An opportunity for change

Technology has opened the door for law firms, modernising working practices and enabling business flexibility, while giving lawyers more control over their workload and client dealings. But, with seemingly endless launches of must-have new applications and systems, firms could easily blow their budgets for little return on their investment. In an attempt to untangle this complex landscape, Caroline Poynton goes behind the scenes at Aderant (formerly Solution 6) to ask vice president of sales Bryan Roberts to explain his views on a changing world.

It’s obvious why Aderant chose Bryan Roberts for the post of vice president of sales back in the Autumn of 2003. Originally a computer programmer, he is no stranger to IT, but a personality profile, which revealed his natural aptitude for sales, convinced him to make a career change, first selling databases and banking software, before moving to start-up company Lawson Software where he worked in professional services and retail. As Lawson Software became more established and went to IPO, Roberts looked for the next challenge with a French software firm, Systar, where he worked in its financial-services sector selling business-activity monitoring software.

When Solution 6 came looking for a suitable sales leader for its Professional and Enterprise businesses, Roberts proved an ideal candidate, with his inside knowledge of IT combining with his broad but relevant sales experience. Nor does it appear to be a coincidence that he is now focused on increasing Aderant’s penetration into the European marketplace. After all, he was European sales director at Lawson Software.

While there is no mistaking the logic in Aderant’s recruitment strategy, the legal market is far from easy. There may be some credence in the assumption that all law firms must be wealthy (just ask their clients when they’re facing their bill), but the market is competitive and the dissolution of several firms over the past couple of years serves as a timely reminder of the challenges facing the modern legal business.

In keeping with the demands of their own clients, law firms now expect more value from their significant IT investments and require a compelling business case to justify the cost. For the solution providers, just like the law firms, this means survival of the fittest. Roberts agrees: “There are too many players in the legal marketplace at the moment and I think there’s going to be a period of consolidation.”

Added to that, the past few months have seen dramatic change, as Solution 6 became the object of a buy out by two companies: MYOB, which took the business-accounts-software side of the business, and Francisco Partners, which bought the Professional and Enterprise businesses. Early press releases claimed that little would change and Roberts is keen to demonstrate that the investment by Francisco Partners will “fund Aderant to accelerate and maximise its growth potential”. We have already witnessed a major change in branding, with the company name changing from Solution 6 to Aderant. Law-firm clients may well wonder what further upheaval might be in the pipeline.

Roberts is unflustered by thoughts of uncertainty, saying that regular and open communication with clients has so far ensured a smooth transition through change. Such confidence has also been boosted by a couple of big wins in the past few months: Thompsons Solicitors has recently selected Aderant’s CMS.Net for its practice and financial-management system; and Chadwick Lawrence Solicitors has signed an agreement with Aderant and FWBS for a legal practice-management solution. In an environment where many argue that the PMS market is saturated and slowing, reinforcing predictions of consolidation among solution providers, such deals lend weight to Aderant’s case for growth, despite its current internal overhaul.

Indeed, Aderant, and its main competitor, Elite, are both well placed in the legal market. But neither has any room for complacency, with both having to strive to innovate on both their technology and the service that goes with its provision. For Aderant and it’s CMS.Net product line, its present focus is on its use of Microsoft’s .Net platform. Roberts explains: “The Microsoft .Net platform has given us a head start over the competition in developing the next generation of business applications. If you’re going to invest in a PMS today and run it on SQL Server, it makes sense to go with something built on .Net technology because it’s going to last 10/20 years or more.”

Apart from length of service, .Net integrates systems and enables firms to deliver web services, providing clients with access to electronic billing information, work-in-progress reports, conflict-checking procedures, and so on. Roberts maintains that firms are ready to make this move to more transparent services, but are currently hampered by legacy or ‘dead end’ technologies, that make system integration and support both costly and difficult. “I see many instances of fee earners having to use multiple systems, user interfaces and support mechanisms just to get their basic job done,” says Roberts. “The matter-centric desktop is still a pipe dream for many, which directly impacts fee-earner productivity.”

Integration and innovation are the watchwords for Aderant, but Roberts argues that there is another good reason for linking up applications. “Managing/senior partners are not well served when it comes to obtaining on-demand, decision-support information. Often the ‘disconnected’ applications do not provide insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the firm, whether at practice, client, matter or fee-earner level,” he says.

By integrating systems with .Net, Roberts says that Aderant have been able to offer business-intelligence products that automate reporting, so that the managing partner can simply look at key-performance indicators in a self-evident user interface.

