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Rocket Matter sounds great but….

By Long on Mar 16, 2008 in Web Tools

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I’m married to my current practice management system. For our non-lawyer audience, we lawyers are constantly battling with the idea of practice management software. There are less than a half-dozen “major” players and though some of them have some sort of web feature, you’re pretty much tied to the computer or the network it’s installed on. Someone has to create a web based version – we’ve got too much wi-fi, high speed and broadband technology to be fooling around with installed software. If someone doesn’t do it…(if Google doesn’t do it), someone will.

Rocket Matter beat me to the punch – I’ve had this web-based PM system idea for a while now, but didn’t have the time or resources to put it together.

First and foremost – it appears that the Rocket Matter team is off to a great start. I haven’t yet tried it myself but I’ve seen Grant’s review and Aaron’s review Still got a few questions myself that neither has answered and the blog has not yet addressed.rocketmatter

How do we transition to Rocket Matter?

I’m a PCLaw user. I’ve got two license for myself and my assistant. I use the front office AND backoffice features. PCLaw has been annoying at times and it has an ugly interface, but it’s level of detail has been very helpful. (This post will not become a rant on PCLaw – I don’t have the time – I still use it because it’s cheap and reliable).

When I moved from Quickbooks to PCLaw, I thought it would be easy. PCLaw was really trying to “steal” the Quickbooks client base by promoting its automatic transition feature. Problem was, my QB version was too new! So I had to do it manually and it was painful. The thought of transitioning again to a new system just sounds like too much of a pain in the butt. If I was just starting my practice, I would be all over RM, period. But PCLaw has a firm grasp on me for the moment. Does RM have an import/export system?

Will there be a backoffice/accounting system?

My #1 reason for hesitating on Rocket Matter is that it doesn’t appear to have a backoffice/accounting system and alternatively, has not yet boasted about any way to export data for a backoffice system. Pull the Freshbooks API including a 2 way sync and Rocket Matter will turn some serious heads! I don’t use Freshbooks yet, but I’ve been dying to do so… then again, still can’t figure out how to transition just the backoffice portion of PCLaw either.

What about a message and comment system?

I thought I saw a way to add notes to a case, but a conversational messaging and commenting system would get the attention of us Basecamp users. Add the ability to invite clients to view their case progress and you’ll win over the lawyers who use basecamp in a heartbeat.

Document Management OR Document Automation

I say “or” because I haven’t seen a solid web based document management system yet, so I won’t demand the same from Rocket Matter. However, PCLaw’s “Qdocs” document automation feature is good – buggy - but good. Again, this isn’t a must from a web based system, but if you figure this out, you won’t be able to buy extra server space fast enough!

I’m sure they’ve thought of all of these ideas. Maybe they’ve got it under wraps for beta testing. Whatever the case may be… Rocket Matter has the potential to put the “big boy” practice management systems out of business!

Still, I’d like to see a few more features before I’m sold.

Rocket Matter….what say you?

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    I'm currently reviewing PM software, and talked with the folks at Rocket Matter. While the service hits all of the major points one expects from PM software, the devil, as they say, is in the details, and there are a few large gaps in their application, in my opinion.

    1. As you note, there is no API to integrate with a back office accounting package, whether its FreshBooks, QuickBooks, or some other software. Currently, Rocket Matter can generate invoices for each client matter, but there is no mechanism to integrate w/ the financial side of an office other than re-entering the data manually.

    2. There also is no integration with Outlook. This is a major flaw, IMHO. Many of the 95% of computer users who use a PC instead of a MAC use Outlook as their calendering program. Sure, there are problems w/ Outlook, and I'm not going to address those or the PC v. Mac debate here. But to not have sync capabilities is a problem.

    3. Rocket Matter's price point seems high. After their introductory phase, it will cost $90/mo per attorney, and $35/mo for staff. Currently, Lexis' front office and back office "suite" costs $770 (w/ a year of support) for the first license, and $400 for each license after the first. For a two lawyer office with one staff, Rocket Matter is $215 per month or $2,580 per year. The same number of license seats from Lexis is $1,570. Of course, when Lexis updates its software with a new release, you have to buy it, so major updates are not included in their price. But Rocket Matters seems to be overpriced for what you get and relative to the other players in the PM law market.

