Internet Court Documents Business Plan

eDocFile will focus on the court system. Adoption by the courts will lead to compliance of lawyers within a jurisdiction. Thus capturing one market segment will create a captive market segment of lawyers. Our primary focus will be on small to medium courts, however, discussions with New York Judicial Information Network (NYJIN) suggest that we may be able to capture the entire New York court system at one time.

5.1 Marketing Strategy

Positioning and branding will be key in establishing eDocFile as the e-filing leader for the legal profession. This will be achieved through a focused and targeted marketing communications plan. eDocFile will focus on the courts through a direct sales campaign aimed at building relationships and trust with potential clients. The second phase of our marketing is to a “drive to the Web” strategy that is designed to automate sales. Though this part of the process is automated, eDocFile will maintain a one-to-one service model and a mass customization product model.

5.1.1 Promotion Strategy

Press releases will target influential writers within the legal technology industry and allowing them to test the product, as a way to generate interest would be a primary strategy of our PR campaign. Getting this kind of free press will generate widespread industry interest. Trade shows will become our forum to display and demonstrate our product to the legal community. Brochures, articles and CD’s would form our literature package to send to clients.

5.1.2 Pricing Strategy

eDocFile will adopt a utility based pricing model for the extranet services; that is, a court system will be charged storage on the system plus a hosting fee (10 cents a megabyte). Lawyers will be charged a nominal $10 transaction fee per filing. This fee pays for the automation process of checking the document for compliance with the court and will transmit an electronic receipt for the lawyer’s records if successful or a receipt with reasons why the filing is not successful. When accepted the filing would be automated into the court system notifying all the concerned parties. Lawyers may also opt for a hosting model if they want to automate their case management systems through our extranet. This relationship will not negate the e-filing transaction cost.

Reselling judicial information would carry a transaction fee but would not become a revenue producing activity until we have established ourselves as a market leader. At that point we will look toward cultivating that market.

At the outset we will not charge our customers a sign-up fee, but future-pricing models will look to defray acquisition costs through such a fee. Our pricing model is designed to encourage usage and adoption among the courts.

5.2 Sales Strategy

Direct sales is the only way for us to build trust and credibility. Emphasis will be on developing pilot programs with courts. Once this credibility building phase is done eDocFile will move toward an automated “drive to the Web” model. This will bring down acquisition costs significantly and allow the company to benefit from economies of scope and scale.

5.2.1 Sales Programs

The philosophy of the company toward sales is that every employee is a member of the sales team and will be educated in the nuances of selling the product. Functional sales teams will be comprised of a legal professional and a technical professional, together these teams will function as consultants to courts. An inside sales team will compile information about customers while working closely with the marketing group. As we grow, sales teams will become responsible for geographical areas.

5.2.2 Sales Forecast

Sales will be slow at first but grow exponentially once eDocFile has established credibility in the legal community. Growth will depend on enrolling courts in eDocFile’s centralized Web-based system. Once the beta version is completed hiring a sales and marketing force would become our primary activity. Training, motivating and retaining a well-informed and zealous team will greatly enhance the success of the company.

5.3 Milestones

Milestones are fluid and adaptable to market and economic changes. As we add staff, responsibilities will be shifted to appropriate managers and functional areas.