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Marketing Directors and CMOs are very good at picking targets for their firms to pursue.  The stumbling block becomes finding a contact at the target company.  If the firm has a CRM system, it may print out a list of professionals who know people at the target. But the question becomes, how well do they know them?

Now, version 5.0 of ContactNet solves that problem. It's firmwide software that mines a variety of databases in a law firm -- Outlook Contacts, email traffic patterns, online calendars, employee work history, the CRM (client relationship management) and marketing databases.  Then it generates a list of professionals at your firm who know contacts at the target, as well as how close the relationship is.

"Much like the results of a Google^TM search, Contact Network's Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM) software lists colleagues who have relationships with a target individual or company according to strength.  ContactNet 5.0 uses 37 distinct variables to rank and score relationship strength. Colleagues with the strongest relationships appear at the top of the results list," said Geoffrey Hyatt, President and CEO of the 4-year old Boston-based company.

What's nice is that users can access the software via existing channels, such as the firm intranet, Outlook, the firm CRM system or even a handheld wireless PDA device.

ContactNet 5.0 includes pinpoint geographic search, which enables users to search for relationships by location within the radius of a target city including multiple states.  For example, users can search for relationships within 20 miles from New York or Baltimore, which is helpful for arranging a full day of meetings and event marketing," said Jakki Glivicky, Senior Director of Marketing & Communications.

Current customers of the firm include 450-lawyer Mintz Levin in Boston, the Boston Consulting Group, Greylock Partners, Kodiak Venture Partners, and Sagent Advisors.  Contact net says it has signed 7 additional law firms, but won't disclose their names at the moment.

"Business development and marketing professionals at larger firms have the advantage of having more employees with more relationships to potentially leverage for business development efforts. On the flip side, the larger the firm, the more difficult it becomes to know all of your colleagues and the valuable relationships they have," said Shawn Samuel, Chief Technology Officer at Contact Networks.  "ContactNet 5.0 incorporates the feedback and features that we've gathered from our customers over the past four years, who have used our solution to transform individual relationships into a firm-wide competitive advantage."