CRIV BLOG

Notes on the AALL Committee on Relations with Information Vendors (CRIV) conference call with Thomson Reuters (TR)

Conference Call Participants:

• Caroline Walters, Collection Development Librarian for U.S. & Materials Budget,

Harvard Law School Library

Agenda:

• Caroline Walters reported that there were no “new” outstanding TR issues from the CRIV forum*
• Rachel Torgerson Customer to Cash Group Update:
• Progress continues on the Product Descriptions initiative. Internally, at Thomson Reuters, the Customer to Cash group has engaged additional teams at TR to work on clear product descriptions for all products not just print publications.  This initiative continues to be a top priority for the Customer to Cash group.
• Enhanced Customer Engagement led by Armando Fagundes’ group continues to make progress on the High Touch Service Model and is rolling out a Pilot Program. This model is focused on delivering to customers a “single point of contract” for all billing issues such as cash application, credits, and collections.  Internally, TR is reorganizing existing resources to meet this new single point of contact approach.
• Work continues on the MY TR site (i.e. enhanced MY ACCOUNT). MY TR will be a consistent uniform self-service portal for customers.  Focus will be on user management: ease of changing billing contact persons, review bills/invoices, easily track payments, credits, and refunds as well as selecting payment options. Finally, MY TR will allow users to pro-actively set up automatic notifications of bills, etc.  A beta test group is being formulated for feedback on the MY TR site. Most importantly, the MY TR group  continues to work on improving overall performance rates.
• Harvard Law School and TR Tax & Accounting specific billing issue was discussed and Rachel Torgerson will follow up with Caroline Waters offline.
• AALL/Thomson Reuters Booth will have MY TR kiosk where librarians can see demonstrations of the new MY TR site. Senior TR Customer Service Representatives and Managers will be available to field questions.
• A discussion regarding the AALL CRIV Roundtable agenda on Sunday, July 14 at 1:00pm (EDT). Topics will include:
  • Preservation concerns regarding Secondary Legal resources:  “Gone Forever?  Preservation Concerns for Secondary Legal Sources in the Electronic Age and Why It Matters,” on page 6 of the CRIV Sheet: https://www.aallnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/The-CRIV-Sheet-Vol.-41-No.-3-042919_FINAL-WEB.pdf
  • Focus on Artificial Intelligence and how it’s being implemented in the legal information profession
  • Explore the “unique identifiers” that both Lexis and Westlaw assign to new cases and how to improve access to those identifiers for consumers of legal information

*Post-conference call there were two requests for assistance that came through:

Issue #1:  Customer reported problems paying invoices by credit card making it necessary to speak with Customer Service 800# to confirm the charges are applied correctly, but the wait time is too long.

• Rachel Torgerson, Customer Success Strategist for TR handled the request by helping their Accounts Payable Department get access to MyAccount which allows the ability to view and pay bills online.

• She is also looking into the long wait times to make payments with our Customer Service Teams and is also sharing this customer’s lack of confidence of payments being applied.

Issue #2:  A customer reported a problem of shifting content for a license agreement at the point of renewal for Thomson Reuters Practical Law (due to new version releases) without informing the customer.

• The Practical Law Specialist reached out and explained the new, expanded content and functionality and to show that if someone clicks on a ‘new’ item they will receive an out-of-plan message with a prompt to connect with their client management team.

• The Practical Team provided the customer with a full demonstration of the new features/functionality/content as well as provided pricing so that they could make a clear decision regarding the firm’s renewal and Practical Law content upgrade.