Legal Technology Journal

Simmons and Simmons' IT director examines some of the ways that CRM can be used to add real value to the art of client development.

The power of managing your clients well should never be underestimated. I remember a corporate partner for whom I worked a number of years ago, before CRM systems had been invented. He kept all his business cards in a Rolodex, as was the custom then, but he made copious notes on the back of them (in very small handwriting). Every time he went to ring one of them he read the back of the card and could then talk knowledgeably about the client’s wife using her name; he would know how old the client’s children were, their birthdays and the name of their dog. A cynical approach one may say, but there is no doubt that clients got a good feeling when talking to him, and felt that he really cared about their businesses and about them as people. (I am relieved, however, that I was not the one who had to transpose all of those business cards into his firm’s CRM system when the time came to do so).

Simmons & Simmons undertook a project three years ago known as the ‘business management solution’ or BMS. This was the first large technology project the firm had undertaken for a number of years and involved the simultaneous implementation of Elite, InterAction and Metastorm eWork. At the time, observations were made that we were ‘crazy’ to introduce all of these systems at the same time. When you consider that the project meant us changing almost every one of our financial and marketing processes globally, you may be forgiven for agreeing with them. However, there was method in our madness.

This was a global project, and a fairly intensive undertaking. It involved the folding of 12 different finance systems into one Elite database and an equal number of CRM systems (some more sophisticated than others) into one InterAction database. This fulfilled our goal to have ‘one matter, one bill’. Where the project was slightly different at that time was in that it also incorporated a client and matter inception workflow created using eWork. This was a fairly sophisticated and comprehensive form for the creation of new clients and matters and pitches, and also included all the usual conflict and money laundering checks, etc. Because we implemented all of these systems simultaneously we were able to create a fully integrated process which extracts data from and imports it back into both the Elite and InterAction databases, thus ensuring they are always synchronised.

Incidentally, one of the keys to the success of the InterAction implementation was not to believe the lawyers who told you they had 2,000 contacts that they were actively managing. We created A-list, B-list and C-list contacts and restricted the number of quality contacts that went in, rather than importing everybody that anybody had ever heard of. This resulted in our data being of a reasonably high quality from the outset. A team of data stewards now keeps this data cleansed, and we have the import functionality in Outlook disabled so that no mass imports of rubbish data can be made.

Enough about our history – how are we using InterAction now? We use all the standard integrations into Outlook, Word and BlackBerry address books, together with mailing list functionality. We have also added on ReAction server in order to be better able to spam our clients. Joking aside, ReAction enables us to manage our events effectively and, because acceptances appear on the lawyers’ watch lists, they are able to keep a close eye on who is attending which event. Additionally, ReAction is used for carrying out targeted eSurveys of our clients on specific legal topics.

One of the wins as far as our lawyers are concerned is the integration with OneSource which means they can print off a client’s tear sheet before going to a meeting and know that they have all the information they need about that client. If you are looking at a client or contact at a company a simple click on the OneSource icon at the bottom of a client’s details page will search the external OneSource database for that company’s details including business description, news headlines, M&A news headlines, financial and market data, directors and shareholders, executives and officers, corporate relationships, customer products and competitors. All the information you need to be very knowledgeable with up-to-date information about a client before visiting them. There is also a link to Google in order to search against the contact’s name, rather than their associated company.

Carrots and sticks

However, the real benefits started to come when we linked all of it into an online appraisal system. When associates and trainees log into the appraisal system to start their appraisal process for the year, the form will be prepopulated with information about their top ten matters and the amount of billable time recorded against them. It will also show their top three pitches and the number of hours that have been worked on them, and their InterAction activities (e-mails, meetings, lunches, etc). All of this data is drawn from the data warehouse into which Elite and InterAction feed.

The partners’ appraisal forms include data on the number of InterAction activities recorded against the firm’s key clients and more detailed information around pitching activity – for example the value of them and whether they were won or lost. It is very easy to see the contribution being made by each partner to the firm’s key client base and to evaluate whether we are working for the right clients. There is more detailed information where the partner is the client partner. Using the data in this way acknowledges the benefits of using a system like InterAction and demonstrates the firm’s commitment to the whole concept of client management.

As we trained the associates on use of the appraisal form, a number of them had epiphanies. ‘Oh, so it really does make a difference whether or not we put our business development activities in InterAction then?

Reinforcing the messages

To ensure that client development activities remain at the forefront of people’s minds, when people open Internet Explorer they go into the BMS portal. This gives them access to a number of functions, but the main reinforcement here is that the first thing they see is their InterAction Watch List showing all activities on their watched contacts. Having this so immediately visible acts as a frequent reminder of the purpose of people adding the activities to InterAction. It forms a visual representation of marketing in practice and has even turned partners who were highly sceptical into converts. The fact that lawyers see when their clients are opening and reading articles listed on the ReAction newsletters sent to them is a very powerful tool for reinforcing that buy in, especially when they see clients opening and reading the same articles a number of times.

We have also developed an integration with elexica, our online legal resource. Any contact or client in InterAction who is registered for elexica has a flag indicating that this is the case. Lawyers can then tell at a glance which of our key clients are also aware of this online resource. They can then ensure that they can discuss the content with those who are registered and point out the value of the resource to those who are not.

Warehousing and reporting

It’s not all GUI front end stuff – there is quite a bit happening at the back end too. Elite and InterAction data feeds into a business objects data warehouse, and a suite of management reports is run from this data. This means that the reports that we get do not just cover financial areas, but combine information from both systems to present a full range of client financial and business development activity. This presents a meaningful analysis which makes it easy to see at a glance which clients are being managed and which are not. It should also indicate what the potential effect is on the amount of business we are doing with them.

The database is hungry and needs to be fed

As we all know, a system without meaningful data in it will not be used, and if it is not used there will be no meaningful data in it. There is no doubt that linking activity and pitch information to the appraisal system has had a positive effect on the amount of data being entered. Our lawyers are generally quite good at owning their data and understand that it belongs to them and neither IT nor marketing. Additionally when it comes to alumni, there is a link from our HR system which flags employees as alumni and fills in their new contact details into the Alumni section of the InterAction database.

Another thing that should not be underestimated is the power of peer pressure and the natural competitiveness among lawyers. The more visible we make the information, the more people will use it.

Could we live without it?

I think the answer is no. It has become an integral part of the client development in the firm. Without it we would not know who knows who, or who is  doing what with who, and thus would not be able to develop the business effectively or successfully. From a practical perspective, the management of events would now be so complex that we would probably cease to do them. There would be no central place to find the essential information needed to manage a fairly large and complex client base. There is no doubt that the more you know about a client the more successful the relationship with them is likely to be. Equally, you need to keep the pipeline to your loyalty ladder topped up, and having a CRM system allows you to identify who is coming onto that ladder and who should be managed. 

Is this the end of the ‘relationship’?

There is never an end to CRM – it will take as many hours as there are in the day. We are working on a number of initiatives to further enhance the client development process, but I can not go into these here as they are secret. Part of the battle, however, is never giving up, and we have a very tenacious and focused marketing team who are working closely with IT to implement new and creative ideas. The most important thing is to get the data that people put into InterAction back out in front of them as visibly as possible in as many different and useful ways as possible. This is the most effective way of ensuring that the data is kept up to date and added to and is a response to the question ‘So what’s in it for me?’

Abby Ewen is the IT director at Simmons & Simmons.