    The folks at Rocket Matter indicate that syncing with Outlook is on the list of things they are going to work on, but it may be the end of the year or later before it's rolled out. Curiously, they say they have optimized Rocket Matter to work with the iPhone. I use Outlook to sync with my new Blackberry Curve, but can't sync between Rocket Matter, Outlook or the Blackberry at this point.
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    With the release of MS Outlook 2007, I've come to the conclusion that Outlook will only get bigger and more bloated with upcoming updates, patches and other resource hogging features.


    I used Outlook faithfully since the 1997 release and was woefully dissapointed with Outlook 2007 so much so that I decided to move all email and calendaring to google apps (http://homeofficeenvy.com/google-tools/gmail-on...). In addition to being completely web-based, the addition of Google calendering also allows for pop3 and imap access for Outlook junkies. This might prove useful as a workaround. Point is, IMHO I don't think Rocket Matter needs to devote its time to Outlook sync. As for calendaring, they could work on a private xml/rss calendar feed in similar fashion to Google Calendar. That would prove useful to calendar junkies across all platforms.


    And yes, RM's price point is high, but I think if they implement the features we've discussed, it would definitely be better justified.


    One more note on the sync...Don't know why RM has targetted iphone sync and I'd like to learn more about the actual integration method. Is RM on the iPhone simply a 3rd party iphone application? Or does it use RSS or syndication technology?

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    Hi Folks:

    This is Larry from Rocket Matter. Thanks so much for your feedback! I will try to address your questions one by one. We will be putting more of this information up on our marketing site soon.

    1) How do we transition to Rocket Matter?

    Right now we can import your contact and calendar data through vCard, iCalendar, and CSV files. Most systems will allow this kind of data export. This is the first request to import financial data and we would love to explore this subject more. Feel free to shoot me an email at larry@rocketmatter.com so we can discuss this.

    2) Will there be a backoffice/accounting system?

    We currently have a setup which works well for a small or solo firm. We have a ledger in our system which allows you to track credits and debits for your matters. You can print invoices directly from Rocket Matter, and when you do so, you debit that matter’s ledger. Invoices will also show a balance forward. When you set up a matter you can create an initial retainer deposit.

    We offer integration with financial products. We allow you to export your ledger and billing information to the lingua franca of financial applications, Excel. This can then be imported into Quickbooks, Peachtree, Microsoft Dynamics, or other standard G/L programs.

    3) Price

    Our pricing is considerably less that quoted in the comment above. During our Pilot Program, we are charging $50 USD per attorney per month and $15 USD per support staff per month. After the promotion ends, the prices will increase to $75 USD per attorney per month and $37.50 USD per support staff per month. This is based on signing a one-year contract. You still pay on a monthly basis. For shorter-term contracts, prices increase from there.

    Your investment in Rocket Matter will have significant ROI for your firm. Using a hosted solution eliminates many IT expenses, such as not having to buy various software or hardware components. We integrate Calendaring, CRM, Matter Management, and Time and Billing, saving you both the cost of having to purchase multiple applications and the time needed to flip back and forth between them to find your information.

    In addition, Rocket Matter features “Bill as you Work” technology, which allows you to capture time while you work. Even if you capture an additional .1 a day, that’s 30 minutes a week or 25 total hours a year. At an hourly rate of $250 an hour, that’s a savings of $6250 a year.

    4) What about a message and comment system?

    Currently we have a feature called Notes which allow for online discussion and collaboration on a matter. These are analagous to Messages in Basecamp.

    5) Document Management OR Document Automation

    These will not be in our 1.0 release, scheduled for this summer. However, all I can say for now is...stay tuned!

    6) Outlook, iPhone, and synching with Rocket Matter

    For our iPhone optimization we have rolled out an optimized version of the application that allows for a native iPhone look and feel on the Safari browser. There’s no need to synch, use a tether, or install anything. If you lose your device, your sensitive data is not at risk. If someone at your office updates the calendar, you will see the new appointment automatically on your iPhone. Similar optimizations for Blackberry and Treo are on the horizon for us.

    We are aware that Outlook synching is a concern for people and we will be addressing this as well. If we see that this is a make-or-break deal for potential clients, we will prioritize this ability.

    I invite you to follow up with any additional questions. Feel free to email me at larry@rocketmatter.com.

