Nolo Selects Percussion’s Rhythmyx WCM To Enhance Legal Information Delivery to Online Consumers and Small Businesses

WOBURN, MA – December 10, 2007 – Percussion Software, a leading developer of Web Content Management (WCM) software for multi-channel, customer-centric applications, today announced that Nolo, the nation's oldest and most respected provider of legal information for consumers and small businesses, has selected Percussion’s Rhythmyx WCM solution to enhance online legal information delivery and to support its eCommerce platform.   Nolo will replace its aging legacy Content Management System (CMS) with a state-of-the-art Rhythmyx WCM solution capable of handling one million monthly visitors at www.nolo.com.   The Nolo Web site provides free information that helps people with their legal questions – a key part of the company’s corporate mission – as well as serving as a channel for Nolo’s publishing business, through sales of legal books, software and downloadable legal forms.  

Rhythmyx will be tightly integrated with the eOneCommerce platform from eOneGroup, which Nolo uses to manage online product information and sales.  eOneCommerce will pull content from Rhythmyx and deliver it dynamically to Web users.  This seamless integration is made possible by Rhythmyx’s Active Delivery capability and architecture.  Nolo also runs WebTrends web analytics to target the most profitable customer segments, track the behaviors of those audiences, and learn the content that Web users prefer. 

“We didn’t find another CMS that can do what Rhythmyx does, from the range of capabilities in its WCM platform, to the ability to interoperate and integrate with other technologies, to its ease of use,“ said Nolo’s Director of Online Development, Wendy Copley.  “Rhythmyx gives us a lot of options for how we present content.  It can output without customization, requiring only simple configuration to export content to a Web page, into a database or using XML.  We were also very impressed by Rhythmyx’s workflow and change management capabilities, which will significantly improve the way we process content updates and get them to our online users.  We expect cost savings from Rhythmyx via reduced labor – and by spending less time maintaining the WCM system, our developers will be able to add new features and work on new projects that will have a positive impact on revenues.” 

Rhythmyx will handle the bulk of Nolo’s Web content, including legal articles and updates, FAQs, Q&As that answer legal questions, checklists, updates to books, an extensive glossary of legal definitions, press releases and stand alone Web pages such as store hours and company history – all totaling between 4,000 to 5,000 pieces of content.  Initially, one-third of Nolo’s staff will use Rhythmyx, including line-of-business users, lawyer reviewers and IT developers.  Nolo will take advantage of Rhythmyx FastForward, an out-of-the-box package of quick implementation capabilities that speed deployment. 

“Nolo is a source of high-quality free legal information as well as a publisher.  These are both areas that benefit from Rhythmyx’s enterprise-strength Web Content Management,” said Percussion CEO Barry Reynolds.  “With Rhythmyx, Nolo will better manage online content to ensure that legal information is current and accurate.  In addition, tight integration of Rhythmyx with Nolo’s eCommerce platform will create a seamless content delivery environment, which will provide a compelling experience for Nolo’s online users and help convert Web site visitors into paying customers.” 

Nolo will benefit from a variety of Rhythmyx capabilities to address their core content management needs, including:

• Enhanced Workflow and Change Management – Nolo maintains a library of some 2,000 lengthy articles on legal topics ranging from estate planning to tax law, bankruptcy and gay rights that must be updated regularly.   With Rhythmyx, Nolo legal editors will make the necessary changes, and documents will go into a workflow process averaging five steps for fact checking, formatting, proofing and approval.   Rhythmyx will enable Nolo users to compare old and new versions of articles at a glance to see what’s changed, significantly simplifying the review and approval process.   It currently takes a Nolo developer 40 hours of hand-coding to create a new workflow.   With Rhythmyx, that process will be cut down to less than four hours – a reduction of 90 percent – freeing up developer time for more important value-added projects.
• Nolo’s Lawyer Directory – Nolo also plans to bring its Lawyer Directory into Rhythmyx.   Unlike other, less robust directories on the Web, Nolo’s Lawyer Directory features extensive information about each attorney, based on a detailed 30-question profile.   Currently, that information is entered by hand by Nolo staff in an application separate from the CMS.   Rhythmyx will bring the attorney profiles into the content management environment, and enable Nolo to send the profiles through an enhanced workflow for approval before being added to the online directory.   Eventually, Nolo will use Rhythmyx WebForms to deploy a customized interactive Web-based form , enabling attorneys to contribute profile information themselves online, freeing up considerable Nolo staff hours.  

About Nolo

The established leader in do-it-yourself legal materials since 1971, Nolo publishes easy-to-use books, software, legal forms, and Web resources to guide individuals and small businesses through the legal tangles of life’s big events.  Nolo has helped millions master a variety of legal issues and save millions of dollars.  Nolo's website, www.nolo.com, offers comprehensive, plain-English legal information and a wide array of electronic and traditional legal tools including online documents, guides, books and software. 

About Percussion Software

Percussion Software's family of practical software solutions enables customers to maximize both the value and quality of their enterprise content.   The company's flagship product, Rhythmyx 6.5, is an enterprise-level Web Content Management (WCM) solution for creating customer-centric business applications.   Rhythmyx 6.5 enables organizations to achieve a higher return-on-content by delivering dynamic, frequently changing content to customers.   Based on open standards, it provides organizations with a robust platform that allows customer-centric content to interoperate with other enterprise content, regardless of repository or ECM system.   With Rhythmyx, content can be easily managed across multiple sites, multiple channels and multiple lines of business in order to ensure consistency of brand and customer experience.   The Percussion 2.0 Solution Series, which includes the WebTrends Analytics Integration Solution and the Community Marketing Solution, enables marketing and business professionals to buy packaged capabilities targeting specific line-of-business objectives for their customer-centric Web content managed by Percussion’s Rhythmyx platform.  

Percussion’s portfolio of customers includes Fortune 1000 as well as other global, industry and public sector leaders, including Armstrong World Industries, Autotrader.com, BC Hydro, Cheapflights.com, Churchill Downs, Edmund Optics, Hotwire.com, ING Direct, Kohl’s, Tivo, Princess Cruises, Midway Games, Network World , Tate Museum, U.S. Departments of State, Health & Human Services and Justice, Vegas.com, The Washington Post , DLA Piper, Alliance & Leicester, British Library, NSPCC, University of London and the Naval Post Graduate School.

Founded in 1994, Percussion Software is self-funded and profitable.   More information can be found on the Web at www.percussion.com .

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Percussion Software is a registered trademark and Rhythmyx and Percussion 2.0 are trademarks of Percussion Software.All other registered trademarks and trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.