The Hits and Misses Survey was conducted in the pre-pandemic world. Nonetheless the results will have a special resonance with Information professionals around the world perched at home scrutinizing their budgets with scalpel in one hand and an ax in the other.  Back in January Dewey B Strategic readers were asked to the identify the products which were on their radar for cancellation in 2020. Eighty seven  readers responded.  Most law firms use products such as Research Monitor and Onelog to capture usage trends for every digital product. This data can provide actionable insights on usage trends and provide  ROI insights.  No major vendor will be spared of cancellation scrutiny in 2020. Even before the pandemic and readers were using phrases such as” constant scrutiny” and referred to “high cost/ low usage,” “pricing not competitive” as well as mentioning  products which were both redundant and expensive. . The emergence of a competitor product, changes practice needs or the top down command to identify “something” to cancel all drive the continuous review of  research resource spending.

Four respondents indicated that their firms are considering complete cancellation of Lexis, Westlaw or Bloomberg.  The high end of the legal research market has clearly gotten overcrowded. Lopping off a  major CALR vendor can deliver major budget relief.  By contrast, the smaller vendors such as  Fastcase and Casetext  were not mentioned by any reader as being considered for cancellation.

LexisNexis Tops the Scrutiny List  Lexis products are receiving the most budget scrutiny followed closely by Bloomberg and Westlaw. A total of twelve readers cited LexisAdvance or other Lexis content as being considered for cancellation. Lex Machina was the product mentioned most often for cancellation– a total of seven times. It is not a stretch to consider whether Westlaw Edge analytics is eating into the Lex Machina domination of the  legal analytics market. Other Lexis products under scrutiny include Newsdesk, Total Patent, Patent Advisor and Context. Each were mentioned by one respondent.

Bloomberg products were mentioned by nine readers. Seven readers mentioned scrutiny of various legacy BNA practice materials. Two readers mentioned Bloomberg Law being under scrutiny. One reader mentioned the cancellation of the print Tax Management Portfolios.

Thomson Reuters Westlaw content was mentioned by eight respondents. The top products under scrutiny Westklw and   West KM  were noted by  three  readers each. Monitor Suite was mentioned by two reader and. Practical Law was mentioned once.

Wolters Kluwer  legal content was mentioned by five readers. Content targeted included labor and securities practice materials.

Business and deal related content cited for cancellation include Prequin, Deal Pipeline and Moodys..

Competitive intelligence products cited for cancellation were Manzama and ALM legal compass.

Other products under scrutiny include Trellis state analytics, Cannaregs which covers the cannabis regulatory market. and CEB Onlaw California practice materials.

 

Read Part 1 of the Hits and Misses Survey: Best Products here