Software we can build for professional services firms
Accounting, legal, engineering, consulting and insurance firms run on information that arrives by email and leaves as a document. The work in between — collecting files, tracking status, answering “where are we on this?” — is where billable hours quietly disappear.
Where the work gets stuck in professional services firms.
- Collecting documents by email
Clients send files in pieces, to different people, under subject lines nobody can search for, and someone chases what is still missing.
- “Where are we on this?”
Clients email and call for status that already exists somewhere in the firm — it just is not somewhere they can see.
- Intake typed in more than once
New-client details are entered into the CRM, the practice system, the engagement letter and the billing system separately.
- Deadlines in personal calendars
Filing dates, renewals and review deadlines are tracked by the person responsible, which works until they are out.
- Templates filled in by hand
Proposals, engagement letters and recurring reports are copied from the last one and edited, with the errors that come with it.
- No view of capacity
Partners cannot easily see who is overloaded, what is stuck in review, or what is due next week.
One client engagement, start to finish
Most firms run a version of this for every client. The steps rarely change; the re-typing and chasing in between is what costs time.
- Inquiry Web, referral or email
- Fit & conflict check Before anything is promised
- Proposal & engagement Generated from templates
- Signature Electronic, tracked
- Document collection Requested and chased
- Work in progress Status visible internally
- Review Assigned and dated
- Delivery Through the portal
- Billing From the engagement terms
- Renewal Next cycle scheduled
How a connected system would tie these together
- Intake details are captured once and used everywhere after — conflict check, engagement letter, practice system, billing.
- Proposals and engagement letters are generated from your templates and the client record, then sent for signature.
- A document checklist per engagement tells the client what is still needed and reminds them, so staff do not have to.
- Clients see status and download deliverables in a portal instead of emailing to ask.
- Deadlines belong to the engagement, not to someone’s calendar, and the firm can see what is due across every client.
Systems we could build.
Starting points, not a product list. Most projects begin with one of these and grow from what the first phase teaches.
- Client portal
Secure upload, document checklists, status, e-signature and deliverables in one place per client.
- Intake and document assembly
One intake that fills your engagement letters, proposals and onboarding paperwork from the same record.
- Deadline and work-in-progress tracker
Every engagement with its stage, owner, reviewer and due dates, visible to the people who need it.
- Capacity dashboard
Workload by person and team, work stuck in review, and what is due over the coming weeks.
- Recurring engagement automation
Annual and monthly cycles that open themselves, request documents and schedule the work.
What it would connect to.
Firms usually already have a system of record. The custom work connects to it:
- Practice-management softwareSuch as Clio or Karbon, where the API allows reading and writing matters, jobs or clients.
- QuickBooks Online or XeroBilling from the engagement terms, not re-typed.
- Microsoft 365, SharePoint or Google DriveDocuments filed where the firm already keeps them.
- E-signatureTools such as DocuSign or Adobe Acrobat Sign for engagement letters and approvals.
- Calendars and emailDeadlines and reminders where people already look.
Vendor names are examples of systems you may already use, not partnerships. What can be connected depends on each vendor’s API and terms, which we confirm before anything is quoted.
What custom software should not replace.
Professional tools exist for good reasons. Custom software should not replace:
- Your practice-management or document-management system of record — a portal can feed it rather than compete with it.
- Tax, audit, legal research or engineering design software.
- Accounting and trust-accounting systems.
- Anything your professional body or insurer requires you to use.
A workflow consultation, then a specification.
The first conversation is about 30 minutes and costs nothing: you show us how the work runs today, and we tell you whether custom software is worth exploring. Only a strong fit goes on to a paid specification.
- 01 Workflow consultation Free · about 30 minutes
Show us the workflow or the problem. We ask questions and tell you whether custom software is worth exploring — or whether something simpler would do.
- 02 Discovery & specification Paid engagement
Where there is a strong fit, we map the workflow properly and write it up as a specification: what the system does, for whom, how it connects, what it costs and when. You keep it whether or not we build it.
- 03 Fixed-scope build Quoted against the spec
The build is quoted and scheduled against the specification, so the figure you approve is the figure you pay. Anything new is quoted separately rather than absorbed quietly into the timeline.
- 04 Launch & care Optional monthly plan
Launch, then hosting, updates, security patches, store submissions and changes as your business moves. Whoever built it maintains it, and you can stop the plan whenever it stops being worth paying for.
Common questions.
Our practice software already has a client portal. Why build one?
If it fits your clients, use it. A custom portal makes sense when the built-in one does not match how you collect documents, when clients use it reluctantly, or when it cannot pull together information from the other systems you run.
How is client confidentiality handled?
Access can be restricted by role and by client, documents encrypted at rest and in transit, and every access logged. The specific obligations of your profession, and any client contract terms, are reviewed during discovery and designed into the system.
We are a small firm. Is this overkill?
Sometimes. A small firm with one painful process — usually document collection — can get most of the value from one focused piece rather than a full platform. That is a normal place to start.
Show us how work moves from inquiry to invoice.
The intake form, the document-chasing emails, the deadline spreadsheet. We’ll tell you which parts are worth building and which are fine as they are.
You’ll hear directly from PiTech, typically the same business day.