John Sroka wanted a customer-relationship management software suite that would help his chief marketing officer execute a new strategy to grow the business. It didn't take long for Sroka, chief technology officer at Duane Morris, a Philadelphia law firm with $200 million in annual revenue, to narrow the scope of his search to providers that offer apps designed for the legal industry.

"We needed a solution quickly," Sroka says. "We were going through a major technology overhaul and wanted to implement CRM as part of that upgrade."

Chief marketing officer Ed Schecter wanted to leverage the knowledge and client-base of the firm's 500 lawyers to sell new services. So he wanted a CRM package that would let the company track individual lawyer's expertise, clients, and contacts. About 75 lawyers are using it so far.

Sroka chose InterAction software from Interface Software Inc. "We ended up going with them because of their expertise in the area, the depth of the organization, and the size of their existing client base," he says, noting that Interface has the largest customer base of the three vendors he considered.

In a weakened economy, ensuring that a vendor has a sizable installed base is vital for determining longevity. What's more, while the other vendors had products aimed at the legal industry, Sroka says, they weren't those vendors' sole focus. InterAction is Interface's core product, which gives Sroka confidence that it will continue to focus its research and development on his business.

Interface plans to release the next iteration of InterAction, version 5, by the end of September. The new release will give users more control over the data they share with their coworkers. Instead of data automatically being pulled together, users will have the option to keep some information private. A new user interface will let users view all the software's features on a single screen.

Initially, Duane Morris employees are using the software to store client information. Once they're all comfortable with the system, Schecter says, they'll use its cross-selling capabilities, too. Pricing for InterAction 5 is $389 for a user license plus $60,000 to $250,000 for the server license.