3E or not 3E?

There’s a rumble in the legaltech jungle at the moment and 3E is on the drums. There has been lots of good feedback and a few “its amazing” comments and lots of deals but this has been followed by a backwash of “oh but we don’t want to have to chuck our current stuff away” type feedback. So for a while I’ve been chasing a demo and chance to hear what the score was in the Enterprise v 3E match.

According to Kaye Sycamore who heads up the Thomson Elite sales team and was recently promoted to overall boss, Thomson has employed an army of R&D techies on 3E and by all accounts this has cost a small fortune.

3E does simple stuff like clip into Outlook and SharePoint and wasn’t really worth getting screen shots for, because these days you almost don’t need to bother. Its all much more intuitive and a lot of software seems very similar to me. Click here for this, click there for that and lots of dedicated areas and slice ‘n’ dice options. Naturally I’ve oversimplified but you get what I mean, plus you can do what you like with it, with drag n’ drop customisation, so it will just look how you want it to look anyway.

About the criticism being levelled at 3E, Kaye Sycamore says this is not the first major change or leap that Thomson Elite have ever made and suggests that the “noise” in the sector is unnecessary. She says “this is a fifth generation system; we’ve had many big generational shifts spanning twenty years.” She admits that they’ve always previously developed on their existing platform but adds “there have been so many major technological developments in the last five years that we had to make the decision to stay with our current legacy system - Enterprise - or break free to create more benefits.”

Kaye says firmly “we aren’t asking any existing customers to migrate; Enterprise is going to continue side by side with full Elite support and backing. We want new customers and new markets and that is what 3E has been developed for.”

Whether this is a new plan or not, I don’t know, but I guess the furore has emerged because 3E salespeople have been in to see existing legal Enterprise customers to show them their new app’.

It’s a difficult sell, in that, if you just bought a new car and then get a leaflet about an improved one, you are either going to be a bit annoyed or bonkers to upgrade…unless some other big change occurs at the same time. A bit like trading your 4x4 jeep in for a little electric car. The reason would be blindingly obvious, you are saving the environment.

I think the reasoning behind the new 3E app.’ is similar to that. Technology has just moved on. It isn’t only Thomson Elite saying ‘we are changing for the better’; its everyone. Suddenly Interwoven have full functionality on the BlackBerry ®. We all get sms from Addison Lee, the taxi firm and you can get karaoke on your iPod (iKaraoke). Technology got much better, very quickly basically.

In my book their move makes sense. Why wait until Enterprise is falling over like our subway system and costs money to patch and takes long periods offline to fix? They can get something else running side by side like Richard Branson did with the railway. Taking time to update and look after existing stock but all the while bringing online a speedy new option at the same time. Kaye says “we are offering the best of both worlds.”

I guess if any of the above worries you then its time to look at your contracts and speak to Thomson Elite but with an £8 billion balance sheet, they really do have the greenbacks to do what they say.

Pissing you off as well doesn’t seem to me to be a very clever option. They are a market leader, have been for years so why would they shoot themselves in the foot by getting all dodgy on the support?

I think the only issue is keeping up with the Joneses. Someone got a new system before you: so why not work out if you can live with that? The other problem may be for the competing vendors in the sector. The new 3E ‘sell’ is decidedly combative. The main message from Team Elite is that you can migrate from whatever you currently have (not just 3E) and Thomson Elite will work out your connectors, click ins and middleware. If you want to migrate they will convert data and do configurations. Basically they are keen.

So onto SAP.

IT directors say that the new 3E project is pushing them to review SAP. If they are going to go to all the trouble of changing their whole system, then they may aswell look at the market options thoroughly. With a big campaign just started on telly in the UK “SAP isn’t just for big companies, its for SME’s (small to medium size enterprises) too. It would seem to be pushing itself back into our frontal lobes. Kaye is quick to respond “We are offering a global business solution. SAP are invisible in the USA and Asia Pacific, they have Germany and some of Europe and that’s it.” She does concede though that SAP functionality has turned heads. Kaye says “We’ve listened and taken law firm comments into account.” Hinting that 3E have covered every objection and you won’t be yearning for that SAP demo anymore. Kaye continues “law firms want global financial software and need to control risk long-term. If the market is marching forward, we want to lead.”

