LexisNexis Sunrises Billing Matters

LexisNexis just announced that it would reverse it’s previous decision to discontinue (“sunset”) Billing Matters at the end of 2013 and would “sunrise” it.

Why did they do this?  The argument that LN has “listened to it’s customers” flies in the face of virtually every decision they have taken since TimeMatters was acquired.  Various tame consultants have exulted.  Jeff Krause is a little more upfront than most. He notes that the “naysayers”

“will say that LexisNexis is changing its mind - again.  They will say that this is happening because LexisNexis was unable to make the link between Time Matters and PCLaw work as promised.  Those statements may be true but the fact remains that this is the right decision.  If you believe that the original decision was a mistake, can you really fault LexisNexis for correcting that mistake?”

But was the original decision a mistake? Billing Matters has always been something of a bomb. Best reports from the time the first “sunset” announcement was made indicated that it never had more than about 5,000 users at most and more likely around 3,000.  PCLaw, by way of contrast issues serial numbers consecutively, so the highest licenses number indicates the number of firms it has been installed in (although all of them may not still be using it). That number is now in excess of 100,000. In fact, the original decision was the only rational one.

So why DID they do it?  Two reasons come to mind.

First, LN has not been very successful at getting Billing Matters users to switch to PCLaw. The attraction of a single unified code is very persuasive, and under Lexis’ management the link with PCLaw has had repeated problems (apparently in part due to lack of communication between the two programming teams). Sales of TimeMatters are down, and indications are that Billing Matters users were likely to go elsewhere. So “sunrising” Billing Matters is most likely an effort to contain losses.

The second scenario is much more speculative, but intriguing. STI’s Tabs/Practice Master combo has a unified code base. Gavel & Gown has just release Amicus Premium Billing, which integrates a single code base with Amicus Attorney Premium Edition. Lexis may well have felt pressure to have a competing option remain in the market – especially since Amicus has had a certain amount of success in converting TimeMatters client data to Amicus Attorney.

From a technical point of view, after having no one working actively on Billing Matters for 2 years or more, Lexis Nexis is likely to have problems getting back up to speed and producing an “update” that does not introduce its share of new bugs. If Billing Matters is coming back from the dead would it be fair to call it a zombie product?

Comments

[Frank Rivera]

How do you sunrise a product that hasn't been sunset yet?

Lexis' decision has more to do with lost cash flow in my opinion than anything else. They don't listen to their CICs less their clients so its a load to think the reversal has anything to do with their user base. If they cared (and we all know they really don't) they would have spent that last two years rewriting the Billing Matters product.

Amicus Premium Billing looks good and I think Lexis should be worried. They are now behind and will have to play catch up with everyone else.

Firms are leaving TimeMatters in droves but sun setting Billing Matters has had little to do with their decision. The Time Matters CIC community stands to gain more than the TIme Matters users since those CICs that have invested in learning Billing Matters and now support clients on it can continue to offer support to those clients. Their investment in obtaining Billing Mattters domain knowledge will not be a total lost.

[Sean Lewis, Esq.]

I would like to mention that in an attempt to obtain the "sunsetted" Billing Matters module and avoid duplicative billing and accounting issues...I was once again treated like a piece of crap by TM. Not only was there no information online about how to obtain the "new" BM module, I was forced to talk to a sales person: my eager rep from LN. After the used-car saloesman rap, the charge included a PENALTY for the two years without an AMP with Billing Matters for four licenses to be allowed to add the program! Yet, they are the ones (LN) who discontinued the program and today, December 2011 requitred over $750 for the years we did not have BM on an AMP! Isn't this extortion?

What arrogance. My CIC tried to defend this and I am beyond pissed-off and looking for a way out of LN and the whole TM racket. I hope someone comes up with a mac-based alternative soon...

I wish I never made the switch tio Time Matters from PC and was taled into it by a sales-rep at LN.

I think people are catching on and are leaving this racket: I am looking for an alternative and dread the migration or transtition process.