with from time that it's always great.

00:26:15 Anthony Beasley

You know it's to know who we're working with. You know the the the good thing is, in Full disclosure, you know I've worked with several administrators that have done some things to be sure of their decisions, and luckily we had a chance, though in our older building where Jerry.

00:26:28 Anthony Beasley

Dropped in to see us and spend some time with us before the the first firm went live and then just before the 2nd for me and him had an opportunity to spend some time together in Chicago there.

00:26:39 Anthony Beasley

Well, not him, but his his partner is managing partner. They stopped him, spent some time with us so it's always nice when you could put a face.

00:26:45 Anthony Beasley

Not just in the sales person, but to the company as a whole. And Val. Of course we it it kind of worked out where made it to.

00:26:54 Anthony Beasley

Probably the oldest of the group as far as a perfect law clients concern, but you've you're the first person.

00:26:59 Anthony Beasley

I think in a while I've had where I could say you've transitioned, but you're.

00:27:01 Anthony Beasley

Still here, so just in.

00:27:04 Anthony Beasley

Your thought process you know as you.

00:27:06 Anthony Beasley

As you talk to people, and even though you may not be actively serving in the capacity of administrator for a firm, but you're your many years of experience and the things you know about the industry are always welcomed by a lot of people that I know.

00:27:18 Anthony Beasley

Just kind of give us your thoughts along the same lines as what Jerry and Betty have done for us.

00:27:24 Valerie Williams

Well, and I think too, as you said, Anthony, there's going to be a day of reckoning coming soon. Everything that I've heard today plays out when Betty was talking about cyber security. I was just reading an article today on how the carriers are becoming more.

00:27:39 Valerie Williams

Some are putting more emphasis on their audits and things like this before they'll insure you. I think all of those things are are going to be critical to firms in the future, and I don't see how you can effectively do that in House and expect that to be done by one person.

00:27:59 Valerie Williams

The cyber security piece of it alone gives you cause for pause, I should say but.

00:28:08 Valerie Williams

You know, having the ability to to contact the firm Jerry you said something about the support department and I mentioned last time we spoke.

00:28:18 Valerie Williams

The best thing to me about the support at perfect law is that there's consistency in the staffing. People that I've worked with for years are still there.

00:28:28 Valerie Williams

And you know still able to help us. And and sometimes those people remember little nuances about your firm that that that that somebody else might not realize. So I think there's a huge benefit in having that in house.

00:28:45 Anthony Beasley

Alright, well I really appreciate all the time you guys are giving us today. I mean I, I hope that our goal and what we're doing is to continue to educate people.

00:28:45 Anthony Beasley

Right?

00:28:56 Anthony Beasley

I'm not just on perfect wobble when they can pick up one little thing that they didn't know.

00:29:00 Anthony Beasley

Well, regardless of what they ultimately decide, I think it's always a good thing and to hear from not just someone named that we put on a reference list, but someone who can.

00:29:10 Anthony Beasley

Speak directly to.

00:29:11 Anthony Beasley

Their their experience, their knowledge and pass that along.

00:29:14 Anthony Beasley

You know a lot of times we'll get people who are leaning our way or not leaning our way.

00:29:18 Anthony Beasley

I have had situations where people have chosen other vendors and actually came back to me in the middle of implementation because it didn't work out because, you know at the time they were looking someone you know, just like you said Jerry Inval when it came to the conversions and something just didn't add up right? And they took that chance to say, you know, maybe we should call that other company.

00:29:39 Anthony Beasley

Back before we get too far down the road.

00:29:42 Anthony Beasley

And that's happened, and I think as time goes on, we're going to see more and more scenarios that play out where people are looking to make changes.

00:29:50 Anthony Beasley

And you're going to have people that would say, you know, I really wish I just heard something from someone and that's what this is all about, not just promoting perfectly but giving people good knowledge. Better your your experience.

00:30:02 Anthony Beasley

And the fact that you have other firms is immeasurable to people if they don't understand it when you're telling them you're giving them.

00:30:09 Anthony Beasley

I am living with this. I have lived with this so that they can not make the same mistake, so it's it's a great thing and you know what we wanted to do was take a.

00:30:19 Anthony Beasley

Kind of a a space and time and kind of shear from not from us but from you guys from people who are supporting the law firms or hearing the stories that won't.

00:30:30 Anthony Beasley

That are normally not told to us and who knows from dealing with the day-to-day issues, you know, here's what you can expect and here's why, and let them know ahead of time.

00:30:40 Anthony Beasley

And not just for people looking at perfect law before our own clients. And I think that any company that can be honest with itself will always be successful.

00:30:49 Anthony Beasley

And in all honesty, all firms are always looking always considering what else is out there. Well, what else is out there?

00:30:54 Anthony Beasley

And when they hear someone who says, look, I've been there for a long time, and here's why, it's always a good thing.

00:30:59 Anthony Beasley

So we definitely appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge and share your information with us and we look forward to the next time that we get a chance to speak to you. It may not be on accounting and billing. It may not be on certain areas, but we definitely.

00:31:14 Anthony Beasley

Look forward to your involvement with us moving forward in the future, and I want to thank all three of you for taking the time out to spend with me today.

00:31:22 Valerie Williams

Thank you, Anthony.

00:31:23 Betty Cunningham

Thank you, Anthony.

00:31:25 Jerry DeMaria

Thank you Sir.