The development of 3E took three years and a hundred people on their engineering team to bring to market. Key performance indicators are entirely customisable with their ‘timekeeper’ functionality and its made to be essentially what you want.

I ask about the trends Kaye is seeing in law firms: any time n’ billing hot tips? Apparently not. Kaye says “its very different in every firm - some want lawyers to see all their financials and some don’t.”

Focusing back onto 3E, the message that becomes loud and clear is that their new offering is pure ERP. It is for the law firm with multiple offices, who doesn’t want disparate data or systems. Its for firms who want one view of the financial position for staff wherever they may be located around the world or different national locations. Kaye regularly says “the data I’m showing you is sitting in Los Angeles,” to demonstrate this point.

She says “you can look at individuals performance, view particular departments or look by client. Stats are real time or near real time depending on how the firm wants it. New information can feed into the system every minute or every week.”

Views consist of ‘billed, collected and written off’ and all is context sensitive. Reports are report-ready with different drill down. There is also a query option within 3E to put notes on files and send them to action queues of someone else in the legal chain. For money laundering you can add pdf’s of passports and link these to your DM.

A phrase that popped up was “self service”. Rather than having staff waiting for chunks of information they are sourcing it themselves. Kaye adds “its all about speeding up the process.”

I decide we have hit another SAP moment and ask her to defend the comment that software has got a little too much functionality these days, suggesting that a return to simplification may be around the corner. Kaye disagrees: “people need to grow into software, it needs to last the distance. There should be more than you need on offer. 3E has multi currency selections; can check up on lawyers and can compare lawyers and there is a ‘secure module’ for the uber bosses to see confidential areas.”

Having heard a lot of about customisation being easy but suspecting its all slick, sales patter, Kaye obligingly clicks to the back end and switches between screens and she drags off a couple of columns then clicks back to show they are gone.

I wonder about implementation times and this triggers some advice. She says: “So many firms go for a ‘big bang’ approach, wanting it all out of the way in one go. This inevitably takes between nine to eighteen months. (Small firms 9, big firms 18). We are proposing a phased implementation with individual pushes which may take up to six months at a time.”
She cites Team Elite clients Lovells and Weil Gotschall as taking eighteen months.

Kaye continues “its all about less human involvement in cash cycles.” I asked if she thinks law firms are faster at billing these days. She comments “some are and some aren’t.” I push for a tasty example but don’t get anything more.

Getting back to the technology and why Thomson Elite chose such a hard path for themselves, Kaye takes a deep breath and reconfirms: “technology is just so much faster these days with much less code. In previous software we would have had 5,500 lines of code now this is replaced with 500 and we have modernised using Web 2.0 techniques.

As Kaye globe trots a lot, I wondered which country was winning the tech’ dominance race? Was it still Australia, UK then USA? Kaye says “its very hard to compare country by country. Each has its own requirements. Australia is very competitive: there are only five big banks and two big airlines so they need to get a lot out of their tech’ purchases; the US is litigation focused which brings its own specialist needs and the UK similarly has its own economic factors.”

I enquire about market feedback and so far, Kaye comments “we are very happy. People see the benefits of re-architecting and take up is looking good.”

In my view most vendors are experts and offer a broad view of the legal world which you would do well to tap into. I ask what the problems are for law firms in taking up software projects. Kaye comments “for most firms, its their capacity to change. Also some law firms lose sight of what they are doing with a project and forget their objectives. She reiterates “it is important to phase introduction and implement progressively.”

As to business trends, Kaye comments “Most are looking at international growth and more efficiency. Also for us the buyer has moved seats. We used to speak mainly to FD’s but the decision now lies with IT directors.” As to why this might be Kaye confirms “its more a business system now, not just about the finance department.”

Wrapping up, I ask Kaye what she would like the legal market to know. She says “its about the three E’s: embedded business processes; enabling your firm to be its best and allowing you to be everywhere with one single, global financial system.

As to developments at Thomson Elite. Kaye finishes “In the past we’ve been perceived as the UK branch of a US entity but the changes that have taken place in the last twelve months have changed us culturally. We now see ourselves as a large, global software team.