    Thank you!

    Larry Port's last blog post..Adding the Rocket Matter Icon to your iPhone Home Screen
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    Solid response Larry.

    I think that the export feature for G/L info is a good start. I'd still like to see you take a swing at a 2 way sync! Every extra mouse click counts you know.

    How about a screencast of the conversation/notes system?
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    I find it somewhat odd that Rocket Matter hasn't provided a two-way sync, yet is optimized for iPhone. Apple won't have the market penetration w/ the iPhone that they had with iPod. There are a lot of players in the 3G phone arena. Blackberry is one, and it's market penetration can't be ignored. Many users, myself included, use Outlook to sync w/ Blackberry.

    Features aside, the real issue (for me, at least, and perhaps for most lawyers) is security and accountability. Does Rocket Matter give a service level agreement? What does a customer get if the service level is violated? Is there bonded insurance to pay the consequential damages of the lawyer's client if the service level is breached (or if Rocket Matter goes out of business)? Who is Rocket Matter's disaster recovery vendor and what is Rocket Matter's disaster recovery plan? Network availability redundancy is nice, but is the data stored offsite in a second location (ie, not on the network in multiple places, but completely off) and on how regular of a basis is that done? Is it escrowed?

    The nightmare scenario is attempting to log on one day and receive a 404 Server Not Found error. Phone calls roll over to a voice mail with the name and telephone number of the bankruptcy trustee. If web-based data handling is just as good as me having my data on my own machine, Rocket Matter should make warranties that everything is covered and my expectancy can be that I am as good with their service as I would be in my own office.
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    More good questions! It is important for anyone considering the use of a web-based hosted application (SaaS) to do due diligence and understand these issues.

    It may seem odd from a user's perspective that iPhone optimization comes before Blackberry synch, but from a software development perspective it is a simple explanation: iPhone optimization was an easy win. This is from both a product development and automated testing scenario.

    Some of these other questions I have answered on my blog. Please take a look here:

    http://rocketmatter.com/blog/moving-to-software...

    Larry Port's last blog post..Rocket Matter Questions and Answers
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    Hi Larry, one of our clients called me last week to ask if I had heard about your product, so I checked out your website. My company has been offering a hosted solution since January, and I am always interested in alternative options and sharing feedback. (I think our products are very different, so no risk of stealing clients.) I am curious about the speed and performance of your web-based product. I have heard from other clients that use web-based systems (by other vendors) that the response speed is painfully slow. Have you found that Rocket Matter is quick responding? Is speed impacted by the user's access method(PDA vs. computer)? Also, I am interested in the reaction to your product by non-users. We have seen all extremes of responses - from \great idea, love it\, to \I would NEVER allow my data to reside outside my own office\. Do you find in general that reaction is dictated by age, geographical location, type of practice, etc? Hope to be able to share ideas and info!
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    @Donna:

    My name is Long, not Larry...and I don't own Rocketmatter, I was just reviewing it. You might want to address further questions on the RocketMatter blog.

    Thanks!
    Long
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    Has anyone tried Clio yet? www.goclio.com.

    It was just launched - it's got a prettier interface than RocketMatter (IMHO), but more importantly, it has more billing and matter management features (such as timers you can run) AND it has integrated document management, with versions and unlimited storage. Plus, it's cheaper than RocketMatter at $50/user/month (as compared to RocketMatter's $75). I'm about to branch out on my own and I am definitely attracted to the idea of SaaS for my practice management - I'd be interested to here about people's experiences with Clio, since it seems like the most attractive option to me right now.
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    I am interested in other's experiences in syncing Lexis Nexis Front Offica and Back Office and locating an IT professional with experience at integrating the two. I've used PC Law for years in my 3 lawyer lawfirm and puchased Front Office a year ago. We still seem to be having trouble with the integration of the two. We have some lawyers using Front Office and others using Back Office/Outlook for time keeping and email. Any suggestions.
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    @Brian

    I haven't done it. But before LN renamed all of these software items (back when it was just PCLaw and TimeMatters) I know it was easily accomplished. There's a PCLAW listserv group that might be helpful - I'm sure there's a few consultants on there in addition to attorneys wondering how to perform certain functions.

    I dont want the group to get spammed so if you want the link, email me here: http://homeofficeenvy.com/contact-me/
 

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