Santa has delivered an early Christmas present to the management of KM specialists Solcara who earlier this afternoon (Friday 21st) announced they had become part of the AIM-listed ArgentVive plc group. The announcement reads...
"Solcara is delighted to announce that we are becoming part of the ArgentVive plc group which is listed on the London AIM market. ArgentVive recognised the excellence of Solcara’s software, the quality of its customer base and the mature company infrastructure. The investment will accelerate the development of Solcara’s market leading applications, Crisis Control Centre, Communications Centre, SolSearch and Know How.
"In becoming part of the ArgentVive group, Solcara will be able to enter international markets much more quickly and we expect to grow rapidly employing more staff throughout our organisation and further strengthening our excellent customer support function."
Ray Jackson, Managing Director of Solcara, who is becoming CEO of the ArgentVive plc group, commented, "We liked the people, the ambition and the honest business ethos. In Solcara's view, joining ArgentVive provides the best possible home for Solcara and will allow our company, staff and customers to prosper."
ArgentVive plc describes itself as "an e-commerce group with market leading technology and the development capability, infrastructure and sales models to rapidly expand in B2B and B2C markets. The aim of the company is to develop online businesses in order to become a major provider of internet based solutions to enterprises across a wide range of industries.
"ArgentVive plc intends to become a primary resource for information and knowledge management services, new digital platforms, and bespoke e-commerce trading solutions. The company will leverage this position to help its clients achieve significant performance and profit improvements through the creative and innovative use of online technology."
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Friday, December 21
Let the acquisitions begin...
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 21 Dec 2007 18:13 GMT
Thursday, December 20
Situations Vacant - probably
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 20 Dec 2007 10:35 GMT
We've just had a meeting with a firm of headhunters, who wantde to pick our brains as they are looking to recruit a business development director for a large legal IT supplier. While they were settling the bill, we took the opportunity to take a close look at the job spec. This is what it said (probably)...
Qualifications required: 1. Ability to see in the dark. 2. Good communicator, but with an uncanny ability of not actually saying anything of substance. 3. Team player, or better still a referee-minded personality who is used to keeping at least two opposing sides playing the same game in a confined market space. 4. At least 5 years successful track record. (Because let’s face it, they’re the last years of success you’ll have!!!) 5. Good understanding of the legal market. (However, if you really had this you wouldn’t want the job!!!) Tuesday, December 18
Gossip Alert
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 18 Dec 2007 18:59 GMT
We're hearing reports that a major legal publisher (which narrows it down a bit) will buy a UK practice & case management systems supplier (which widens things out again) before the end of this year.
Monday, December 17
DLA Piper select Interwoven Universal Search
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 17 Dec 2007 15:58 GMT
DLA Piper has selected Interwoven Universal Search – Professional Services Edition to enable staff in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia to search the organisation’s knowledge repositories, and to provide fee-earners with immediate and highly accurate results for ensuring optimal sharing of firm expertise.
“Our knowledge management supports lawyers in finding and retrieving the right answers from a wide range of systems and information sources,” said David Halliwell, Head of Knowledge Management for Europe and Asia at DLA Piper. “Our cross-border transactions mean that the most relevant best practices may be from another country. Interwoven Universal Search will support us in guiding people to the most relevant and current information.” ”By using Interwoven Universal Search our staff will have immediate and secure access to what they are looking for, all within a simple Web interface,” said Jon Short, Head of Applications at DLA Piper. Friday, December 14
HIPs - C-NLIS complains about the accuracy of searches
by
Charles Christian
on Fri 14 Dec 2007 10:13 GMT
The Council for the National Land Information Service (C-NLIS) is concerned that the range and accuracy of property search information contained in Home Information Packs (HIPs) may not be enough for the home buyer to make a fully informed choice.