So 3E or not 3E? I think it’s the vendors who should be worried, not you the law firm clients.

3E is built on Microsoft, Sequel server and .NET.□

Tikit and TFB partner with Corebridge

If Tikit and TFB have signed Corebridge then this app’ is coming to a desk near you (UK) very soon. Best to be prepared.

You may be thinking “oh, seen all that before” type of thing and I do remember there was a rash of telephony type people swilling around in the market a few years ago (many of whom have since disappeared). This seems to be in the same general ball park but is more developed. Rather than just allowing dialling from your computer it actually brings up documents across various different software applications.

As we all know Tikit are quite sniffy about who they partner with. It is an acceptance badge to have Tikit signed up already.

So what is it? Well its software that integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes. At its heart the app’ has a meta directory which gathers basic contact information. This is synchronised with multiple databases and directories.

Which means when calls arrive key data is found before the phone rings and launched for the person answering the call. If there is a bad debt it can re-route callers to accounts. (Only for the very brave that one I would say). Both Jenny Peart, Marketing Manager at Corebridge and Sarah Cox in the same role at TFB confirm that individual rules for each firm can be set up.

Corebridge say very bravely that their technology will have as much impact as email. Also that implementation times are three to five days on a single site.

TFB who offer case and practice management software called ‘Partner for Windows’
Launched their partner programme about six months ago and since then have been ‘ironing out creases’ and lunching law firm purchasers in the UK to promote the product.

Jenny Peart gives us her take on the software “if you are sitting in your office it will auto-launch applications. Law firm clients using it can see who is phoning but will it also bring up relevant casefiles. And it also tells you if your clients are on ‘stop’. You can automatically route callers accounts payable. Essentially you set up the rules you want to achieve your aims.”

One message that Jenny says repeatedly is that “it doesn’t change the way anyone works. Jenny continues “It slots in between apps and telephones which links through TAPI- enabled technology. It doesn’t change systems, it just enhances them.” (See later note from Microsoft on what TAPI enabled means). Continuing Jenny says “the Corebridge server sits in the middle and acts as an interface between the two. In our view it just makes people faster.” Then adds “Its not data management, it just flags it up, but if you pull up five apps and start to see disparate data you will obviously be able to correct this.”

Jenny continues “What we are hearing more, about is convergence. Corebridge does not only doesn’t change anything but all the systems you put in place for particular reasons will work better. “

So down to the tacky question of cost. After a bit of thinking Jenny says “You can come on board for as little as £50 per user. We have a matrix of cost breakdown which is published on our brochures.”

Corebridge the company – the low down.

Jenny says “The CEO Dr Francis Zadan, had the foresight back in 2003 and realised the potential to work more effectively. He is a major shareholder.”

Corebridge have fifty employees

Background of Jenny Peart, Marketing Manager from Corebridge: Been with Corebridge for six months. Her main experience is in product management and product marketing but she also did consulting for Centrica (energy company) and Intuit (business and financial management software). Jennifer also has some twelve or thirteen years of telecoms and ISP experience.

Main areas of Corebridge business currently are: Recruitment, finance and investment banking. Legal is a new push with TFB and Tikit as core partners.

Main benefits of using Corebridge: Can log all time spent on emails for time and billing. Can see correspondence on email, phone, mobile, pda, CRM and case management.
In terms of contact lists you can, click on telephone numbers and the software dials it.

Clients so far: Investment bank in Hong Kong. Further announcements due out shortly.□

