A young consultant recently wrote me asking whether I thought it was worthwhile getting certified in TimeMatters and working with a TimeMatters oriented consulting firm.
The short answer is: No. For two reasons. First if I were starting out all over again, I would get involved in cloud computing. That’s where the future is. The money may not be as good as with traditional fat clients, but that’s where everybody is going. It is extremely unlikely that we will see another fat client program emerge to challenge LexisNexis, Amicus, Tabs/Practice Master, etc.
The second is that although I have not been involved directly with TimeMatters for several years, in following the listservs and talking with fellow consultants, it seems clear that TM is going nowhere.
New versions continue to sport inexplicable bugs. Bugs are normal in any new version, but you generally expect them in new features. Apparently TM 12 has a bug in the calendaring routine which prevents dates (read: court dates) from scheduling correctly if they fall on a weekend. “The software ate my appointment” is not generally an acceptable excuse as far as judges are concerned.
I continue to believe that since there are no programmers left at TimeMatters who have any historical knowledge of the code (i.e., older than 2-3 years) and since TimeMatters has outsourced some programming, that they have lost control of the code and could not really fix it even if they were willing to invest the time and money to do so, which there is no evidence that they are willing to do.
Lastly, there are repeated rumors that LexisNexis plans to spin off TimeMatters. At the NY LegalTech show, in the huge LN booths, TimeMatters and PCLaw were reduced to sharing a single terminal. That tells you something.
The short answer is: No. For two reasons. First if I were starting out all over again, I would get involved in cloud computing. That’s where the future is. The money may not be as good as with traditional fat clients, but that’s where everybody is going. It is extremely unlikely that we will see another fat client program emerge to challenge LexisNexis, Amicus, Tabs/Practice Master, etc.
The second is that although I have not been involved directly with TimeMatters for several years, in following the listservs and talking with fellow consultants, it seems clear that TM is going nowhere.
New versions continue to sport inexplicable bugs. Bugs are normal in any new version, but you generally expect them in new features. Apparently TM 12 has a bug in the calendaring routine which prevents dates (read: court dates) from scheduling correctly if they fall on a weekend. “The software ate my appointment” is not generally an acceptable excuse as far as judges are concerned.
I continue to believe that since there are no programmers left at TimeMatters who have any historical knowledge of the code (i.e., older than 2-3 years) and since TimeMatters has outsourced some programming, that they have lost control of the code and could not really fix it even if they were willing to invest the time and money to do so, which there is no evidence that they are willing to do.
Lastly, there are repeated rumors that LexisNexis plans to spin off TimeMatters. At the NY LegalTech show, in the huge LN booths, TimeMatters and PCLaw were reduced to sharing a single terminal. That tells you something.
The Cloud and Mobile are the future but you have to bet on the right horse. Remember Advologix? Probably not except if you are the consultant that plugged it:) Perform your due diligence before you choose a product to support. Not all products are the same. 1st rule of thumb. The more hype the least likely the product lives up to its name.
The easiest migration to the Cloud from TimeMatters is to move to HoudiniEsq. If you are not comfortable with the Cloud then you CAN have your cake and eat it to. You can install HoudiniEsq locally, keeping your data in house but still have remote access to your data with just a browser or just about any mobile device. 100% turnkey. Support and Upgrades are always included.No other Cloud vender has more TimeMatters former clients than HoudiniEsq, and for good reason.
Posted by: Frank Rivera | February 03, 2013 at 09:09 PM