via
8am)
Like
many
of
you,
I
sort
of
wondered
about
the
new
name
for
AffiniPay’s
set
of
companies,
8am,
as
I
discussed
in
a
previous
post.
Are
they
offering
a
new
coffee?
Some
sort
of
clock?
I
appeared
on
a
Michael
Eisenberg’s
Tech
Savvy
Lawyer
podcast
earlier
this
week
and
when
I
said
I
was
at
the
8am
conference,
he
said,
“What?
It’s
2
p.m.
here,
where
are
you?”
It
took
us
a
few
minutes
to
get
things
straight.
And
8am’s
conference
name:
Kaleidoscope.
What’s
that
all
about?
Kaleidoscope???
Most
of
this
became
a
little
clearer
at
the
keynote
from
8am’s
Chief
Product
Officer,
Leslie
Witt.
Witt
bounded
on
the
stage
Wednesday
morning
full
of
energy
and
fittingly
sporting
a
pair
of
cowboy
boots.
She
gave
a
30-ish-minute
talk
explaining
the
names
of
both
the
company
and
the
conference
and
as
she
put
it,
the
new
program.
Kaleidoscope
is
8am’s
(and
the
AffiniPay
companies’)
first
user
conference
and
they
are
working
hard
at
doing
it
right
and
being
hospitable.
Witt
explained
that
the
conference
name
was
based
upon
the
concept
behind
the
children’s
kaleidoscope
toy.
When
you
first
look
though
the
toy,
there
appears
to
be
random
bits
and
pieces
of
objects.
But
when
you
twist
the
bottom,
the
pieces
come
together
in
an
interesting
geometric
design.
Witt
likened
the
coming
together
of
the
previous
AffiniPay
companies
into
8am
as
a
similar
process.
AffiniPay
started
as
a
payment
company.
It
added
practice
and
case
management
companies
and
capabilities
and,
later
financial
management
companies
as
well.
All
of
these
acquired
companies
and
tools
kept
their
separate
names.
Now
they
are
all
coming
together
and
being
integrated
into
the
singular
8am
platform,
according
to
Witt.
The
idea,
I
suppose,
is
that
in
the
coming
together,
the
mission
and
goals
of
the
company
and
its
set
of
tools
will
become
clearer.
The
integration
certainly
cleared
up
for
me
8am’s
vision
and
mission.
It’s
All
in
a
Name
And
about
the
name.
As
I
previously
mentioned,
the
name
8am
reportedly
comes
from
the
concept
that
the
first
thing
many
of
us
do
in
the
morning
is
to
try
to
take
care
of
business:
the
financial
non-billable
end
of
things.
“Rising
means
getting
up
and
getting
going.”
Indeed,
the
theme
that
every
day
is
a
brand
new
day
permeates
the
entire
conference.
And
8am’s
mission
statement
carries
this
idea
forward:
“we
start
every
day
on
a
mission
to
empower
professionals
to
deliver
world
class
outcomes
for
your
clients
and
exceptional
financial
results
for
your
business.”
Hence
8am.
(I
guess
if
you
work
for
8am,
you
better
be
a
morning
person.)
And
Now
the
Substance
Now
for
the
substance
of
what
Witt
talked
about.
She
described
how
8am
is
going
to
increase
its
focus
on
how
the
business
needs
of
a
growing
law
firm
shift
as
the
firm
grows.
She
also
specifically
mentioned
several
new
tools.
SmartSpend,
for
example,
is
a
credit
card
provided
to
employees
that
allows
them
to
charge
business
expenses.
The
tool
then
automatically
applies
those
charges
to
correct
invoices
enabling
better
collection.
I
had
written
about
this
tool
when
it
was
introduced
in
beta
at
LegalWeek
in
March;
it’s
now
out
of
beta
and
live.
Witt
also
announced
a
new
feature
called
8am
Capital
which
she
says
will
be
launched
in
the
market
early
next
year.
This
tool
will
assess
a
firm’s
financial
needs
and
viability
and
extend
short-term
loans
where
needed.
Witt
noted
that
it’s
sometimes
difficult
for
law
firms
to
obtain
these
kinds
of
loans
from
banks
who
don’t
understand
the
business
end
of
the
practice.
8am
Capital
will
offer
an
alternative
option.
A
new
integration
of
the
8am
tools
with
NetDocuments
in
the
future
was
also
announced.
This
one
is
pretty
interesting
given
the
search
capability
within
NetDocuments.
The
integration
will
broaden
the
materials
upon
which
the
8am
tools
can
operate
and
from
which
results
can
be
provided.
It
also
reflects
that
NetDocuments
is
focusing
on
the
smaller
firm
market
(which
8am
primarily
serves)
in
addition
to
the
large
firm
market.