As the property market approaches 100 days since the launch of the 3-bed home information pack and moves towards the full roll out of the packs today (14th December) C-NLIS CEO Alex Fraser said "Our interest is in the property search element of the HIP. Searches contain vital information about a property which may effect the buyer's decision to proceed with purchase. Most home information pack providers choose their searches on price grounds, this can affect the quality and depth of the information provided, which cannot be in the best interests of the home buyer." In a recent poll C-NLIS asked industry experts for their views on the accuracy and quality of search data, Peter Rodd, conveyancing partner at Boys & Maughan commented "We have concerns as to the accuracy of some of the information contained in personal searches. Some personal search providers limit planning history to 10 years whereas official searches direct from Local Authority go back much further." Paul Marsh, the Law Society's vice-president also raised concerns "I have seen a personal search where the question regarding building control approval was answered until such time as the Council allow us to access the records we are not able to answer the enquiry, therefore enquiry covered by insurance. That was not true, because the council in question did make the information available, but the personal searcher had to pay for access to the information. The search company avoided making a payment by exploiting the transitional regulations. The seller was left with a HIP that did not comply with the regulations and the buyer, with a useless search." Amanda Renshaw, chair of the Local Land Charges Institute commented that because the HIP is cost-driven and not information-driven, local authorities now spend a far greater amount of time answering enquiries from purchasers‚ solicitors who have received a HIP with a personal search in it and need to have the personal search information checked and clarified. "We are seeing an ever-increasing number of personal searches which contain wholly inaccurate information," says Amanda Renshaw. Wednesday, December 12
Ignore electronic data policy and go to jail
by
Charles Christian
on Wed 12 Dec 2007 07:44 GMT
CEOs are most likely to bear personal and professional risk from their organisations’ lack of action on how electronic evidence is managed - despite the fact that they are rarely involved in developing or enforcing that policy. That’s the major finding of a new independent study commissioned by Kroll Ontrack that was released this morning (12th December).
The report finds that less than half of organisations (48% in the UK, 43% US) have a strategy or policy in place on how to deal with electronically stored information (ESI). In the UK, a quarter of organisations (25%) said that their legal department has primary responsibility for developing policy, yet 39% said that their CEOs would face the consequences resulting from a breach of that policy. In the US, 41% of respondents said that their organisations give responsibility for developing that policy to the in-house legal department. However a fifth of organisations (19%) said that the CEO would be held accountable if that policy resulted in government fines, court-imposed sanctions or damage to reputation. “These statistics are frightening yet not surprising. The explosion of electronic information and the onslaught of new rules, regulations and laws have made it incredibly difficult for companies and counsel to stay on top of everything,” said Kristin Nimsger, president, Kroll Ontrack. “The fact that there is no clear definition of who should be developing or enforcing the policies shows there is a lack of ownership. With the size of fines and severity of sanctions that can be imposed, this has moved from being a concern for IT or the legal team to a core business issue in which today’s executives and Boards of Directors must now be involved.” Statistics show that UK business alone lose £72 billion per year due to corporate fraud, which equates to approximately 6% of companies’ annual turnover, and yet only half of the UK’s 350 largest companies have put any additional measures in place to protect themselves. European Commission fines can reach as high as 10% of the company’s turnover in their recent business year for cartel and fraud practices, much of which is executed and uncovered in electronic communications. Incorrect handling of ESI has already led to a number of serious consequences for organisations, with several falling foul of the US Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the UK Civil Procedures. Since 2001, there have been 50,000 changes to the UK FSA rule book, including 4,000 pages of amendments in legal instruments between Oct 2006 and Jan 2007. The NASD, the US provider of financial regulatory services, had 135 rule filings in 2006, 1,099 changes to the Manual since 2004 and the AMEX Rule 903 has changed six times since 2005. Martin Carey, Managing Director of Kroll Ontrack in London said, “Clearly in the UK, in-house counsel and their external counsel are lacking significantly in their training and understanding of rules and regulations regarding their electronic information. They do not yet seem to be grasping the fact that all this data is no longer just information; rather it can now all be considered as evidence. This fact alone shows