Saturday 9 February 2008

Lexis Nexis aquire UK's Axxia - how things will shape up - a note from Lexis Nexis

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Lexis Nexis present answers to your questions

The strategy

How will the company be structured post-acquisition?

Axxia will join the UK Practice Management portfolio, part of LexisNexis’s Global Practice Management solution line.

Kate Holden will oversee the Global Practice Management portfolio with Edouard Tavernier driving the strategy. Stuart Holden will continue to oversee the Axxia portfolio working with
Dan Marshall, who will be directing all operations across the UK Practice and Productivity
Management business.

Will Axxia be run as a separate business or integrated with LexisNexis?

Axxia will be fully integrated with the LexisNexis business within the next six months.

What is LexisNexis’ mission?

To help our customers to become more efficient, productive and profitable through the provision of integrated workflow-based solutions enhanced with relevant content.

Why has LexisNexis acquired Axxia?

LexisNexis is committed to delivering a solutions strategy offering product and service combinations that address customers’ specific needs and fit into their existing workflow, to enhance productivity and profitability.

As the leading integrated solutions and back office provider for medium-sized law firms, Axxia
has an installed customer base of 220 law firms and over 20,000 users. This makes it an extremely attractive proposition for LexisNexis to combine with its existing portfolio for medium-sized law firms. The acquisition of Axxia will accelerate the delivery of content-enabled workflow solutions for medium-sized law firms.

What will happen to the Axxia corporate brand? What will happen to other brands, such as dna* and Artiion?

To provide the most consistency and clarity in our communication with customers, the company will immediately fully align with the LexisNexis corporate brand.

Axxia will become the umbrella name for a product family within the UK LexisNexis Practice Management portfolio. Product brands acquired from Axxia will include the Axxia name (for
example, "Axxia Artiion", “Axxia dna*). The Axxia product family will be treated in the same
way as the other product families within LexisNexis UK - Butterworths, Tolley, Visualfiles etc.

Does LexisNexis plan to acquire other companies?

We are committed to providing our customers with leading practice and productivity management solutions and will continue to explore all avenues that may help us achieve this
goal.

LexisNexis acquired Visualfiles more than a year ago. Isn’t Axxia operating in the same space?

Although both businesses serve similar organisations, the product portfolios at Axxia and Visualfiles are extremely complementary. Both Visualfiles and Axxia hold leading positions
with their respective offerings. Visualfiles has a first class reputation for its case management
software in both mid and large law and Axxia’s key strength lies in its integrated front and back office solution. With both Visualfiles and Axxia in the LexisNexis stable, we can offer our customers an unparalleled wealth of knowledge and experience across a broad range of markets. This will significantly strengthen our ability to deliver the leading portfolio of integrated and open solutions that satisfy the widest range of customer needs.

Does this acquisition change existing relationships with 3rd party suppliers?

No, we are delighted to be in a position to offer our customers the widest possible choice. Our policy of developing both integrated and open solutions means that we will continue to work
with a wide range of suppliers to satisfy the differing needs of our customers.

Products/technology

What will be the technology platform resulting from the combination of Axxia, LexisNexis and Visualfiles?

LexisNexis currently operates many different technology platforms through which we deliver a
broad range of solutions and capabilities to our clients. As we develop new solutions within our Practice Management portfolio, we will work closely with our clients to select whichever technology platform is most appropriate for their particular needs whilst ensuring that our underlying architectural decisions adhere to key principles:

• Ability of our solutions to integrate with a broad range of 3rd party systems

• Use of mainstream, future-proof technologies

• The provision of a clear evolution path for existing LexisNexis customers

Over time, the mix of technologies we use will evolve to suit the changing needs of the market. Rather than be led by technology, we will be driven by an overriding desire to deliver compelling solutions that genuinely improve the productivity and profitability of our customers.

How will the product portfolios be integrated over time?

