Legacy CRM Outdated

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“Our CRM was a static depository of internal data, but we needed it to be an engine of proactive business development.” 

– Nicole, Associate Director, Client Development Technology & Operations, Baker Botts

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At the beginning of 2024, Baker Botts recognized that its legacy CRM system wasn’t where it needed to be. It served primarily as a static repository for internal data (past work, case history, and client interactions), but failed to provide the external intelligence signals from credible sources that attorneys need for proactive outreach.

Baker Botts needed a modern CRM solution that went beyond only housing internal data to also integrate real-time, external insights, such as industry news, litigation updates, and transaction information. They wanted the gold dust, as we call it – the insight that allows an attorney to reach out and say, “Hey, I saw this happen, we can help you with this, and here is where we’ve done this before.” 

With data fragmented across systems, BD teams struggled to surface insights in a timely, scalable way.

Baker Botts understood that, while Attorneys may know their clients' businesses intimately, they were often overwhelmed with a full caseload and the constant need to familiarize themselves with new industries. This left little time for proactive outreach.

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Vendor Selection

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Once Baker Botts committed to DealCloud as its next-generation CRM, it became evident that the platform needed external intelligence to help attorneys monitor client industries, spot opportunities, and engage proactively. 

DealCloud offered Data Cortex, a built-in option for news and external data feeds. However, the team found that while Data Cortex performed strongly in structured datasets such as S&P data, the news coverage was insufficient for the firm’s needs. At the same time, NewsDesk, along with other existing vendors, lacked the capacity to integrate with DealCloud, leaving a clear gap. 

The law firm now needed a partner who could deliver curated, relevant, and actionable news directly into the CRM. This is where Kaitongo came in.

Baker Botts conducted a structured vendor evaluation, comparing DealCloud’s native news flow, Newsdesk, and Kaitongo. The firm’s criteria centered on:

• Relevance and quality of news
• Accuracy and comprehensiveness of coverage
• Ease of integration with DealCloud
• Scalability across companies and multiple practice taxonomies

Over a month-long assessment, eight members of the Baker Botts team reviewed Kaitongo’s newsflow for coverage, signal relevance, usefulness in BD outreach, and the ability to surface “what matters” from the noise.

Lynne Kilgore emphasized:

“Kaitongo’s value wasn’t just in providing news. It was in providing actionable news. The firm needed signals, not summaries. And that’s exactly where Kaitongo outperformed every other vendor.”

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Why Kaitongo Was Selected

By August 2024, Kaitongo was chosen because:

• It produced high-quality, curated news focused on legal-relevant business events.
• Its AI-powered signal generation surfaced the “so what” – the exact insights attorneys need for outreach.
• It could support scalable taxonomy mapping across practice groups, something no other vendor offered at the required depth.
• It offered smooth integration with DealCloud, which many other vendors did not.

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Implementation & Enablement

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​The Challenge: Data and taxonomy alignment

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Baker Botts had implemented multiple internal taxonomies within DealCloud to support firmwide search, reporting, and business development workflows. While mapping industry sectors was relatively straightforward using Kaitongo’s GICS-based taxonomy, practice-area alignment proved far more complex. Kaitongo’s native tagging methodology was based on business events, while Baker Botts organized insights by legal practice.

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The Solution: LLM-based tagging

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To resolve this, the teams implemented an LLM-based tagging approach that natively mapped every news item to Baker Botts’ practice taxonomies. This made it so that intelligence surfaced in ways immediately relevant to attorneys’ daily workflows.  From an architectural standpoint, Baker Botts and Kaitongo jointly decided on a push-based integration model. Rather than pulling data into DealCloud, Kaitongo pushed curated news, enriched metadata, and AI-generated “conversation starters” directly into DealCloud via a secure cloud setup.

This approach reduced system load, promoted timeliness, and allowed intelligence to surface cleanly across company profiles, dashboards, and attorney views.

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Results & Outcomes

As Baker Botts’ CRM rollout continues, early outcomes already point to a meaningful shift in how intelligence supports business development across the firm. Attorneys now have access to real-time, curated intelligence alongside matters, contacts, and past work. This allows attorneys to see not just what has happened with a client, but what is happening now.

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Key Outcomes:

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1. Faster, more relevant client outreach: Attorneys now have access to timely, relevant talking points directly inside DealCloud, eliminating the need to search across multiple tools or rely on the preparation of time-consuming summaries.
2. Reduced silos across practice and office: Company-level intelligence is visible firmwide, improving awareness of developments that may be relevant beyond a single matter or team and enabling stronger cross-practice collaboration.
3. A scalable foundation for proactive business development: With intelligence embedded at the core of DealCloud, Baker Botts has established a platform that supports signals, key account insights, and practice-driven outreach, positioning the CRM as a central engine for growth as adoption continues.

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