a severe lack of ownership and understanding.” Despite the growing pressure to comply with regulation, only 17% of UK in-house legal counsels believe that they are fully up to speed with all case law, developments and regulations relating to ESI. Less than half (42%) think they have a good understanding but could benefit from more knowledge. More than a quarter (26%) say that they have a low level of understanding, while 14% say that they know little, if anything about ESI or have never heard of it. US counsel outshines their UK counterparts yet still only 25% say that they are fully up to speed with all case law, developments and regulations relating to ESI. Less than half (43%) believe that they have a fairly good understanding but could benefit from more knowledge. Almost a quarter (24%) have a low level of understanding while a further 9% either know little or have never heard of it. US legal teams are far more concerned than UK counterparts about the reality of growing volumes of ESI. The biggest challenge faced by legal departments in the US will be unmanageable volumes of ESI (cited by 21% of respondents in the US compared to 11% in the UK). By contrast, the UK’s primary concern was lack of training in legal trends (16%). • You can find the full text of the 16 page report (as a Word document) by clicking on the attachment accompanying this story. • Orange Rag comment: It's nice to hear about all these regulations but a little ironic that the biggest culprits are the government departments and agencies whose internal data protection procedures are so lax that they'd get sacked from even the most sloppily run private sector business. In the UK we are hearing about new lapses every couple of days (what is it about government departments and unencrypted CDs) however here's a story from the US you may not have heard before... A US official overseeing a probe of former Bush aide Karl Rove - Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch - bypassed his own agency's computer technicians and hired an outside firm to perform a seven-level wipe of his computer hard drive, all but guaranteeing the files could never be restored. Although the official said he contracted the work after suspecting his computer was infected by a virus, a manager with the private firm said a wipe that thorough is an unusual way to treat a malware infection. The receipt for the work performed makes no mention of a virus. Bloch's office is investigating whether Rove and other White House officials improperly used government agencies to help re-elect Republicans running from Congressional seats. In turn, Bloch has been the subject of a White House-ordered probe into whether he improperly retaliated against whistle-blowers in his own staff and dismissed cases brought to his agency. Following the revelation of the computer wipes, federal investigators have requested Bloch turn over copies of personal files that he saved to his America Online account before his hard disk was scrubbed. Bloch has refused, saying the data, which included medical information, messages to his personal attorney and pictures from his son's tours of duty in Iraq, don't involve his official work.  1 AttachmentsTuesday, December 11
Mass translation from Trilantic
by
Charles Christian
on Tue 11 Dec 2007 11:56 GMT
Trilantic has announced the launch of Trilantic Translation Services (TTS), a mass translation tool, specific to the needs of the legal market. Trilantic has partnered with Translution, a leader in translation technology to provide a system that meets the requirements of law firms and corporations with multinational and/or, multilingual document translation needs.
TTS is claimed to be far more accurate than any of the web based tools currently available, combining cutting edge technology with practice and case specific dictionaries. Law firms can analyse vast amounts of multi-lingual documents, quickly and efficiently, reducing the need for local translators. Human error and misunderstanding are minimised as is the need for short term resource when specific cases arise, giving the legal team access to the documents in days rather than weeks. Speed to review, compliance and risk management is therefore improved as relevant data can be identified quickly. Firms can take on multinational cases/projects more effectively and ultimately pass this benefit onto their clients. In comparison to human translation the cost and time savings are significant. Typically human translation will cost around 12p a word. This automated process will cost around 22p per 250 words, a huge cost saving. With regards to time, the average translator works at a speed of around 2500 words per day. TTS can translate up to 100,000 foreign language documents within 3-5 working days. Monday, December 10
Seagate to acquire Metalincs
by
Charles Christian
on Mon 10 Dec 2007 11:26 GMT
Seagate Technology has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire MetaLINCS, a technology leader in the fast-growing US E-Discovery market. MetaLINCS's patent-pending software helps companies respond to litigation and regulatory issues that require them to search large volumes of electronic data for relevant information. MetaLINCS will become part of the Seagate Services Group and support its mission to help business customers protect and manage valuable company information. Financial terms were not disclosed.
