Editor’s foreword

With Elite’s launch this month of its next-generation practice-management system, 3E, there is once again a sense of excitement in the legal-technology space. The technology waters of recent years may not have been as stagnant as some commentators have suggested, but there has definitely been something of a lull following the widespread investment excitement of the late 1990s.

Once firms realised that they needed to address technology issues if they were to remain competitive, there followed extensive investment, most significantly in best-of-breed systems, such as practice-management (PMS), document-management (DMS), case-management (CMS), knowledge-management (KM) and client-relationship-management (CRM) systems. Consolidation in the solution-provider space saw a few major companies taking centre stage, including Elite, Aderant, Pilgrim, Hummingbird, Interwoven and Interface Software, but the scene then went quiet, as firms looked to get the most out of existing systems, rather than investing in new products.

But Elite’s latest launch puts legal technology back on the debating table. The company’s main competitor, Aderant, had already taken major steps in 2005 to realign its product range and partner with key companies, FWBS for instance, to expand functionalities, and improve integration and workflow capabilities. We then waited for Elite’s response, with the expectation that it would not be long before it made its own advances on the market.

Some expressed concern that Elite would suffer in the wake of its buy-out by the Thomson Group, but the launch of 3E confirms that the competition is indeed back on. And, with Elite describing the product as the most significant launch in its 58-year history, it seems fair to say that the company is confident about 3E’s potential impact on the market, not only as an upgrade for Elite users, but as a new business-process platform that allows firms to embed existing workflow into the 3E software.

Elite is not alone, however, in focusing its solutions on integration and workflow. Axxia also launched its ‘axxia dna’ business-management system in February 2006, and soon after won its first deal for the product with a 200-user UK commercial firm. And ERP systems specialist SAP has also dispelled concerns that its Linklater’s deal was a one-off, by winning a second deal with Holman Fenwick & Willan to implement its SAP-qualified ERP system through its reseller Intalec.

Such moves demonstrate the new trend for solution providers. There was always an innate problem with best-of-breed products – namely, integrating systems and aligning them to a firm’s existing business processes, especially across geographically expanding firms. With solution providers now pushing the boundaries and focusing their products much more closely on a firm’s overall working practices, it seems that they are moving to the all-in-one approach, spearheaded by SAP. Success would mean less reliance on third-party workflow system providers and for law firms, of course, easier system integration and a more streamlined end-user experience. Such a development will further squeeze the legal-technology playing field, however, pushing some solution providers out of the market as firms partner with fewer suppliers. For solution providers, the next few years may very well be survival of the fittest.

Caroline Poynton
Editor

Features

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By Caroline Poynton

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