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Practice Management Software That Spans the Entire Client Lifecycle

By Neil J. Squillante | Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Today's TL NewsWire Hot Product is cloud practice management software that tracks "opportunities" in addition to matters, namely your sales pipeline prior to when clients engage your firm (see article below). In addition, you'll find links to many previous TL NewsWire Hot Products, including a litigation analytics product that enables you to analyze the historical record of experts and judges to inform your case strategy and brief writing. Don't miss the next issue of TL NewsWire.

Remember when you were a young lawyer and wondered where clients come from? Eventually, your boss sits you down, tells you about the facts of life, and asks you to pitch in with rainmaking efforts. Most practice management systems don't accommodate this aspect of your legal career, but one company seeks to change this.

matters.Cloud in One Sentence

matters.Cloud is a practice management system that covers the entire lifecycle of your clients, including prior to engagement when they're prospects.

The Killer Feature

Typically, practice management systems use a new client or matter the starting point for data collection. This skips the critical marketing and sales phase during which prospects contact you. matters.Cloud includes this initial phase, eliminating the need for separate customer relationship management (CRM) or intake software.

You enter organizations as you see fit. You can then add notes and tasks to help you close the deal. Assign tasks to colleagues and add other details such as contacts, addresses, etc. as you obtain more information. At this stage, there's no "matter" so instead you create an "opportunity" -- a term of art in CRM software that means a potential sale. You can track time spent on opportunities to analyze your rainmaking activities. Make your most important opportunities "Favorites" for fast access from the Dashboard.

matters.Cloud recently added a visual pipeline much like you would find in CRM products to better visualize your sales process. The pipeline functions like a Kanban board in which you move opportunities through each stage. To assist your sales outreach, matters.Cloud integrates with Mailchimp for email marketing.

"matters.Cloud utilizes the latest technology allowing lawyers to collaborate, interact with clients and get an up to date picture of their matters from initial intake to completion," says founder Fraser Mayfield.

Other Notable Features

The Dashboard in matters.Cloud befits the modern era with a Google Scholar search box and your favorite Twitter feeds alongside your most relevant matters and opportunities, monthly billable hours, upcoming and overdue tasks, and the time entry tool. matters.Cloud integrates with the popular writing service Grammerly to ensure clear and concise time entries.

The calendar in matters.Cloud shows your time entries for each day. Days without any time display the time entry tool for quick input. The matters.Cloud mobile app for Android and iOS also helps you stay up-to-date on time tracking, including the ability to initiate a call from the app and have the time recorded. "The mobile app has all the same functionality as the desktop web app," says Mayfield.

Given its emphasis on the entire client lifecycle, matters.Cloud offers conflict checking via its global search. Just as importantly, you can track all contacts associated with your matters and their relationship — opposing counsel, parties, service providers, etc. You can also create custom fields to track anything else of importance. Everyone with whom you've ever dealt will arise in your conflict searches.

What Else Should You Know?

Whether it's your state bar or GDPR, matters.Cloud enables you to comply with any applicable data privacy regulations. Thanks to matters.Cloud being built on Google Cloud, you can choose to store your data in the United States, Australia, Europe, or India. The company isolates your database and encrypts all data at rest and in transit. matters.Cloud costs $25 per month per user. Explore matters.Cloud in more detail and bookmark the site.

About TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. Each week, TL NewsWire reports on the hottest new products for lawyers and law office administrators. The innovative structure of TL NewsWire articles enable you to quickly understand each product's value proposition, and then zero in on its killer feature and other notable attributes. In each issue, you can easily revisit our back catalog of articles and the most recent TL NewsWire Top 25 Products Awards. Subscribe to TL NewsWire.

Topics: Law Firm Marketing/Publications/Web Sites | Practice Management/Calendars | TL NewsWire
 
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