Information Today
Volume 18, Issue 3 — March 2001
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Lexis-Nexis Announces Portal Enhancement, Alliance with Interface Software, Inc.

The Lexis-Nexis Group has announced a new suite of capabilities in document management, data extraction, and client relationship management for its Lexis-Nexis Portal that will further legal professionals' control of the information and tools they rely on via a single desktop interface. Lexis-Nexis has also announced an alliance with Interface Software, Inc., which will allow legal professionals to gain access to competitive intelligence information.
 

Portal Enhancements
The Lexis-Nexis Portal is an enterprisewide solution that's powered by Plumtree Software. The only portal technology developed exclusively for law firms, it's an integrated, customized desktop solution that allows a firm to expand its knowledge management capabilities, broaden its access to information sources, and increase its productivity, according to the announcement.

The Lexis-Nexis Portal is built on the Plumtree Corporate Portal 4.0 platform, which contains a variety of technical innovations, such as communities, which allow users and administrators to create pages of content and applications that offer project teams, departments, business units, or companies a space to share content and collaboration tools. Another feature is the ability for users to custom-design multiple personal portal pages, called MyPages. In earlier versions of the Plumtree Corporate Portal, a user could only design one MyPage. In addition, Plumtree Corporate Portal 4.0 contains extranet capabilities, which facilitate enrolling new users to access the portal and view certain portal pages through Plumtree invitations.

"We are pleased by the strong affirmation we have seen for the Lexis-Nexis Portal among leading legal service providers," said Jeff Pfeifer, vice president of large law firm marketing for Lexis-Nexis. "The new platform and information management capabilities we are announcing today will give legal professionals a new competitive advantage by increasing their responsiveness to clients and maximizing attorney productivity."

Pfeifer said that Lexis-Nexis is working with industry-leading third parties to "deeply integrate" new capabilities in areas such as document management through the use of Plumtree Gadget technology. They include the following:

  • The ability to search PC Docs repositories from Lexis-Nexis Portal's MyPage and establish links to recently edited documents

  • QuickSift-EDGAR Gadgets, a data-extraction service from Expert Ease Software that searches and captures critical information from Securities and Exchange Commission filings

  • InterAction Gadgets, a relationship intelligence solution for the professional services industry from Interface Software
Lexis-Nexis has already announced an agreement with Elite Information Systems, Inc. through which Elite will provide time and billing modules for the Lexis-Nexis Portal.

According to the announcement, the Lexis-Nexis Portal is part of the Lexis-Nexis Customized e-Solutions brand, under which the company is marketing a comprehensive array of tools that deliver must-have information to its customers' desktops. The company claims that only the Lexis-Nexis Portal provides a "one-search" capability that lets attorneys simultaneously search legal resources, Web sites, newsfeeds, and firm documents. In addition, the company provides a structured taxonomy that enhances and simplifies navigation across a law firm's primary and secondary research, news, internal work product, and Web data.
 

Interface Software Alliance
Through this relationship, legal professionals will have direct access to competitive intelligence information from InterAction, Interface Software's relationship intelligence solution, via InterAction Gadgets placed on the Lexis-Nexis Portal. The agreement is effective immediately.

"InterAction Gadgets are a strong fit for the Lexis-Nexis Portal," said Pfeifer. "This agreement is consistent with the focus of both of our companies on providing up-to-the minute, high-end information. Together, we can empower professionals to access and leverage information that is critical for success in today's competitive professional services marketplace."

Interface Software's InterAction aggregates and delivers relationship intelligence—competitive intelligence about clients, contacts, companies, relationships, internal experience, and expertise that professional services firms leverage to cultivate stronger client relationships, cross-sell services, strengthen client-development initiatives, and enhance client service. Mitchell Grossbach, Interface Software's vice president of business development, said: "Lexis-Nexis has a long-standing reputation for providing professionals with critical information they need to conduct business. Likewise, professionals depend on the relationship intelligence that InterAction delivers. Through this alliance, professionals can easily access valuable relationship intelligence right from their familiar portal environment."

Source: Lexis-Nexis Group, Dayton, OH, 800/227-9597, 937/865-6800; http://www.lexis-nexis.com.

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