Such developments make sense, responding as they do to genuine business requirements for easily accessed, essential management information. However, firms have long been told that they must make vast investments in the latest technology or face losing competitive advantage to rival firms. Faced with an endless array of technology options, firms might be forgiven for biding their time and waiting until clients state a requirement for a particular service, or the benefits of the latest technology are thoroughly demonstrated.

Roberts admits that there is a lot of scepticism among law firms, which have been presented with the latest technology, only to then find it is outdated within a few years. “What we’re doing is responding to that with our executive attachment to our clients,” Roberts says. “We’re making sure that senior people in our client organisation share their project objectives with us, as well as what the return should be, and these goals are kept firmly in sight the whole way through the working relationship. Most of all, there is then accountability for all concerned.”

What this really means is working with clients before and after any technology implementation. As Roberts says: “Technology is a living thing, it doesn’t just stop once you’ve bought it. We invest millions of dollars every year in the development of our products and we go in to advise how they can be put to best use.”

The executive attachment is a concept that Roberts says he brought to Solution 6 from the ERP world, and it includes ongoing training, system audits and process reviews. “When we sign up a client, it won’t just be a case of having a traditional project-management implementation. Sure , you’ll get that, but we forge close relationships with managing partners at client firms and see how we can work together for mutual benefit in the future,” he says.

As ever, of course, it takes two to tango. Aderant may succeed in overcoming a latent cynicism among firms that have become wised up to the technology pitch. But, as Roberts says, any technology, however good, will fail if implemented on poor business processes. It is still a challenge for firms to generate the cultural change necessary to embrace technology that will directly impact productivity and profit. And, understanding the worth of numerous systems/applications becomes of real value only if done within a context of ongoing firm-wide change, which enables lawyers and support staff to make the most of latest advances. It is a cycle that few firms get right, although those that do may genuinely witness competitive advantage and that all elusive differentiation.

For Roberts, there is only so much he can do to influence such internal change in law firms. But, Aderant does have a key advantage: global coverage and experience in the accounting, as well as legal sector. “There’s a lot that we can pull into the legal sector from our clients in those other areas. For example, some of the mid to high-end law firms have quite large accounting departments. Why not take some best practice from a firm like Deloitte & Touche or KPMG and build it into other sectors? I have seen a lot of opportunity in that kind of cross fertilisation,” he says.

For law firms, there is a lot of interest in hearing about what’s happening in those accounting departments that have invested heavily in technology. If Aderant can help create this best-practice knowledge sharing across professional services, combined with providing an ongoing consultative relationship, it will undoubtedly help firms to make the most of the technology they choose to buy.

Such a consultative approach might also help Aderant through its own changes. Some of its law-firm clients must have quaked at the arrival of Francisco Partners. Concerns would be rife that Solution 6 would be broken up by the company or that its US base would remove Solution 6 from key clients in the UK market. Roberts is convincing, however, when he says that Francisco Partners has committed to the long haul and will provide the investment necessary for innovation, but it is Aderant’s long-term approach to clients that will realistically be the key to easing fears created by the speed of change.

For the future, far from maintaining the status quo, Roberts reveals that there are already big plans, the first of which is to expand the client market. There was a perception that Solution 6 was only relevant to top-100 firms. Indeed, Roberts agrees that targeting the biggest firms was a deliberate sales strategy in the 1990s. However, the current aim is to replicate the company’s success with mid-tier firms, increase penetration into the European marketplace and expand product lines. The onus now lies with Francisco Partners to provide the long-term investment and support that such plans will require.

As the Aderant team moves into its own offices near Liverpool Street, it is the end of an era for the former Professional and Enterprise division of Solution 6. There is a sense, however, that things will not settle just yet, as Aderant continues to shape its plans for the coming year. The early signs are encouraging that Francisco Partners will provide Aderant with room for growth. Beyond such general predictions, however, we will have to wait to see what further developments Aderant and Francisco Partners have in store for us.

As for Roberts, he is now coming up to his first year’s anniversary with the company. It is a year that has seen dramatic change and surely, at times, some internal uncertainties. His broad experience, however, has given him room to manoeuvre, and he should now be well placed to further the company’s strengths in Europe. He says that he is looking forward to many more years with Aderant. It is a comment that, in the midst of upheaval, he could live to regret, but these early days indicate that there is plenty for him to look forward to. All that is left for us to do is watch this space.