www.corebridge.com

Ladies love legal tech

I adore legaltech and the people within it. My career spans media that includes The Times, The Sunday Times, The Financial News, The Legal 500, Legal Business and the late In Brief Magazine (RIP). Now running my own junket - JPC which includes Citytech, I do it because I loves it (very Gollum) not just a little bit but a big bit and although I've worked in many sectors, I rank legaltech as an all time favourite. Why? It’s rammed full of party people, who make the best of life. They share their enthusiasm with everyone and are highly sociable creatures always ready to laugh and tell a joke or cheer everyone up. They can talk for hours about topics that include sentences like “You need ECM, not DM with CRM and BPM.” They are always fighting to put their credit cards down to pay for drinks bills and are the most deeply loyal set of people I have ever met. Karen Jones as herself and Citytech Editor declares her ongoing adoration of legaltech and its wonderful population. Here is what other tech ladies think. Victoria Shortt, PR at Samsung: “I‘ve been working in the tech industry for five years now as a PR consultant and have worked across a broad range of tech clients including Interwoven, O2, Jobsite and now Samsung. I love working in the tech industry because its such a fast paced environment. I enjoy taking dry and sometimes overcomplicated tech stories and making them interesting. DM, ECM and WCM are all great but how do they actually benefit the end-user? That is what is interesting about tech for me – not being bogged down in details or jargon but how technology can actually add value to someone’s working day. The biggest achievement for me is probably taking a former client Interwoven to the number one spot in terms of press coverage – beating some significant names in the business whilst we were at it. I think the reason we did it was that we believed in their products as much as they do – 47 out of the Top 100 law firms can’t be wrong. The best thing about being a woman in the tech world is blowing apart people’s preconceived notions of women in business.” Thereza Snyman, IT Manager, Boodle Hatfield: “I’m an ex South African, ex lawyer, ex property developer, ex industrial relations student, always fashionista, I fell into legal tech after my MSc in Industrial Relations at the LSE... and was desperately looking for a job (in HR). As an ex-lawyer with a fair bit of self-taught tech nouse at that stage (and thanks to my mother's insistence, keyboard skills), the most obvious means of putting cat-food in my cat's bowl was to temp as a legal sec while the job-hunting process followed its painful course. A temp assignment just after the millennium landed me with a small city firm, looking to expand....and who thought that someone as wacky as me could possibly make a contribution to their support structure. They offered me a job as Office Manager - which I accepted. As it turned out (a classic case of the half-blind leading the blind), I was gradually sorting out most of their IT problems. After about 8 months we put the IT responsibility on a slightly more formal footing. A few networking courses later, I realised that I had found my mission in life (or at least, this part of my life.). Nearly seven years later, I am IT manager for Boodle Hatfield, having graduated from managing none but myself (both helpdesk and strategic planner) to managing a team of 6; from contending with one piffling NT4 server to overseeing gleaming racks with 30 powerful beasts humming away. What do I love about legal tech? The problem solving, of course and dealing with the lawyers, bless them (used to be one myself). But above all the fact that each day is a challenge, always shifting, always changing, always something new to learn.... (am cursed with an extremely low boredom threshold. No risk of being bored in legal IT). Whilst I have a string of degrees - all my official qualifications are unrelated to IT. It has been learn-on-the-job throughout, with a few courses thrown in here and there over the years. I don’t have a single biggest achievement - every solution found, every problem solved is an achievement. But perhaps, on a personal level, the achievement was to start out at a 40 user firm and inspire enough confidence in a 200 user firm to offer me the position of IT manager - and to have lived up to their expectations. As for winning out over the (male) competition - well, in landing my current job in November 2005 I obviously did. What the anorak brigade have to realise is that IT is no longer a macho stronghold. Technology is as much about people, about managing expectations, managing change, ensuring "best fit" with the business environment. And that is (amongst other things), the lipstick brigade is so very good at. Melanie Farquharson, consultant at 3Kites, started working in legaltech five years ago without any technical qualifications. After fourteen years as a practising lawyer and six years as a partner at London law firm, Simmons & Simmons, she came to the conclusion that ready access to knowledge and greater efficiency in the way that lawyers work could dramatically improve the service they provide to their clients. Melanie left front-line lawyering and became the firm’s head of professional support at the beginning of 2001. Climbing a steep technological learning curve in her knowledge management role, she was quickly converted to the view that the market and the impact of technology would require the legal profession to change and that technology could be the key to success as well as the driver of change. Recognising that a law firms’ natural pace of change is glacial, she has nevertheless in a quiet way been pushing the boundaries, promoting tools to help lawyers manage matters more effectively, and regarding the reinvention of wheels as a heinous offence. Her enthusiasm for the positive impact that technology can have on the profession has grown over the last few years through, or perhaps despite, involvement in various projects both internal to the firm (such as the implementation of a worldwide practice management system, involving finance, CRM and workflow in 20 offices) and client facing (including a refocus of the firm’s online legal resource, http://www.elexica.com/ and involvement in the Banking Legal Portal project with four magic circle firms and a collection of the world’s largest financial institutions). Seeing things from the lawyer’s perspective has enabled her to push simple ideas that can really work for the fee earner – like the link on each page of the firm’s CRM system to a tailored summary of business information about each client entity, drawn in real time from external sources (using a specially designed OneSource ‘tearsheet’), with the help of which the lawyer can use those few moments before a meeting to get right up to date with the client’s affairs. Bringing about change in a law firm is always going to be an uphill struggle and isn’t the best way to be popular, but Melanie manages still to be respected and listened to both by her partners and by the IT professionals she works with. Her secret satisfaction? Standing up in front of a room full of (mostly male) partners and telling them that they are wasting their money on technology unless they recognise that its benefit will only come from allowing it to change the way they operate. Space tourism? Bring it on. Christine Tomas, LDM. LDM celebrated their tenth anniversary with a supersize bash at The Royal Exchange in London. The reason I love technology? How can you not? Technology has changed the way people do business more than any other factor (could you imagine life without mobile phones, email or even fax or telex machines?!). To dismiss technology is to not conduct meaningful business these days. Not all lawyers use technology the same way - some love it, others loathe it, some understand it, others just want it to work. More importantly, not all technology was created equal. I help level the playing field by finding the most suitable technology for lawyers. I’ve been working with the legal tech industry for over ten years and managed international on-site projects, scanning over a million pages across ten sites over three continents in six weeks with less than one week’s notice. Would I be a space tourist? I like to call it home. I am a Legal Technology Consultant with LDM. I jumped on a plane, crossed the Atlantic and voila! No really, I grew frustrated at being locked up in document review rooms for days on end. I had to find a more effective solution and a one way ticket to freedom. Hence, I jumped on the technology bandwagon and never looked back. My experience managing electronic and paper disclosure exercises and implementing legal technology solutions from both a top 10 law firm as well as a vendor perspective has been invaluable. Being a techno-geek at heart (albeit in lipstick and heels) as well as understanding lawyer's requirements has placed me in a unique position. How did I get through the winning line first before male counterparts? Being organised and cutting to the chase whenever possible. A clear answer and an intelligent approach is key to my success. For other top tier ladies in legaltech, check out Citytech’s global tech leaders list http://www.citytechmag.com/graphics/globaltechleaderstop100.pdf WE NEED YOU: BLOGGERS LISTEN UP! Citytech is finalising its 2007 list of global tech leaders and it includes BLOGGERS! Email me your suggestions and we will add them to our pot for review.

