Dec 06

Year-End Vendor Gifts Too Good to be True?

By Kate | Best Practices , Contract Negotiations , Pricing

Year-end holidays are full of fun, gifts, giving and cheer!

But beware of those special tidings from your legal information vendors that seem too good to be true.

Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg, WK–virtually all your legal information vendors–provide bonuses and incentives to salespeople who can add incremental sales at the end of the year.

Vendors may offer year-end gifts that on the surface seem quite generous. The resulting variety of offers can be staggering but can also be tricks. Your firm may be offered price breaks on new contracts, extensions on current deals, trial periods of new products, and the list goes on and on. There may be something hidden in these special tidings. If a vendor has proposed to extend your contract at the same price or slightly lower price, it is very possible your firm is already paying too much.

Be proactive this December! Get the gift you truly want. If you have a wishlist, tell your vendor now; you just might get a deal you actually want. Don’t play “Secret Santa” with your vendors; take a moment now to anticipate the year-end push, and alert the rest of the firm to be wary of reps bearing gifts.

 

Dec 05

Our Evolving Perspective on Sole-Provider

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider

Many factors have contributed to the sole-provider phenomenon.

The leading factor driving this trend is the deterioration of recovery rates, now at 38%*.  

With half of large law firms successfully retaining only one of these vendors, there is validity that the sole-provider option is viable. Firms that have eliminated a vendor are achieving tremendous new efficiencies without compromising work product.

Dec 02

Why We Changed Our Minds about the Sole-Provider Option

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , White Papers

Our view going into the writing and development of The Sole Provider Playbook was that the outcome of the business case would vary from firm to firm.

We thought at the time that the ability to overcome hurdles would sometimes be too expensive, overwhelming, and difficult to make this option worthwhile.

We changed our minds, and we’re convinced.

After months of scrubbing the market to identify any and all possible hurdles and concerns, we are confident that the business case for a sole-provider option is clear and valid for virtually all large law firms. While hurdles and concerns are numerous, the workarounds, hassles and costs are inconsequential in comparison to the savings opportunity.

Nov 17

Oversaturated Market Causes Unfavorable Contracts for Loyal Customers

By Michael Feit | Contract Negotiations , Pricing

If you love Nordstrom (or Target, Starbucks, etc), being a loyal customer has lots of benefits.

Retailing in the 21st century is oversaturated, so many similar brands create a bidding war for consumers.

And loyal consumers win the most: discounts, perks, events, you name it–they all await the customer willing to channel more spending toward one brand.

That mentality is so ingrained, it’s easy to think it’s true with your legal information vendors. Sadly, it’s the opposite.

The key difference, of course, is that legal information isn’t really a marketplace at all, and the benefits of open competition don’t apply.

Stick with Westlaw and/or Lexis long enough, and chances are you’ll be getting among the worst value.

In legal information the best deals and offers are reserved for new customers. And who’s funding those great deals? Loyal customers like you.

The new customer is their preferred customer. Loyal customers just pay for it.

Nov 16

Commoditization of Lexis & Westlaw

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , White Papers

A product has been commoditized when there is no unique value that distinguishes it from competitors.

More simply put, a commodity is a product that can be substituted by another. Made by different companies, commodity products are similar in quality and results and are viewed as essentially interchangeable.

Even once-innovative products and services ultimately find themselves on the path to commoditization as they mature. Fierce competition motivates products to adopt their rival’s successful features, and therefore become more similar. While there may be preference for one or another, just like that of Coke and Pepsi, unique product benefits become less obvious.

In the world of legal information, Westlaw and Lexis have been and remain the market leaders. Until recently, midsize and large law firms universally believed that Westlaw and Lexis were complementary products. Each vendor had enough demonstrable unique content to support the notion that firms should retain contracts with both, particularly firms with diverse practice groups.

Over time, more firms began eliminating either Westlaw or Lexis, and the sole-provider trend emerged. Today, the percentage of large law firms with just one of these two providers is essentially 50%. The proverbial genie is out of the bottle. The market is demonstrating with its actions that Westlaw and Lexis are rapidly becoming interchangeable. Eliminating a vendor creates a great opportunity for firms to free up a large amount of resources and to enhance their legal information infrastructure with new products.

To quantify the extent and motivation behind the sole-provider trend, Feit Consulting conducted a comprehensive analysis of the entire large law firm market. This report concludes that Westlaw and Lexis are no longer complementary products. Rather, the retention of both of these vendors is an unnecessary luxury that most firms should forego.

To learn more about about this white paper or the Market Trends Series, click here.
Nov 15

Product Life Cycles of Lexis and Westlaw

By Michael Feit | Vendors , White Papers

There are four stages in the product life cycle: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. As a product or service evolves over its life cycle, so does its business strategies.

Feit Consulting’s recent report, Path to Commoditization, depicts how Lexis and Westlaw have progressed through their respective life cycles and the corresponding impact on pricing strategies. It examines the various strategies and tactics deployed by the vendors at each different stage.

The charts above illustrate Feit Consulting’s respective representations of Lexis and Westlaw, in relation to the timeline of their product life cycles since 1990.

More information about this report is available here. Limited time offer: 35% off the Westlaw & Lexis: Path to Commoditization report. Use discount code PATH35 when ordering.