Software provides financial and practice management.
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Press Release Summary:
Designed to support any size firm, web-based Elite 3E business process platform enables global professional services firms to transform business capabilities to achieve strategic objectives. Automated workflows and ad hoc collaboration enable users to share information at critical junctures. Built-in capabilities eliminate need for manual analysis; new metrics can be defined and multiple metrics runs can be compared side-by-side in near real-time.
Original Press Release:
Elite 3E Next-Generation Financial and Practice Management Software Now Available from Thomson Elite
Technologically advanced business process platform enables firms to transform the way they do business
LOS ANGELES, April 3 / -- Thomson Elite today unveiled the most significant product launch in its 58-year history. Elite 3E is the next generation of the company's flagship Elite(R) suite of business optimization software for professional services companies built on a completely new platform based on the most advanced technologies available. Thomson Elite is part of The Thomson Corporation and a worldwide provider of integrated practice and financial management systems for professional services firms.
Elite 3E enables software to work the way firms work by allowing them to embed their business processes into the applications. The company's easy-to- use Web-based system is an enterprise software development platform built from the ground up, leveraging patent-pending technology.
3E is the only business process platform that enables global professional services firms to transform business capabilities to achieve strategic objectives. The scalable platform is designed to support any size firm, including the largest in the world. Elite 3E delivers expanded enterprise functionality with embedded workflow and process automation designed for effortless collaboration. 3E also provides a rapid development environment for easy deployment of customer-specific applications.
"Our overarching vision is to give our customers a strategic and competitive advantage with the most advanced tools available," said Chris Poole, president and CEO, Thomson Elite. "We believe 3E represents a change in professional services technology in the same way that the move to relational databases and client/server systems radically changed the competitive landscape in the last generation."
Prior to 3E's public launch, Thomson Elite collaborated with a select handful of the world's most prominent law firms, currently in various stages of implementation. Each of these organizations examined 3E's business benefits and decided to make an investment with Thomson Elite to run its business.
"As a large firm expanding internationally, we need a system that supports multiple languages and currencies, as well as a single platform for both the firm's financials and statutory accounting," commented Norman Lacroix, chief financial officer, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, an international firm in the top 10 of the Am Law 100 list. "Thomson Elite knows the law firm environment well. They are well grounded in the best practices of operating such a professional services organization, including the financial underpinnings."
Thomson Elite knows successful organizations embrace technology, and the company has observed that customers view 3E as a valuable asset.
"Our firm needs to respond with agility to the changing needs of clients," said Frank Gillman, chief technology officer, Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP, a California-based firm. "We were intrigued by the scalability and flexibility of 3E because it opens the door to move in a number of directions. Plus, a system that's built on Microsoft .NET Framework is built to last."
"We want to make a step change from a late 20th century billing system to a leading-edge integrated 21st century finance system, for the benefit of our clients, our lawyers and our finance team," added Russ Houlden, finance director, Lovells, a U.K.-based international firm near the top of the Am Law Global 100 list. "We believe that, with 3E, Lovells will set the standard for others to follow."
Key design and technology features include the following:
o Workflow and collaboration. Automated workflows and ad hoc collaboration capabilities are built into the system so users can share information at critical junctures and ensure management directives.
o Powerful customization. 3E's integrated development environment (IDE) allows firms to configure the system to meet their unique needs at every step of the business process cycle.
o Web services integration. The system natively supports a Web services architecture. Thomson Elite's new Elite Services Bus (ESB), leveraging Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 technology, provides customized management extensions to integrate diverse business applications and increase efficiency. This capability makes systems integration easier by eliminating the need for firms to create customized code for integration.
o Advanced technology. With 3E, Thomson Elite brings several firsts to the professional services industry. Based on Microsoft .NET technologies, the system was built from the ground up on a services architecture. It also leverages the software factory paradigm for automating software development to increase agility, productivity and predictability across the product life cycle. Additionally, 3E utilizes technologies surrounding the Web 2.0 concept, including AJAX, client-side rendering of XML and collaboration tools.
Thomson Elite is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. According to Brian Zeve, managing director, Professional Services Industry Group at Microsoft Corporation, "Thomson Elite is a global leader in the professional services software business. We are excited to see Thomson Elite's new product leverage advanced technologies from Microsoft, such as our BizTalk Server 2006 and .NET Framework-based technologies. Together with leading companies such as Thomson Elite, we are bringing the full weight of Microsoft innovation to the professional services market."
o Enhanced metrics. Financial and other data can be sliced and diced for true business intelligence using 3E's metrics engine. This flexibility adds to ease of use by allowing intuitive access and easier distribution of the right data to the right desktop. Built-in capabilities eliminate the need for manual analysis, new metrics can be defined and multiple metrics runs can be compared side-by-side in near real time.
o Internationalization. 3E includes sophisticated international capabilities to work with global firms' complex multi-office structures. Multiple currencies and languages, taxes, local accounting requirements and global templates are all supported. 3E's ability to enable global users to collaborate on a case, with built-in workflow capabilities, can be used as a powerful tool in a worldwide expansion strategy.
o Improved business management. Fixed asset management, purchase order tracking, travel expense reporting and security controls are among the enhanced management capabilities.
About Thomson Elite
Thomson Elite is a leading provider of integrated information solutions to professional services firms worldwide. Thomson Elite is a business within The Thomson Corporation and is a premier provider of financial and practice management systems to the legal industry and to other professional services markets, including accounting, engineering, marketing services, and management and IT consulting. For more information, visit www.thomsonelite.com/ .
The Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation ( www.thomson.com/ ), with 2005 revenues of $8.70 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value- added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate e-learning and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson has approximately 40,000 employees and provides services in approximately 130 countries.
