Product Review: ContactEase ' A Next-Generation Client Relationship Management System

Miller Nash is one of the Pacific Northwest's largest multi-service firms and has always been a technology leader in our region.

When I first started with the firm in 2000, I set out to identify a client relationship management software that could accommodate the more than 30,000 contacts in the firm's client database, and could be expanded from there. I also wanted to make sure that it was incredibly easy to use, since we were aware that lawyers and their secretaries typically do not have time to learn new software. I knew that Miller Nash needed a system built on leading-edge technology in order to perform faster and with maximum reliability.

The firm had already been using Cole Valley Software's LegalEase, an earlier marketing database program. In 2001, Miller Nash carefully evaluated a variety of client relationship management software available, including an early version of what would become ContactEase, Cole Valley's next-generation product. The firm ultimately concluded that it would be most efficient to grow with Cole Valley's software, rather than take a risk on other new, untested (and often more expensive) platforms.

Miller Nash set out to build a real partnership with Cole Valley from the very inception of development on ContactEase. We tested the product, found areas that needed improvement and shared them with Cole Valley's developers, before re-testing the product.

The integration of ContactEase into the operations at Miller Nash is a work-in-progress. As new ideas emerge about how to better leverage the contact management database throughout the firm, the software continues to be enhanced to support those new functions.

There are already a number of major benefits to the firm's business development efforts and overall administrative operations that have been realized from the implementation of ContactEase 9.10, the latest version of the software. They include:

Substantial Time Savings. One of my real concerns was implementing a system that would conserve time by enabling our secretaries to directly edit and update listings within the firm's contact database, rather than typing them up and e-mailing them to someone in marketing, who would in turn re-input the changes in the database. Since data can be entered into Microsoft Outlook without any additional training, or directly into ContactEase, this enhancement alone has saved thousands of hours for our support staff.

Automated updates. We are linking ContactEase with WebCRM, a product from our web designers, Saturno Design. This will allow us to automatically send out annual e-mails to the members of our contact database, requesting that they simply click on a link allowing them to immediately update their contact information. These automated updates will also create an opportunity for the firm to solicit client interest in receiving various practice-specific newsletters, invitations to seminars and other firm information. This saves huge amounts of time in having the clients directly update their own information, rather than having to have our people do it for them (we can, of course, review their changes).

Reduced expenses for mailings. Since ContactEase allows Miller Nash to maintain more accurate contact information, we now experience fewer problems with out-of-date addresses used for mailings. This results in fewer pieces of returned mail and therefore eliminates much postage cost associated with the firm's major mailings (when we are forced to use the postal service).

Empowers conversion of some activities to electronic marketing. ContactEase is also being integrated into a variety of other marketing activities at Miller Nash. For example, the firm has created an electronic holiday card application using contact information from ContactEase to populate the appropriate fields and then allow lawyers to send personalized animated cards to clients by e-mail. ContactEase is also making it possible for the firm to more easily distribute electronic newsletters to its clients.

Online proposal generator and client extranet synchronization. The ContactEase database is also synchronized to the Miller Nash extranet and electronic proposal generator. This allows paralegals and lawyers to quickly select individuals that will be added as members of an extranet or recipients of a proposal. The system automatically populates all their contact information into the extranet member list or the online proposal.

There are other marketing database products in the marketplace, but I have found ContactEase very simple to use, well-synchronized with our other system applications and ' perhaps most of all ' extremely well-supported by an exceptional commitment to customer service at Cole Valley Software.

Aaron Douglas is the Director of Client Services in the Portland, OR office of Miller Nash. The Miller Nash Web site ' www.millernash.com ' won three national awards during 2002 from legal professional organizations and legal trade publications for its innovative design and value-added content. He may be reached at 503-205-2341.

Miller Nash is one of the Pacific Northwest's largest multi-service firms and has always been a technology leader in our region.

When I first started with the firm in 2000, I set out to identify a client relationship management software that could accommodate the more than 30,000 contacts in the firm's client database, and could be expanded from there. I also wanted to make sure that it was incredibly easy to use, since we were aware that lawyers and their secretaries typically do not have time to learn new software. I knew that Miller Nash needed a system built on leading-edge technology in order to perform faster and with maximum reliability.

The firm had already been using Cole Valley Software's LegalEase, an earlier marketing database program. In 2001, Miller Nash carefully evaluated a variety of client relationship management software available, including an early version of what would become ContactEase, Cole Valley's next-generation product. The firm ultimately concluded that it would be most efficient to grow with Cole Valley's software, rather than take a risk on other new, untested (and often more expensive) platforms.

Miller Nash set out to build a real partnership with Cole Valley from the very inception of development on ContactEase. We tested the product, found areas that needed improvement and shared them with Cole Valley's developers, before re-testing the product.

The integration of ContactEase into the operations at Miller Nash is a work-in-progress. As new ideas emerge about how to better leverage the contact management database throughout the firm, the software continues to be enhanced to support those new functions.

There are already a number of major benefits to the firm's business development efforts and overall administrative operations that have been realized from the implementation of ContactEase 9.10, the latest version of the software. They include:

Substantial Time Savings. One of my real concerns was implementing a system that would conserve time by enabling our secretaries to directly edit and update listings within the firm's contact database, rather than typing them up and e-mailing them to someone in marketing, who would in turn re-input the changes in the database. Since data can be entered into Microsoft Outlook without any additional training, or directly into ContactEase, this enhancement alone has saved thousands of hours for our support staff.

Automated updates. We are linking ContactEase with WebCRM, a product from our web designers, Saturno Design. This will allow us to automatically send out annual e-mails to the members of our contact database, requesting that they simply click on a link allowing them to immediately update their contact information. These automated updates will also create an opportunity for the firm to solicit client interest in receiving various practice-specific newsletters, invitations to seminars and other firm information. This saves huge amounts of time in having the clients directly update their own information, rather than having to have our people do it for them (we can, of course, review their changes).

Reduced expenses for mailings. Since ContactEase allows Miller Nash to maintain more accurate contact information, we now experience fewer problems with out-of-date addresses used for mailings. This results in fewer pieces of returned mail and therefore eliminates much postage cost associated with the firm's major mailings (when we are forced to use the postal service).

Empowers conversion of some activities to electronic marketing. ContactEase is also being integrated into a variety of other marketing activities at Miller Nash. For example, the firm has created an electronic holiday card application using contact information from ContactEase to populate the appropriate fields and then allow lawyers to send personalized animated cards to clients by e-mail. ContactEase is also making it possible for the firm to more easily distribute electronic newsletters to its clients.

Online proposal generator and client extranet synchronization. The ContactEase database is also synchronized to the Miller Nash extranet and electronic proposal generator. This allows paralegals and lawyers to quickly select individuals that will be added as members of an extranet or recipients of a proposal. The system automatically populates all their contact information into the extranet member list or the online proposal.

There are other marketing database products in the marketplace, but I have found ContactEase very simple to use, well-synchronized with our other system applications and ' perhaps most of all ' extremely well-supported by an exceptional commitment to customer service at Cole Valley Software.

Aaron Douglas is the Director of Client Services in the Portland, OR office of Miller Nash. The Miller Nash Web site ' www.millernash.com ' won three national awards during 2002 from legal professional organizations and legal trade publications for its innovative design and value-added content. He may be reached at 503-205-2341.