Next-Generation CRM: Achieving the True 360-Degree Client View

When Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology was first utilized in a corporate setting, fewer firms understood the vast possibilities offered by CRM solutions and tended to use it for things they already understood, such as contact management. As their sophistication grew and more was written about CRM, the scope of their use expanded. During this time, it became clear that CRM could support client development efforts by keeping track of the interactions between clients, prospects and employees, and by collecting value-added information from internal and external sources. By leveraging this relationship intelligence, firms were able to better identify sales leads, manage customer contacts, expand relationships and ultimately pave the way to successful cross-selling initiatives.

As CRM took hold, vendors began to understand that a one-size-fits-all approach would not work. Individual industries varied so widely in business practices and processes, that to gain uptake and maximize ROI, solutions had to be tailored for specific needs. LexisNexis Interface Software, for example, identified the legal industry (among other professional services sectors) as one that had unique CRM requirements that were not being served by the existing vendors. The company's signature offering, InterAction, allows attorneys to record and track critical data relative to people, companies, relationships, experience and expertise, while applying security and confidentiality safeguards crucial to the private nature of legal work. InterAction also offers a relationship mapping function, “Who Knows Whom.” The feature helps users identify connections between internal and external contacts, linking the firm's personnel more efficiently than the ubiquitous firm-wide e-mail. Another example is the Watch List, a feature that monitors activity in the system related to a specified individual or company, alerting the user whenever activities occur relating to that contact. Specialized features, such as these, have helped law firms to understand and utilize CRM beyond simple contact management, and leverage it as a strategic marketing and business development solution.

As law firms grow in technological sophistication, the issue is no longer whether a firm is using a CRM system, but rather how they are generating greater ROI. Integrating with other key systems that allow users to take advantage of valuable content residing elsewhere in the firm is an important piece of this equation. How will next-generation CRM deliver a true 360-degree view of the marketplace and what features will help generate the most value from its content?

Next-Generation CRM

The challenge to creating a robust CRM system is that, while the process of integrating internal data, like financials, can be automated, efforts to integrate external data are manual. To move these systems forward, leading vendors and industry experts believe that next-generation CRM will combine with Business Intelligence (BI) tools and external content sources to enhance internal data and create a more complete picture of the marketplace with less manual effort.

It is often said that it's not what you know, but whom you know, and that knowledge is power. In the competitive law firm environment, it is equally important to understand both what and who you know, how you know it, and finally, what you don't know. Information must be relevant and fresh. CRM solutions that are enhanced with BI, deliver more filtered intelligence that provide more context around standard contact information, thus creating more valuable information.

With traditional CRM, your intelligence is only as good as your internal data. Next-generation CRM will automatically draw content from external sources to extend the relevance of that data, such as pairing internal relationship intelligence about a prospective client with its financials, corporate hierarchy, board membership and executive team from external sources. The ability to view this information via a “content enabled” CRM solution in a single report or “dashboard” may likely reveal details that help secure the business of that new prospect.

A related point of content-enabled CRM is the role analytics will play. Integrating analytic tools with the CRM solution will allow users to uncover trends about their clients and within their target markets, returning more precise and relevant results. Law firms have spent years populating their CRM systems with numerous data points about clients, prospects, industry leaders and the like. Analytic tools enhance CRM content by providing the ad-vanced analysis essential for client development activities. Reports generated through this can offer actionable data, such as inbound and outbound referrals, which could translate into a business development opportunity.

At Goodwin Procter, we've spent considerable effort to populate our CRM with data from sources such as Martindale Hubbell, Directory of Corporate Affiliations, and Venture-Source. We have also invested in both the InterAction Matters and Opportunities (the sales tracking add-on) modules to enable us to see a 360-degree view of any of our clients. On a daily basis, our CRM is populated with data from our HR and financial systems, allowing us to view all aspects of our relationships with our clients. Our goal is to be able to view everything about a client: from referral, to pursuit, to close. By also enhancing this information with external data, our lawyers have begun to see a broader picture of the client, and to better assess the quality of the relationships.

But these are just first steps toward the goal. For us, the logical next step is the ability to automate these manual processes, and to be able to subscribe to greater numbers of data sources. We would like to be able to track our competitors more formally and get the information into the right hands at the right time.