The ABC on London tech vendor: Axxia’s DNA

In the UK, Axxia with their product DNA is up against the likes of Thomson Elite 3E, Aderant, and CS Group (CS Group are a UK software venture capitalist who own AIM, Videss and Laserforms - all bought out in the last two years). Axxia historically offer case and practice management software and have a strong time & billing component aimed mainly at mid tier firms. (Think of it like an all day travelcard rather that a one way ticket).

Stuart Holden, Managing Director, Axxia says of their product which launched just over a year ago. “Its taken three years of commitment and investment to bring our dedicated legal, ‘DNA’ product to market. We liken DNA to SAP – it does everything a firm needs rather than buying separate silo’d bits like CRM or billing then glue-ing them together.”

Stuart says he was delighted to see my 3E article recently in Citytech. He believes there’s been a general lack of debate about law firms and their approach to technology which has led to a sleepy market. He thinks with 3E stirring things up with a new approach is just the kind of thing that will help law firms realize they are at the dawn of a new age. Stuart comments “we’ve been out there talking about law firms needing to change for a while but only a few are picking up on this. In my view adapting to change is going to be an essential element to enable them to stay in the increasingly competitive legal game.”

Although time and billing has always been a strong component of Axxia’s offering, Stuart says DNA is more than this now. In his view their offering is aligned to SAP (a European vendor who dominates in Germany and non-legal in the UK) rather than running up against the likes of stalwart vendor Thomson Elite 3E. Stuart says “3E handles part of what a law firm does and handles it well. DNA handles the whole lot: time and billing, CRM, DM, practice and case management.” He sums up “DNA offers everything that interfaces with what the lawyer needs to do.”

