In 2009, LexisNexis announced that it would “sunset,” or discontinue support, for its Billing Matters software by the end of 2013. At that time, their goal was to simplify and eliminate overlaps between other products they owned (such as Juris and PCLaw), and substantially similar tools available through legacy LexisNexis product offerings.
In an unexpected turnaround, LexisNexis has demonstrated that software companies really are capable of listening to their customers, and can in fact reverse decisions that appear to be “etched in stone.” How refreshing!
In response to customer requests and, after careful consideration, LexisNexis has decided to reverse their previously announced decision to sunset the billing (but not the accounting) functionality of their Billing Matters product.
LexisNexis is expecting to provide further details regarding the continuation of software support and maintenance for the billing components of Billing Matters. They will also reverse another decision and continue to offer the Billing Matters module as an add-on to their Time Matters software. Finally, they will continue to enhance and evolve this billing functionality to include improvements in report writing, electronic billing, mobile options and archive capabilities.
Please note however, the decision to sunset the accounting functionality of Billing Matters (the “Plus” part of “Billing Matters Plus”) remains unchanged.
Since the billing features within Billing Matters were reported by customers as more widely used than the accounting features, LexisNexis does not believe a policy change is warranted for the accounting functionality. Therefore, all support, maintenance and training for the accounting components of Billing Matters will end, as originally scheduled, on December 31, 2013.
You can read more about the decision to “sunrise” Billing Matters, and the various optons available for its use at http://www.lexisnexis.com/law-firms/pdf/tm-bm-faq-2011.pdf
We would be interested in hearing from those of you who use Billing Matters and Billing Matters Plus. Will this change your plans to keep or switch the software? Please contact us at Eastern Legal Systems by leaving a comment here, or call us at 1-877-ELS-0555 if you have any questions.
Jack Schaller has been active in the field of law office technology since 1989, and has worked with a variety of commercial accounting, legal billing, practice management, and document management software products during his twenty plus years in the software consulting field. During his tenure as a software consultant he has garnered many sales and service awards for his work with legal software products. Jack is a frequent presenter at legal conferences and seminars, and is a regular contributor to TechnoLawyer and other technology publications.