According to Gartner analysts Debra Logan and John Bace in the report The Emerging E-Discovery Market, published on July 2007, "Changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, along with the ever-increasing reliance on electronic documentation in business, will have wide-ranging effects on the IT profession and IT vendors in 2007 and 2008. IT will be called on to account for elements of their infrastructure and the location of live and backup data as never before." "Today's announcement represents another strategic step for the Seagate Services Group and further reinforces our commitment to providing customers with innovative technology-based services and solutions that advance their businesses," said Mark Grace, senior vice president and general manager, Seagate Services Group. "The addition of MetaLINCS's solutions will provide our customers with the tools to respond to litigation and compliance requests and help to reduce enterprise E-Discovery costs." • MetaLINCS's enterprise-class E-Discovery software automatically analyzes emails, documents and associated metadata, and presents visual analysis of people, conversations, concepts and communication patterns. Founded in 2003, MetaLINCS is a privately held company with more than 50 employees. Ramon Nunez, CEO of MetaLINCS, will join the Seagate Services senior management team and will lead the Seagate Services Group's E-Discovery business unit. MetaLINCS is the most recent acquisition for the Seagate Services Group. In 2007, Seagate purchased EVault, an award winning provider of online backup and archive solutions for small and mid sized enterprises, and in 2005, Seagate purchased Action Front (now Seagate Recovery Services), a leading provider of data recovery and data migration services. These acquisitions provide Seagate with growing opportunities in the data protection and management solutions market and are highly scalable with Seagate's technology portfolio and market expertise. Following the MetaLINCS acquisition, the Seagate Services Group will provide the following primary solutions: • E-Discovery solutions targeted at addressing a growing market need to retrieve and analyze large volumes of data in support of litigation and compliance requirements • Complete business continuity, compliance and disaster recovery services with high availability, secure backup and recovery of business-critical data • A wide range of data recovery, data migration and data accessibility solutions to meet the needs of enterprise, small/medium businesses and consumers Thursday, December 6
The IRIS roadmap - here is the full unexpurgated announcement
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 06 Dec 2007 17:33 GMT
LONDON - 6 December 2007 – IRIS Legal today announced its direction for the future of the Legal IT sector outlining how they intend to protect customer investment in existing products while delivering new products and innovation as part of a 5 year plan.
The new plan, outlined today by Arlene Adams (MD of the IRIS Legal business) at a press and consulting conference held at Microsoft, builds on IRIS’ market leading position and proven track record of delivering long term commitment and investment in its chosen markets. By comparison the IRIS Accounting Practice Solutions business, which is not dissimilar to IRIS Legal in size (£30m annual revenues and the leading provider of integrated practice management software), has already set out a long term roadmap for customers supported by a multi-million pound investment in next generation products. Over the past 6 years the IRIS Accounting Practice Solutions business has grown their customer base from 2,500 to over 15,000 practices and only last month was awarded Accountancy Age Practice Management Software Product of the Year. Much of the growth, which has delivered IRIS 40% market share, is organic thus demonstrating that customers want to partner with software vendors who have a clear long term roadmap backed by the right level of investment and skills. Martin Leuw CEO of IRIS Group commented: "Our customers choose to partner with IRIS because we have demonstrated time and time again our commitment to the market sectors in which we operate, in particular the professions. It is our strategy to be number 1 in our chosen markets and to deliver on this we recognise the need for a long term plan supported by continuous investment. It is our clear ambition to grow our market share in the legal sector through offering great products and customer service just as we have to the Accountancy profession and elsewhere within the IRIS Group, where our customer retention rates in the high 90%’s are amongst the best in the industry." Having already restructured the business in early October, to position it for growth, Adams today set out the 5 year product strategy that is built on the premise of protecting customer investment while delivering new applications and innovation to customers. The product strategy is based on research that indicates law firm's immediate technology needs are growing beyond the hard and fast back office processing towards flexible front end applications tailored to how users work in their daily environments. The strategy is being driven by the need for legal firms to be more flexible, creative and cost effective in how they do business in order to compete in a market which is increasingly facing tightening commercial pressures and rising client expectations. Introducing IRIS Legal Link. IRIS Legal is developing a technology framework called Legal Link to deliver on their vision of an integrated legal desktop over a 5 to 6 year period