Stuart continues “Its took us three years and a lot of thought to develop DNA and we do feel we’ve got it right and can steal a lead on the competition.” He adds “The way lawyers deliver law is changing; already we’ve seen the competitive-end legal markets like conveyancing commoditise which means firms have had to adapt their business to more demanding, cost sensitive clients. We’ve monitored this progress for some time now and developed DNA to mirror this business revolution.” Although Stuart hastens to add “We don’t preach, we know all law firms rely on individual strategy. As an example CRM may need a different approach for every practice area.”

Stuart sees billing as a high spot that will present challenges and growth for firms and says
“The larger law firms are most interested in DNA – the ones who’ve written down most of their processes and are gearing up for increased profitability.” But adds “For the moment we aren’t selling into the multi jurisdiction operations but are talking to large national firms in the UK and Australia.” He continues further “We are also turning heads in progressive mid size law firms. They’ve realized if they can put change through the firm and enablers to make it work for them then both will act as a major benefit over competitors.”

Asking about Thomson Elites 3E which started over (different product to their legacy Enterprise app.’) he agrees 3E have a valid argument that software has moved on considerably and would only mean compromises if they didn’t make the break. He comments “the pedigree of their enterprise product goes back many years but even so, from a theoretical point and depending on what they are working with, you do have to start again at some stage. It is the right thing to do. The only problem is migrating users.”

He continues “We took a different approach, partly because our design wasn’t at the end of its lifecycle. Also because our users depend on a workflow process using many areas of our software together As an example if you consider Pannone or Weightmans who use workflow throughout their firm: lawyers/attorneys and back office, if you say tomorrow lets pull the plug, change the whole thing and expect it to work, its not going to happen. Maybe in the back office it would be ok - its painful but do-able but when you have everyone connected to it, you will inevitably get problems and downtime. For this reason we felt we had to design in co-existence. So when firms are rolling out they can stay on their existing workflows, phase it in and unplug the old when they are ready. Stuart comments “Its slightly different with time and billing silo’d software because firms can unplug and switch the next app.’ in, because its mainly back office focused.”

I mentioned that Thomson Elite 3E said that decision making for their product was starting to shift to IT Directors (over the FD). Stuart says “We generally talk to the whole management team which includes FD, IT, Managing Partner and CRM head because clients are realizing that the decision is multi faceted.”

I wonder at this stage about connectors to other software like Lexis Nexis InterAction (which is heavily invested in many law firms) particularly as Axxia is saying ‘you just need us now.’ He hesitates saying “DNA is a web services app’ so will connect to any CRM /DM but we think there are more benefits to using DNA than silo’d app’s.” He continues “We work with the Microsoft suite which is also a SAP model. We don’t write bits of it our self and interface so can’t segment it unlike best of breed. (Editors note: Large app’s like Interface InterAction/3E stay like this because law firms can go deeper into applications – it gives more developing capability). Stuart elaborates “Our background with applications has also been manufacturing which means we link every process. We see legal in the same way ie with areas that should blend together.

I mention the new wave of thinking ‘phasing’ rather than ‘big bang’ implementations and wonder what Stuarts views are: “There are several reasons for phasing: firstly firms want to see benefits for going through the pain. In my view it’s a sensible way of doing things.” He continues “Axxia have very slick implementations with three to four months for PMS (practice management software) and for case it could vary but would usually be a month to two months.” I comment on their phenomenal speed and Stuart says. “Our view is if we get it in quickly, then clients can tweak it and do their own thing rather than us spending hours consulting. Ultimately its down to our design. Although DNA is similar to say Visualfiles, in terms of the complexity of what could go into it, our experience says, keep everything very simple. Don’t try and design an ultimate, just let clients build upon it.” He adds “We could have done something much more combative and competitive but don’t think there were many that could have written with the straightforwardness of DNA.”

