Thought leader

Caroline Poynton reports on Momentum 2005

It was with some trepidation that I recently made my way to ‘Momentum 2005’, Aderant’s user conference in Palm Springs, California. Not only did I wonder as to the appeal of a town built into the middle of a hot, dry desert, but, as a seasoned technology illiterate, I imagined myself lost with little but a mirage of sense to be garnered from the 400 or so IT professionals in attendance.

Thankfully I was to be happily surprised on both fronts. A myriad of windmills provide a gateway to Palm Springs, which is a lively town built on a broad desert plain, surrounded by mountains that turn red/purple by sunset – a suitably dramatic landscape for the big event.

And this was, by any account, a big event. As Aderant’s first user conference since the professional and enterprise businesses of Solution 6 were bought out by Francisco Partners in 2004, which in turn led to Solution 6’s re-branding to become Aderant, this event was Aderant’s opportunity to shine. And from the moment CEO Mike Simmons kicked off the conference, it was obvious that the Aderant team had an awful lot to say.

For a start, the event confirmed an internal re-branding process, which has split the product suite into Aderant Expert Front Office, Expert Back Office, Expert Executive Office and Mobile Office. Familiar CMS.Net and Keystone practice-management solutions now fall under the banner of Back Office, opening the stage for a raft of new products, including Front Office CRM and practice-automation (Matter Center) solutions; an Executive Office business-intelligence solution, which extends existing practice-management functionalities; and Mobile Office, which, as the name suggests, facilitates a more comprehensive mobile-working solution for professionals.

Underlying recent product launches lies strategic partnering that Aderant was keen to promote; for instance, its recent link-up with FWBS and Microsoft on the Matter Center solution. But ‘integration’ was also the watchword of the event, with conference presentations frequently referring to system integration capabilities.

So Aderant has been busy. Indeed, the conference buzzed with an atmosphere of change and innovation inspired by an Aderant team that is clearly confident about the months ahead. Indeed, according to global CEO Mike Simmons the solution provider is currently ahead of the competition. But it will need to work hard to capitalise on any advantage, and getting the right message to market must be a priority. After all, I spoke to several IT professionals who claimed to be struggling with the volume of information at the conference; one can only imagine how much worse that might become for the management board of an average law firm, in the throes of deciding its IT investment. And, of course, Elite’s success winning the DLA Piper contract (news, page 6) is a timely reminder of the fierce competition.

But I left the desert sun with a positive outlook for legal technology in 2006. The 2004 buy-out by Francisco Partners was a pivotal moment for Aderant, when many questioned what would become of Solution 6’s stake in the market. At the time, vice president of sales Bryan Roberts told Managing Partner that investment from Francisco Partners would “fund Aderant to accelerate and maximise its growth potential”. The forecast has since been borne out by a series of product launches and refinements that leaves the company in good shape for its ongoing competition with Elite in 2006. All in all, it should make for exciting times ahead.