LexisNexis will accelerate the execution of existing product roadmaps whilst over time developing a range of new offerings through the combination of LexisNexis and Axxia
capabilities. Integration between Axxia and LexisNexis products will take various forms, from
the launch of standalone product modules to the development of fully integrated suites of back office and front office solutions. Examples of such integrations include:

• Strengthening the integration between Visualfiles case management solutions and the Artiion back office system
• Developing integration between dna* and best of breed LexisNexis applications (e.g. InterAction)
• Combining dna* with LexisNexis Legal and/or Risk & Compliance content to create distinctive value propositions for legal practitioners

Customer Support

What support benefits can customers expect from the combination of Axxia, LexisNexis and Visualfiles?

We aim to deliver “Best in Class” in all aspects of the customer experience and will strive to
continuously improve all aspects of our customers’ contact with us – content, user interfaces,
customer services, billing, etc. We are determined to accomplish unparalleled support and delivery and have committed significant investment in order to achieve this.

Both LexisNexis and Axxia have developed solutions that, following the initial system implementation, enable business users without an IT background to create and maintain
complex applications with the minimum of tuition. This approach protects customers’
investment and maximizes profitability.

On a broader level, both LexisNexis Visualfiles and Axxia share a passion for innovation and
a commitment to developing and delivering customer-driven solutions.

Will there be any changes to my account manager?

We will evaluate the ways we interact with our customers on an ongoing basis to ensure we are delivering the highest quality relationship management. Customers will be notified if there are any plans to change the way their accounts are managed.

Whom should customers call for product support?

We will be working to quickly align our infrastructures, including our customer contact points.
Meanwhile, customers should continue using the existing contacts, and we will ensure enquiries are dealt with by an advisor who can handle their issue.

Whom should customers call for invoice, statement or payment queries?

We will be working quickly to align our billing infrastructures, but at present customers should
continue to use their previous Customer Support team. Any changes to the contact points will
be communicated to customers in advance.

For further information, please contact your account manager or for integration enquiries:

Gunes Sahillioglu
LexisNexis
gunes.sahillioglu AT lexisnexis.co.uk
+44 (0) 77 99 62 16 89

Wednesday 6 February 2008

Saturn27 launch

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An independent consultant, not aligned or reselling any vendors products, launches in London. (Saturn27).

Santa and the tech vendor

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Whilst talking to vendors at Legal Tech NYC 2008 and hearing their stories, which are re-told with vigour and enthusiasm each year, I was struck by how similar this moment was to our early childhood. As your Mom told you about sleighs, reindeer and Santa, your friends in the playground dis-illusioned you and called you a fool for believing in such silly things. Over the years vendors have had their up and down cycles with R&D, but inevitably bounce back and each time they ask us to 'believe' again (and again), that software like Santa will make all your law firm dreams come true.

We want to believe: we like our vendors, but I guess, it is up to you to decide if you believe in Santa or what your playground buddies say.

Tech-philanthropy

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Client Profiles, who are Atlanta based, are soon to launch the CP Foundation and aim to 'partner' with law firms to raise $2.5 million for charitable causes including education programmes in Georgia. Their drive will be to do deals with law firms with a negotiated percent going to their CP (Client Profiles) Foundation.

Running the CP Foundation as a not for profit, Whit McIsaac the CEO of Client Profiles, plans to raise the quality of Georgia education and its ranking, which currently sits at number 49 out of 50 compared with Atlanta which is ranked as one of the top spots in the country for education.

Client Profiles is already working on software deals with clients at discount costs to help Californian lawyers working with death row inmates.

Whit was inspired after hearing a CSR talk at Clifford Chance, who are following or mirroring their clients, like UBS and Credit Suisse in matching funds that employees give to charity to help their local communities.

Client Profiles grew 29% in 2007 and Whit believes their Microsoft alliance has helped them really reach the top. "They have 20,000 sales people and 4,500 partners." He points out, highlighting their capacity for sales. Client Profiles have made great strides in the UK market also recently partnering with well known reseller and consultant TFB.

http://www.clientprofiles.com/

Also see my article on http://www.probono.net/ on this or the Microsoft professional site.