Witt
also
talked
about
a
customizable
reporting
dashboard
that
will
be
offered
in
the
next
few
weeks
that
will
be
able
to
filter
and
add
different
dimensions
to
better
convey
financial
and
other
information.
She
also
announced
that
8am
will
soon
have
the
OCR
ability
to
search
images
in
addition
to
just
text.
Finally,
and
perhaps
most
importantly,
she
talked
about
something
called
Chat
with
Cases
that
8am
is
developing.
The
tool
will
enable
natural
language
chat
capability
similar
to
that
offered
by
ChatGPT
and
other
LLM
providers
whereby
you
can
query
the
8am
tools
and
data
to
obtain
answers
to
questions
concerning
finances
and
client
information.
It
will
provide
what
Witt
described
as
“actionable
financial
insights.”
So,
according
to
Witt,
you
can
ask
it
things
like
who
owes
you
money:
once
the
tool
identifies
someone,
it
can
automatically
send
them
a
ding
letter.
I
assume
this
will
be
an
agentic
AI
type
of
tool,
although
unlike
in
most
other
vendor
presentations,
Witt
never
used
the
term.
And
she
promised,
the
tool
won’t
hallucinate.
Unfortunately,
that
smacks
of
vendor
hyperbole.
Hallucinations
and
inaccuracies
can
be
reduced
by
limiting
the
data
set
upon
which
the
LLM
operates
but
don’t
think
anyone
is
yet
at
the
point
of
guaranteeing
that
a
GenAI
tool
will
be
hallucination
free.
Chat
with
Cases
does
have
somewhat
profound
implications.
Much
of
the
debate
at
Kaleidoscope
and
other
legal
tech
conferences
is
whether
and
to
what
extent
AI
will
finally
drive
a
stake
in
the
billable
hour.
And
whether
it
can
or
will
be
replaced
by
alternative
value-based
billing.
At
the
heart
of
making
those
alternative
systems
successful
is
understanding
the
cost
to
the
firm
of
taking
a
certain
matter.
That
cost
is
reflected
both
by
the
time
to
get
to
a
result
but
also
by
the
cost
to
the
firm
of
the
matter,
the
cost
of
the
resources
the
firm
must
expend.
Having
a
tool
that
can
provide
immediate
feedback
on
cost
and
other
financial
questions
alleviate
the
fears
many
—
both
lawyers
and
clients
—
have
about
adopting
an
alternative
fee
approach.
Like
most
vendor
keynotes,
there
was
little
reference
to
the
cost
of
any
of
these
new
offerings
to
the
customer.
What
the
Integration
Means
for
the
Everyday
Lawyer
While
you
might
be
jaded
and
think
the
name
8am
and
the
Kaleidoscope
concept
are
a
little
too
cute,
it’s
hard
to
deny
that
what
8am
is
doing
and
where
it’s
headed
is
good.
I
have
mentioned
before
all
too
often
legal
tech
vendors
offer
a
plethora
of
products
doing
slightly
different
things.
It’s
confusing
and
bewildering
even
to
me
and
I
cover
this
stuff.
For
lawyers,
particularly
in
small
firms
without
IT
resources,
it
has
to
be
even
worse.
I
frankly
had
trouble
keeping
track
of
the
AffiniPay
companies
and
what
they
did.
Combining
these
into
one
platform
helps.
Do
the
Tools
Scratch
a
Real
Itch?
And
what
8am
is
offering
is
important
to
lawyers
and
address
a
real
need
as
well.
As
Witt
put
it,
few
lawyers
have
studied
or
know
how
to
run
a
business.
She
cited
some
statistics
from
the
Legal
Industry
Report
of
8am
that
reflect
this:
-
68%
of
lawyers
surveyed
report
fee
collection
is
a
major
hurdle. -
61%
of
law
firms
have
difficulty
with
accounting
principles.
(I
know
from
experience
that
trying
to
read
a
basic
financial
statement
in
an
understandable
way
is
a
challenge.) -
53%
reported
having
difficulty
making
a
confident
set
of
informed
financial
decisions.
The
8am
tools
promise
to
help
with
by
offering
“seamless
connectivity”
and
an
efficient
way
to
be
a
better
businessperson
without
having
to
go
to
B
school
to
succeed
in
practicing
law.
It
provides
help
in
dealing
with
critical
financial
issues
for
which
lawyers
have
little
training
and
spend
too
little
time
dealing
with.
The
proof
though
is
where
the
new
tools
do
what
8am
says
they
will
do
and
whether
the
promised
future
products
come
to
fruition.
Over-promising
and
under-delivering
is
all
too
common
with
legal
tech
vendors.
Let’s
hope
that’s
not
the
case
with
8am.
Stephen
Embry
is
a
lawyer,
speaker,
blogger,
and
writer.
He
publishes TechLaw
Crossroads,
a
blog
devoted
to
the
examination
of
the
tension
between
technology,
the
law,
and
the
practice
of
law.