In 2003, Eversheds rolled out the InterAction customer relationship management (CRM) system across all its UK offices. The system had previously been implemented in London with some success, but project team leaders Sadie Baron, Peter Simpson and Andrew Harvey knew that for a ‘client intelligence’ system to be successful it had to be first national and then global. To support the culture that Eversheds would need to instill in its lawyers, they branded the system SHARE.
The diagram ( right) illustrates a typical law firm CRM strategy and its goals. “We were definitely in the bottom left hand corner,” admits Baron, the CRM manager. “We knew that the first step was to pull our data together, make it consistent and deploy a system that was easy to use and accessible by all. Enhancing functionality was always going to be step two. What has taken us by surprise is the uptake of the fee earning community and the demand for more information that they have generated.”