So the acid question. Who’s buying it? Stuart says “We’ve got DNA in part rolled out to six or seven firms and one firm with around 150 users is in its last phase now.” He continues “We are seeing a lot of activity in non legal like government for managing processes and dealing with compliance. Gordon Brown wants to lose civil servants so is making them more efficient with automation.”

I ask how all the players in the market will shape up with so much competition. Stuart believes that some companies will fight on price with no real product development but agrees with Kaye Sycamore, who just got promoted to a big boss role at Thomson Elite 3E in saying “you need to buy something you can grow into in future not something that is about to retire. If you buy older systems not built on new, faster platforms then you are likely to have to repurchase again in the foreseeable future”

Axxia is a privately owned software company that was bought out by the management including Stuart some years ago which publishes financial results every year. Stuart says “having worked in big groups delivering quarterly results it is a relief to publish annually. He says “to be able to put a strategy together for five years and really work it and for us the launch into Australia too is something we wouldn’t have necessarily achieved. The freedom from this constraint allows us to do a better job.”

And will they sell to any of the VC’s stalking legal? Stuart says firmly: “We are not for sale.” He continues, “What we are and what we’ve invested will not reflect any valuation. We aren’t positioning for exit we want to ride the next wave of success which we see in our sights within three years.”

And the market as a whole? Stuart says “there is lots of change which is creating a lot of buzz and Thomson Elite’s 3E is helping. We feel IT selling has gone very consultative now. When we drill into issues they normally become very complex. So we treat bigger picture rather than symptoms.” He continues “3E is helping us all sell the concept of workflow and nailing down processes which is creating the needed debate in law firms.” He adds “As well that what other companies like CS Group have done, is create uncertainty. If you are AIM or Videss users (both case/PMS vendors pitching mid tier bought out) you have had to swallow change so its gotten people thinking. Aim users were very loyal to Aim and were very difficult to convert. The uncertainty of the buyouts has created opportunity.” He continues further “We have good product strategy, we are cash rich, profitable, have loads of users and are in an enviable position.”

VC (venture capitalist) stalkers in the sector are sniffing around vendors worth around £5mill. I dig to see if I can get a valuation on Axxia. Stuart is number shy but says “we are not in the CS Group buying space they would have to pay more than £10million.”

Stuart is very optimistic about Axxia’s future. “We are always more successful when there is an aggressive market out there.” He says, then adds combatively “Let the best product win.” He believes that the main four players, (Axxia, Aderant, Thomson Elite 3E and CS Group) are really shaking things up.

Although Stuart compares DNA to SAP – both having a broad product, covering all areas, like HR, CRM and time & Billing he says that SAP have brought their legal product to the market from a very complex enterprise solution. He says “They’ve scaled it down into an SME product” but he believes, Axxia, Aderant and others understand legal nuances more. He continues “There are some comprises SAP can make, but there are a lot they can’t. He interjects “I expect we have an advantage over SAP but SAP will find its niche. Those buying it in after having had legal specific software will lose legal specific functionality.”

I give Stuart his opportunity to tell us why you should buy DNA. He smiles and says “its different and unique. What we’ve done for the first time is take what the legal market is asking for and added from outside industry what they will need in future years. Order processing, planning, identifying where work is coming from and business process which will be very important. Law firms do need to change and work in future will be very process led.”

He continues “Business agility is the buzz.” I ask what that really means. He confirms: “Ability to respond to compliance and increase in legislation.” Then adds “we all have to respond to change however it hits us even if just because we’ve designed a better way to do business. Tech agility is about being able to do it in an energising way to ensure you aren’t outwitted or crippled by the process.”

Moving on to general views. I mention Clementi which is a UK law change which the press are saying will result in the ‘death of the smaller law firm.’ It deregulates law firms here saying that any company can now offer the same service ie hire a team of lawyers and deliver law and allows support staff into equity structures. I wonder if this is really true and if in fact ‘tesco law’ providers will just create new business markets not yet seen? Stuart thinks and responds “the counseling aspect is missing from the ‘tesco law’ idea.” Then adds “Computers can replace the way lawyers operate but can’t cope with the emotional decisions that keep deals on track.” He continues “A firm in Australia is looking at franchising their software to other lawyers. It would mean if you walked into a high street, firm he could use software expertise from a bigger firm which would help small firms compete.”