The Benefits

In a law firm setting, the marriage of BI and CRM informs decisions on many levels, from the basic analysis of whether to engage with the prospective client, to the formation of the internal account team, to the services the account team proposes. The value of this marriage is that it simplifies the processes of research and relationship management while allowing the user to derive more value from the data that has been collected over the years.

Other benefits include:

• Improved Client Service. With a more complete view of current client projects and the overall marketplace, legal professionals can better understand current client demands, as well as anticipate future trends. Capturing this wealth of information also helps law firms to consistently deliver a high level of service, even after staffing changes, since the firm's collective knowledge of the client relationship is preserved.
• Improved Prospecting and Business Development. Data, for the purpose of understanding a relationship or potential growth opportunity, is incomplete unless it has been aggregated and integrated together to provide a comprehensive view. Data brought together from multiple sources can reveal opportunities that may otherwise not be evident from a single source. With the ability to look at internal trends as well as the wider marketplace, firms are better equipped to evaluate growth opportunities.
• Enhanced Productivity. Long hours and heavy workloads are no secret in the legal profession. Keeping track of and sorting through numerous details associated with firm matters can be both tedious and time-consuming. Content-enabled CRM can improve time efficiencies and enhance productivity for both law firm marketers and attorneys. For marketers, the benefit is two-fold. First, when a marketer is researching a prospect or client, they are often limited to the internal information that is already within their CRM system. Yet there is a wealth of external information that could assist marketing efforts (market share data, revenue, etc). When marketers produce reports and analyze market data that encompass both sets of information, it is a highly manual and time-consuming task to marry internal and external sources. Content-enabled CRM automates this process, saving time and freeing marketers for other activities. Likewise, when marketers receive requests directly from attorneys, they can more easily pull this information together, allowing time for other strategic and proactive work. Attorneys also can enjoy a productivity boost from content-enabled CRM. They often rely on marketing and other staff members to access client data. Providing them with an automated system for accessing Relationship Intelligence via a content-enabled CRM solution gives attorneys access to the information they need without requiring marketing to intervene into the process. This creates a win-win scenario in which lawyers are more empowered to get the information they need more quickly, freeing up marketers for more strategic projects.

When Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology was first utilized in a corporate setting, fewer firms understood the vast possibilities offered by CRM solutions and tended to use it for things they already understood, such as contact management. As their sophistication grew and more was written about CRM, the scope of their use expanded. During this time, it became clear that CRM could support client development efforts by keeping track of the interactions between clients, prospects and employees, and by collecting value-added information from internal and external sources. By leveraging this relationship intelligence, firms were able to better identify sales leads, manage customer contacts, expand relationships and ultimately pave the way to successful cross-selling initiatives.

As CRM took hold, vendors began to understand that a one-size-fits-all approach would not work. Individual industries varied so widely in business practices and processes, that to gain uptake and maximize ROI, solutions had to be tailored for specific needs. LexisNexis Interface Software, for example, identified the legal industry (among other professional services sectors) as one that had unique CRM requirements that were not being served by the existing vendors. The company's signature offering, InterAction, allows attorneys to record and track critical data relative to people, companies, relationships, experience and expertise, while applying security and confidentiality safeguards crucial to the private nature of legal work. InterAction also offers a relationship mapping function, “Who Knows Whom.” The feature helps users identify connections between internal and external contacts, linking the firm's personnel more efficiently than the ubiquitous firm-wide e-mail. Another example is the Watch List, a feature that monitors activity in the system related to a specified individual or company, alerting the user whenever activities occur relating to that contact. Specialized features, such as these, have helped law firms to understand and utilize CRM beyond simple contact management, and leverage it as a strategic marketing and business development solution.

As law firms grow in technological sophistication, the issue is no longer whether a firm is using a CRM system, but rather how they are generating greater ROI. Integrating with other key systems that allow users to take advantage of valuable content residing elsewhere in the firm is an important piece of this equation. How will next-generation CRM deliver a true 360-degree view of the marketplace and what features will help generate the most value from its content?

Next-Generation CRM

The challenge to creating a robust CRM system is that, while the process of integrating internal data, like financials, can be automated, efforts to integrate external data are manual. To move these systems forward, leading vendors and industry experts believe that next-generation CRM will combine with Business Intelligence (BI) tools and external content sources to enhance internal data and create a more complete picture of the marketplace with less manual effort.

