LexisNexis Snatches Up CRM VendorLexisNexis Snatches Up CRM Vendor

LexisNexis has jumped into the customer-relationship-management market. The information-services firm has acquired Interface Software Inc. and plans to combine Interface's InterAction application with its own efforts on the client-development services front. Terms of the deal were not divulged.

LexisNexis, best known for providing news and business information to professional-services firms, has in the past few years attempted to grow by providing services that help clients find, win, and keep their customers, says John Lawler, senior VP of LexisNexis' emerging markets group. The acquisition of Interface, which makes software specifically for professional-services firms, will let LexisNexis create products that complement the ability to integrate LexisNexis information with client profiles stored in InterAction. "At this point, the team is working on the specifics of a product road map of how those things will all come together," Lawler says.

The products LexisNexis has launched to build its client-development services include Martindale Hubbell, which is a directory of information on lawyers and law firms, and CourtLink, which enables attorneys to access court-docket information, sometimes before their clients even know they're the subjects of litigation. Interface claims to have more than 300 law firms, including 70 of the largest 100, using its software.

The acquisition has already been completed. LexisNexis says all Interface employees have been retained and continue to operate out of the company's Oak Brook, Ill., offices.