Thursday, July 30, 2009

Hubbard One Survey Reveals Optimism, Focus On Technology To Drive Sales And Marketing Return On Investment

Hubbard One, the legal industry's most comprehensive provider of solutions for marketing and business development, today released findings from its first "Pulse of the Industry" customer survey. CRM/ERM and SharePoint are among the technology tools considered most essential to legal marketing professionals

Eagan, Minn. (PRWEB) July 30, 2009 -- Hubbard One, the legal industry's most comprehensive provider of solutions for marketing and business development, today released findings from its first "Pulse of the Industry" customer survey.

While the findings acknowledged many challenges ahead for legal marketing professionals, nearly all respondents shared a positive outlook for the future and underscored the importance of technology for continued business development success.

"Where firms used to spend millions on events, brochures, trade shows, newsletters and advertising to acquire and develop relationships, many legal marketers are changing their strategic focus," said Preston McKenzie, vice president and general manager of Hubbard One. "Many of our customers are turning inward and utilizing technology solutions to manage their firms' existing relationships with customers and prospects, allowing them to do more with fewer staff resources."

Opportunities Trump Challenges
The vast majority of survey respondents - more than 87 percent - view the current economic climate as an opportunity to focus firm strategies and improve the effectiveness of business development efforts. Many Hubbard One customers believe they can emerge from the economic downturn a stronger, more nimble organization, driven by sound business goals and ROI measurement.

"Our clients realize they need resources, and more personnel just isn't an option," McKenzie said. "The Pulse of the Industry survey results indicated greater collaboration between marketing and internal IT teams to look at what sort of infrastructure they can establish to manage information and relationships in a strategic, measurable fashion."

Technology Essential to Marketing Progress
Marketing and business development initiatives that utilize technology, rather than additional headcount, are helping legal marketers make better decisions and improve efficiency. Nearly 70 percent of respondents ranked technology solutions as their "most important" marketing priorities for 2009. The top three most essential business development tools were relationship management solutions (41 percent), marketing intelligence platforms (32 percent) and Web sites initiatives (33 percent).

Customers also flagged Microsoft SharePoint and other collaboration and document-sharing technologies in their responses, driven by an increased need to work across legal disciplines and practice groups, and a heightened focus on business development, cross selling and information-sharing using Intranets and Web sites.

"Collaboration technology is a high priority for our customers, particularly those expanding into global markets, such as Europe and Asia-Pacific," McKenzie said. "Tools like SharePoint can help streamline business development functions, allowing firms to make the most of their limited resources and effectively share information across the firm."

Hubbard One will be further exploring these and other trends in legal marketing as part of its next Pulse of the Industry survey, launching at the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) conference, August 23-27 in Washington, D.C.

Note to editors: A Westcast podcast featuring Jeanne Hammerstrom, chief marketing officer at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Arnoff LLP is available on the Legal Current blog, or go to iTunes and enter "Westcast" in the search box.

About Hubbard One
As the legal industry's most comprehensive provider of solutions for marketing and client development, Hubbard One offers a complete set of creative, consulting, technology and implementation services specifically designed for the complex needs of professional services firms. From Web sites, proposal automation, experience management to contact management, relationship management and SharePoint portals, Hubbard One focuses on bringing the right tools together to help marketers and technologists succeed. Hubbard One is part of Thomson Reuters.

About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

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