It is often said that it's not what you know, but whom you know, and that knowledge is power. In the competitive law firm environment, it is equally important to understand both what and who you know, how you know it, and finally, what you don't know. Information must be relevant and fresh. CRM solutions that are enhanced with BI, deliver more filtered intelligence that provide more context around standard contact information, thus creating more valuable information.

With traditional CRM, your intelligence is only as good as your internal data. Next-generation CRM will automatically draw content from external sources to extend the relevance of that data, such as pairing internal relationship intelligence about a prospective client with its financials, corporate hierarchy, board membership and executive team from external sources. The ability to view this information via a “content enabled” CRM solution in a single report or “dashboard” may likely reveal details that help secure the business of that new prospect.

A related point of content-enabled CRM is the role analytics will play. Integrating analytic tools with the CRM solution will allow users to uncover trends about their clients and within their target markets, returning more precise and relevant results. Law firms have spent years populating their CRM systems with numerous data points about clients, prospects, industry leaders and the like. Analytic tools enhance CRM content by providing the ad-vanced analysis essential for client development activities. Reports generated through this can offer actionable data, such as inbound and outbound referrals, which could translate into a business development opportunity.

At Goodwin Procter, we've spent considerable effort to populate our CRM with data from sources such as Martindale Hubbell, Directory of Corporate Affiliations, and Venture-Source. We have also invested in both the InterAction Matters and Opportunities (the sales tracking add-on) modules to enable us to see a 360-degree view of any of our clients. On a daily basis, our CRM is populated with data from our HR and financial systems, allowing us to view all aspects of our relationships with our clients. Our goal is to be able to view everything about a client: from referral, to pursuit, to close. By also enhancing this information with external data, our lawyers have begun to see a broader picture of the client, and to better assess the quality of the relationships.

But these are just first steps toward the goal. For us, the logical next step is the ability to automate these manual processes, and to be able to subscribe to greater numbers of data sources. We would like to be able to track our competitors more formally and get the information into the right hands at the right time.

The Benefits

In a law firm setting, the marriage of BI and CRM informs decisions on many levels, from the basic analysis of whether to engage with the prospective client, to the formation of the internal account team, to the services the account team proposes. The value of this marriage is that it simplifies the processes of research and relationship management while allowing the user to derive more value from the data that has been collected over the years.

Other benefits include:

• Improved Client Service. With a more complete view of current client projects and the overall marketplace, legal professionals can better understand current client demands, as well as anticipate future trends. Capturing this wealth of information also helps law firms to consistently deliver a high level of service, even after staffing changes, since the firm's collective knowledge of the client relationship is preserved.
• Improved Prospecting and Business Development. Data, for the purpose of understanding a relationship or potential growth opportunity, is incomplete unless it has been aggregated and integrated together to provide a comprehensive view. Data brought together from multiple sources can reveal opportunities that may otherwise not be evident from a single source. With the ability to look at internal trends as well as the wider marketplace, firms are better equipped to evaluate growth opportunities.
• Enhanced Productivity. Long hours and heavy workloads are no secret in the legal profession. Keeping track of and sorting through numerous details associated with firm matters can be both tedious and time-consuming. Content-enabled CRM can improve time efficiencies and enhance productivity for both law firm marketers and attorneys. For marketers, the benefit is two-fold. First, when a marketer is researching a prospect or client, they are often limited to the internal information that is already within their CRM system. Yet there is a wealth of external information that could assist marketing efforts (market share data, revenue, etc). When marketers produce reports and analyze market data that encompass both sets of information, it is a highly manual and time-consuming task to marry internal and external sources. Content-enabled CRM automates this process, saving time and freeing marketers for other activities. Likewise, when marketers receive requests directly from attorneys, they can more easily pull this information together, allowing time for other strategic and proactive work. Attorneys also can enjoy a productivity boost from content-enabled CRM. They often rely on marketing and other staff members to access client data. Providing them with an automated system for accessing Relationship Intelligence via a content-enabled CRM solution gives attorneys access to the information they need without requiring marketing to intervene into the process. This creates a win-win scenario in which lawyers are more empowered to get the information they need more quickly, freeing up marketers for more strategic projects.