AbacusLaw is a case management software that tracks hours and processes billing touting a functional mobile application, from AbacusNext in San Diego.
N/A
Actionstep
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Actionstep in Richmond offers their flagship legal practice management software as an end-to-end solution, containing both matter management tools and business administration automation, with an internal billing and accounting system.
My understanding is AbacusLaw was bought out by CARET and now pushing their cloud based CMS. Support has always sucked with AbacusLaw. Again, our latest 10+ issues has been going on since 2/13/2023 and it is now 5/18/2023. Abacus STILL does not know how to fix our issues!!! For $60/month per user, you think they would have better support. I have in the process of canceling our contract for breach of contract due to support and the issues for the last 3 months and going with a new CMS. However, the partners of the firm want to stick with a self-hosted (stand alone) CMS, and they are few and far between anymore.
ActionStep is a powerful CRM and matter management tool. It provides many other good benefits too. For example powerful accounting and billing, time tracking and document management. Only in highly specific areas, like multiple many to many contact relations has it fallen short. But even in this highly specialized area, so many other benefits are provided that it hardly matters.
SUPPORT STINKS - As of today we have been having issues for OVER 3 MONTHS, but Abacus now only has ONE Tier II tech, and ONE Tier III tech and neither one have figured out our problem or fixed it!
Having a lot of issues since day one
We have a self-hosted version and are not on the cloud and the updates usually bring other issues. They don't know the term "if its not broke don't fix it."
ActionStep is difficult to setup. I suggest working with a consultant which increases cost.
Needs mobile app.
One of our practice areas, Property Law, request we have a many to many contact relation. ActionStep cannot accommodate this. However, no other software I have reviewed can do this either. ActionStep is the most robust that I have seen and comes closest to making this work.
The support is generally good and relatively quick BUT when there is a new product or something they want you to buy, I have felt a bit harassed at that point by sales but when I have an issue I don't feel like support jumps on it as quick.
I did not evaluate MyCase when we selected AbacusLaw. I did not select AbacusLaw and was not involved at that time in the decision. I am evaluating MyCase NOW to REPLACE AbacusLaw.
I have worked with a lot of software. Each one has a different focus. ActionStep is better at workflow and task automation that the items above, in my opinion. However, having gone through many different deployments, what really matters is identifying your key requirements and needs. Then evaluation software against those. Once you have your requirements and software, focus on using that software to fix issues in existing workflow. This, when compared with ongoing training, is what it means to invest in software. Simply purchasing ActionStep or any software without identifying needs, problems in workflow or an investment in training is not a good plan. Neither is comparing the vendors to one another without knowing all of your specific needs.
I love the workflows that can be deployed for practice areas to ensure consistency. This has reduced new employee onboarding time and increased the speed at which we can complete matters.
Since ActionStep lives in the cloud, and we have O365 our firm is very mobile without spending lots of money in TS or other such infrastructure.
Creating the workflows is a bit complex, so this increases the overall cost and makes an ROI take longer. I suggest spending a bit more initially to get everything setup and working with a consultant to learn how to do this on your own during that initial setup.
