In today's competitive legal landscape, firms are drowning in relationship data scattered across multiple systems. Email servers capture interactions, CRM systems track contacts, billing platforms record revenue, and ERM solutions promise to tie it all together. But here's the critical question: Is your data actually working together, or are you just looking through different windows at the same incomplete picture?
The answer lies in understanding the difference between viewing data and truly joining it within your CRM. This distinction could be the difference between missed opportunities and maximized revenue.
What Is Joined Data in CRM?
Joined data in CRM means relationship information from your ERM system doesn't just appear in your CRM—it actually becomes part of your CRM database. This creates a unified dataset where every piece of information can be searched, sorted, filtered, and reported on together.
Currently, many ERM providers use what's called "iframe integration." It's like having two separate spreadsheets open side by side—you can see data from both sheets, but you can't filter, sort, or report across them because the data isn't actually combined into one sheet. With iframe integrations, your ERM data appears within your CRM interface, but it remains in a completely separate database. You can view the information, but you can't run unified reports, create filtered lists using criteria from both systems, or trigger workflows based on the combined data. The data is visible but not truly integrated.
This approach creates significant limitations. If you want to run a report showing "Who has the strongest relationship with this contact, and when was our last interaction?" you're out of luck. The relationship strength data lives in the ERM, the interaction data might be there too, but your CRM can't combine this information with its own records to generate meaningful insights.
When data doesn't live natively in your CRM, you're essentially running two separate systems that happen to share a visual interface.
Key Features of an Effective ERM-CRM Connector
A truly powerful ERM connector that enables joined data must deliver four critical capabilities:
Direct Data Synchronization The connector must move data from the ERM database directly into corresponding CRM tables. No iframes, no external lookups—the relationship data becomes CRM data. This means relationship scores, interaction dates, contact levels, and other ERM insights are searchable and reportable alongside all your other CRM information.
Point-and-Click Integration Business users should be able to configure data synchronization without involving IT or managing complex APIs. The best connectors provide intuitive interfaces where CRM administrators can map fields, define sync rules, and manage data flows independently. This eliminates lengthy development cycles and puts control directly in the hands of the people who understand the business requirements.
Field-Level Flexibility The connector must allow any field from the ERM to sync to any field in the CRM. Your business needs will evolve, new reporting requirements will emerge, and your CRM strategy will mature over time. A rigid connector that only syncs predetermined fields will become a bottleneck as your needs change.
Speed and Agility When business requirements change—and they will—you need the ability to quickly add new data elements or modify existing sync rules. The connector should adapt to the speed of business, not force business decisions to wait for IT resources or lengthy implementation cycles.
Why Direct Data Sync Is Critical
Without joined data, your firm misses crucial opportunities that directly impact revenue and relationship management.
Limited List Building Capabilities Imagine you're planning an executive golf outing in Southern California. You want to invite C-level contacts from the technology industry where your firm has strong relationships and recent engagement through meetings or emails. With iframe integration, you can't build this list because the data needed to filter by relationship strength, interaction recency, and executive level isn't searchable within your CRM database.
No Strategic Relationship Management Your firm's most valuable relationships require proactive management. You should be able to create workflows that identify when strategic relationships are fading—perhaps a C-level executive at a million-dollar client hasn't had any interaction in three months. But without relationship records synced to your CRM, you can't build these automated alerts. The relationship data exists in your ERM, but your CRM's workflow engine can't act on information it doesn't contain.
Fragmented Reporting When you combine relationship data with billing information, you can identify incredibly valuable patterns. Which relationships correlate with the highest revenue? Which practice areas have the strongest client connections? These insights require joining ERM relationship data with CRM billing data—impossible when systems remain separate.
Business Value and Outcomes of Joined Data
When your ERM and CRM truly integrate, you unlock four powerful business outcomes:
Continuous Data Quality High-quality data drives successful marketing campaigns. When relationship data flows directly into your CRM and stays continuously updated, your marketing lists remain accurate and actionable. Outdated contact information and stale relationship insights lead to ineffective outreach and missed opportunities. Joined data ensures your marketing team always works from the most current, complete picture.
Hyper-Targeted List Building Direct data sync enriches your CRM with relationship scores, interaction dates, contact levels, and industry information. This wealth of joined data enables precise segmentation that drives better results. You can build lists of executive-level contacts in specific industries where your firm has strong relationships and recent engagement. The richer your combined dataset, the more precisely you can target your outreach efforts.
Strategic Relationship Management Joined data enables proactive relationship management through automated workflows. You can identify fading relationships before they go cold, track engagement with high-value clients, and ensure consistent follow-up on strategic connections. When relationship records sync to your CRM, your system can automatically flag when a C-level executive at a major client hasn't been contacted in months, triggering outreach before the relationship deteriorates.
Client 360-Degree View Perhaps most importantly, joined data creates a comprehensive client intelligence hub within your CRM. Your team can access billing history, matter details, relationship networks, and interaction patterns all in one location. This unified view enables more effective cross-selling by showing who knows whom, identifying warm introduction opportunities, and tracking the success of relationship-building efforts.
Advanced implementations can track the entire cross-selling funnel: identifying target contacts, facilitating introductions through existing relationships, monitoring interactions with new practice areas, and measuring results through new matters and billable hours.
The Bottom Line
In an increasingly competitive legal market, the firms that win are those that leverage their relationships most effectively. But relationships are only valuable if you can find them, analyze them, and act on them.
Joined data transforms your CRM from a contact database into a relationship intelligence platform. It enables precise targeting, proactive relationship management, and data-driven business development that directly impacts your bottom line.
The question isn't whether you can afford to implement true ERM-CRM integration. The question is whether you can afford to continue operating with fragmented data while your competitors gain the advantages of unified relationship intelligence.
Your relationships are your competitive advantage. Make sure your technology helps you leverage them effectively.