In his role as Chief Information Officer for the law firm of Dickinson, Wright PLLC, CPA Mike Harnish's primary responsibility is to create the Firm's technology vision and oversee its implementation. No easy feat in a law firm of over 200 attorneys working out of 6 offices in 18 legal specialties, Mike and his team have completely re-vamped the Firm's systems, processes and strategies to move Dickinson Wright into the forefront among law firms in integrating technology with the delivery of legal services. In fact, so many of Dickinson Wright's clients have expressed interest in these efforts that an affiliated entity, Technology Consulting Partners LLC (TCP) was formed, with Mike serving as CEO, to provide consulting and implementation services to other professional service firms and practices.

Mike attributes much of his success to technology. "The CPA, whether he or she be in industry, public or private practice, has to apply technology to survive. We're not exempt from any of the rules to which normal businesses subscribe. We have to play by the same rules using the same techniques and tools applied to a professional environment and we're finding that we either do it, or we better think about retiring pretty quickly," he says.

Applying his knowledge of transactional flow and systems, he devised a system that reduced the cycle time of Chrysler Credit Corporation's loan origination and review from six months to less than four weeks. In doing so, Mike undertook the automation of functions that were not even part of his Firm's legal responsibilities, but were critical to the entire business process. In another case, he was able to devise a system that dramatically sped up the cycle time of review, comment and closing by multiple independent parties in a secure environment for a large national company. The results of Mike's work were noted in a publication distributed at the National Real Estate Conference in Las Vegas.

Innovative in streamlining the internal functions of his Firm, Mike has increased communications and the speed of transactions, which has resulted in dramatically lowering costs for systems processing, while reducing cycle time and overhead. While involved with a large London-based arbitration case, Mike created an ad hoc international "network" that effectively linked participants and mediators in multiple countries to communicate and review the various facts and issues involved. This allowed the entire arbitration to proceed in a secure and timely manner, while greatly reducing the cost of trans-Atlantic transportation.

Working closely with his team at Dickinson Wright, Mike not only implemented the ABA's standard UTBMS codes, but also extended the use of these codes into paperless electronic billing and audits of work performed for the Firm's clients. Currently, Mike is involved in designing and developing a Web-based system that will allow small-and-medium-sized companies to utilize legal services on a proactive, fixed-fee arrangement. This is a dramatic step forward in the legal profession where clients have traditionally sought legal advice only when in trouble or in reaction to a large scale undertaking.

Mike believes that technology plays a critical part of the business environment. "Even if it's a one-person firm, there's no escaping technology -- pretty soon doing business using technology will be the same as deciding whether nor not to breathe on any given day -- you do it, or you die," he says. "There is one caveat. Don't be enamoured of technology for technology's sake. The true language of business is still business; technology is just how we leverage it to do a better job."

His work at Dickinson Wright has also involved the creation of a case management system that is not only extensively utilized internally, but also by the clients themselves, a significant move forward in the collaboration of professional service providers and their clients. Faced with 11 different operating systems and 22 different vendors upon arrival at the Firm just two years ago, Mike made the networks vastly more manageable and usable. Today, Mike has a small staff that is able to manage the Firm's 600+ computers via automated methods to ensure consistent quality and application. At the same time, the Firm has dramatically reduced the cost of its computing structure and standardized its coverage to just three operating platforms and systems.

"I think the most important application that any business can invest in over the next year is collaborative computing...the combination of lots of different technologies all embodied into one application, which makes it very easy to use. The returns have been absolutely phenomenal and these days, no business can afford to operate as a standalone environment," says Mike.

A natural leader, Mike has supplied the innovation, vision and enthusiasm to lead, but acknowledges the Firm's achievements as team successes and not merely personal triumphs. He stresses the importance of hiring just the right number of highly motivated and competent people. Faced with a seemingly insurmountable training obstacle, Mike created a technical training team that works constantly with the Firm's professionals to enhance its knowledge base.

Recently honored by the AICPA for his life-long contributions to technology, Mike's involvement in his profession seems to be endless. He is currently a member of the AICPA's Business and Industry Executive Committee, the American Bar Association's (ABA) Futurist Committee, and the ILCPA's Industry & Business Executive Committee and Strategic Planning Committee. Prior to these appointments, Mike served as the chairman of the AICPA's Information Technology Executive Committee and recently was a member of the AICPA's Information Technology Research Subcommittee. In addition to these appointments and many others too numerous to list here, Mike has also served as the past chair of the ILCPA's Information Technology Division.

Mike holds a Certificate of Data Processing (CDP) awarded by the Institute of Certification of Computer Professionals. He is accredited by the EDP Auditors Foundation as a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and is also a Certified Lotus Professional (CLP) as recognized by Lotus Development Corporation. He has spoken before many professional groups and has lectured at the university level on technology topics. He was the keynote speaker at both the AAA's National Conference speaking on "Utilizing Technology Within The Accounting Environment" and the AICPA's National Management Advisory Services meeting, speaking on "Trends in Technology." Mike has also been included in "Who's Who in Data Processing" and serves as co-technology editor of the publication "CPA Computer Report." Those wishing to E-mail Mike can do so at mharnish@dickinson-wright.com.