for the solicitor, barrister and coroner market. This framework integrates the existing IRIS legal applications with new legal applications and relevant IRIS group products. During this period IRIS Legal also plans to introduce new practice and case management (PCM) modules through the merging of best practice and technology from the existing PCM systems. The framework is based on a modular approach with a view to delivering a world class integrated legal desktop in 5 years. Legal Link is based on the Microsoft .Net technology and will be available as a software solution and over time as a managed service. This is the same technology currently being used to develop the latest generation of IRIS Accounting Practice software. While careful consideration was given to the underpinning technology it was clear that Microsoft .Net offered both customers and IRIS the best protection of investment long term. In this market Microsoft is widely accepted and therefore it would have been limiting for customers if IRIS Legal were to base the strategy on any other technology. This decision also has the added benefit of providing the best opportunity for customers to maintain open links to other market products as well as IRIS being able to leverage much of the hard work already conducted by the IRIS Accounting Practice. IRIS is a Microsoft Gold and Hosted Services Partner. New Applications The framework has been designed to protect the investment customers have made in their existing IRIS systems while allowing for the deployment of new applications and function that can further advance the efficiency and competitive advantage of a legal firm. IRIS market research and customer feedback indicates that the priority for new development rests in "front office" applications, ie Lawyer and Client facing, such as email and diary management, task and document management, CRM, workflow and knowledge management. Innovation in front office applications in the legal market have been limited to date. This is an area where IRIS can leverage its significant R&D resources and the technology available in the wider IRIS Group to excel in delivering new innovations to the legal community. Legal Link also takes advantage of the wider IRIS group technology and "know how", including solutions in Human Resources (HR), Payroll, Workflow, Client Relationship Management (CRM) and Company Secretarial. The framework will also embrace the need to see more integration between solicitors and barristers at a technology level. Given IRIS is a leading player in both markets it recognises the opportunity to innovate and make it easier for solicitors and barristers to do business in a secure environment. Protecting Customer Investments IRIS Legal recognises the long term investment that customers are making and therefore the need for stability and clear road maps. "Our product strategy is built on a pre-requisite to protect the investment of existing customers by not discontinuing any existing products, but simultaneously investing in the next generation technology platforms which both existing and new customers can migrate to over time to improve their operational efficiency, customer service and business performance" stated Arlene Adams, Managing Director, "Only a supplier of the size, stature and resources of IRIS has the capability to make this a reality for users". Adams reinforces IRIS's public commitment from earlier this year to provide support on all existing IRIS Legal products for at least 4 years. Adams comments that "a public commitment to maintaining support on existing product is important in under pinning the new product strategy. Our strategy is not a big bang approach but rather a step by step approach to ease the migration for customers. We see this more as an upgrade path for our existing product set as opposed to a replacement strategy. This is important so that customers can take time to plan for any changes and can align any changes to direct business benefit." A commercial roadmap is also being developed to align to the technology roadmap. This will be based on the premise that IRIS protects customers existing investment. New applications and function will be charged for as they always have been. Existing software function will be part of the customer support agreement and for this there will be no additional software charge. Customers will only have to pay for the new function that they don't have today. The decision to invest therefore should be at a customer's choice based on the value and return. Committed to Finance and R&D Investment IRIS Legal accounts for approximately 30% of the IRIS Software Group’s £100m+ annual revenues, similar in size to the IRIS Accounting Practice business. IRIS is committed to making the necessary investments in research, development and customer service to enable IRIS Legal to increase market share and drive innovation in the legal sector. The announcement of today's future roadmap, together with IRIS's proven track record of investment and long term commitment to its chosen markets is a true demonstration of the benefits the enlarged Group with its significant resources of people, experience and financial investment can bring to customers. (Statement ends)
IRIS roadmap coming soon
by
Charles Christian
on Thu 06 Dec 2007 07:32 GMT
IRIS are unveiling details of their product roadmap later today. Full details will appear on the Orange Rag blog later this afternoon/early evening (Thursday 6th December) – but we think the person who posted the latest comment on Rupert White's article would lose his bet.
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