On after sales service? Stuart has a novel approach “I think clients should phone up and get through to someone, we have log webbing for problems, we don’t have automated messages on phones we divert to a human.” He continues “Service is coming back into fashion - internet purchasing works well when it works. Touch points (where clients interact with your firm) will be very important.”

And a last word on business agility: “Everyone accepts its, not the big firms which will snack on the small, it’s the quick who will win the race. If you can’t change quickly you will get left behind. Axxia is leading by example. We are changing the culture of our company as we go into high impact sales and putting staff into training programmes. We’ve also hired a non exec onto the board to bring in external expertise.”

He finishes “Clients will determine everything and what change is required. Law firms will decide winners and losers. Law firms are slow to want to change but when they decide to go for it they are quick.”□

Want the low down on Thomson Elite 3E?

What is Elite 3E?

Launched in April 2006, Elite 3E is an advanced browser-based business optimisation platform that offers powerful core financial and practice management features, including built-in collaboration, automation and a rapid application development environment (Software Factory) in one integrated high-performance system. Elite 3E uniquely empowers law firms to create the processes they want and need as opposed to requiring firms to follow rigid, preset processes.

Independent view of 3E?

By all accounts the people demo-ing or using this product are impressed with the capability and change-ability.

What are people moaning about? You have to throw your current Thomson Elite stuff away and start again.

What do Thomson Elite say about this? "Software code has come on so much in the last few years we couldn't work with legacy code any more. It was time to move on."

Who’s buying 3E?

Al Tamimi & Co., one of the largest law firms in the Middle East selected 3E. With a diverse client base ranging from international banks, trading establishments, charity organisations and multi-national corporations, the firm needed a flexible system that would extract specific data for strategic planning and other activities.

The corporate stuff: Law firms across three continents have adopted Elite® 3E as their next-generation financial and practice management software. As the client list continues to grow, Thomson Elite maintains its aggressive development of 3E.

The pitch: “3E’s sophisticated capabilities and flexible platform set the new standard in advanced technology that can be deployed by legal and professional services firms to improve their efficiency and competitiveness,” said Jitendra Valera, international vice president, Thomson Elite. “Solving the complexities of conducting business on a global scale is a hallmark of 3E. It’s exciting to see both new clients and longtime Elite Enterprise users leading the way in adoption of this innovative platform.”

What are clients saying? “We are very impressed with Elite 3E for both the investment and thought that has gone into its development,” said John Matthews, the firm’s financial manager. “We are confident that it is the right solution and provides the flexibility needed for a practice of our range and ambition.” Al Tamimi & Co.

Whats new? 3E Collections Offers New Action Calendar and Control Panel. The Control Panel provides collections managers unlimited flexibility in determining how overdue invoices can be aggregated, assigned, scheduled and collected.

Additional new v.2.0 features include the following:

A smart tag feature that allows users working in Microsoft Word documents to quickly navigate to the appropriate 3E screen by using recognized terms that are already set up in 3E (such as client or matter name).

Built-in auditing tools that can be turned on, as needed, to monitor 3E activities, such as timekeeping and client or matter contact changes.

Data-level security that allows record owners to hide sensitive matter files from designated users to avoid conflict of interest.

http://www.more3e.com/

Changing times in legal IT

New people are emerging in the UK legal IT world and they are cleverer than ever before. They are working out what we /you want and how to trot out compelling sales messages before we know whats hit us. Those dropping in from abroad have partnered with strong UK players (TimeKM with Copitrak) and those striking out in new careers like Paul Longhurst at 3Kites are also keeping their ears to the ground to gravitate in established US players like DTE and their time capture software DTE InHand.

In the past, UK law firm purchasers could say "why don't US vendors research the market and understand what they are doing before they waste our time with demo's?" Now this objection just got swept well and truly under the carpet.

As well as this another new show has popped up to compete with Legal IT Islington (the main UK trade show) which was purchased last year by Informa Group. Their first year in the saddle they've had a whipper snapper show (LawShow 2007) at their heels and this new group are keen to please. Despite lacklustre reports from their first shot at Birmingham last year LawShow 2007 are playing hard and worming into affections with ease.