As I reviewed responses to JD Supra’s recent client survey about CRM usage, one takeaway jumped out to me in particular: If we asked again a year from now, the answers to ‘Which CRM does your organization use?’ would likely be quite different!
Why?
Because nearly half of the responding firms and organizations said that they are planning to switch CRM platforms. Simple as that. Clients are on the move, and I now have a sense of where they are headed. More on that below.
We asked all JD Supra clients (a mix of law firms of every size, solution providers working with firms, and professional service organizations in the regulatory/compliance space) which CRM they used, whether they were planning to change platforms, and if so: where they were going.
The answers suggest to me three trends
In 2025, marketing and business development teams in professional service organizations favor CRMs that
- are cloud-based;
- Integrate cleanly with other, relevant platforms; and
- deliver better, actionable business development and marketing insights.
Data points from the survey, and my follow-up interactions with clients and colleagues, support these takeaways, but I think this reply from Keely Yates, Director of Marketing at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, might sum it up best:
“We chose to move to DealCloud primarily to improve integration across the platforms we already use internally. As part of the Intapp ecosystem, DealCloud offered a natural and efficient fit. In addition, its superior Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM) capabilities and its tools for experience management and business development insight made it a clear upgrade from our previous CRM.”
Keely spells it out: the firm moved to a cloud-based CRM to improve integration with other platforms, and to leverage additional tools for EM and BD, among other practices. (Disclaimer: Intapp DealCloud is a JD Supra partner.)
A Single Dashboard & Actionable Insights
My goal here is not to call out those platforms that appear to be languishing, and so I will say in general terms: the survey results show a significant migration away from CRM platforms that don’t support integration to a mix of those that do.
Those that do are cloud-based and (via, for example, integrations) are committed to supporting their clients with actionable business development takeaways. (I would in fact argue that all three of the favorable CRM trends/qualities I mention above are inextricably tied together. Unlikely you can have the third, BD insights, without the first two, for example).
Some of this may not come as a surprise, especially when you consider two related trends that all of us are familiar with by now. First: for years, one common refrain among marketing and BD teams has been: “I don’t want another dashboard!” We hear it again and again from the stage at LMA conferences, or in hallway conversations: “Please give me one dashboard that integrates all of my key platforms.”
Those CRM platforms that appear to be leading the way today are responding meaningfully to this call.
A One-Two Punch: Portable Data & AI
The second macro-trend: portable data. Thanks to cloud architectures, APIs, and purpose-built integrations, it’s now much easier to feed that unified dashboard with the specific signals that move BD forward.
Layer on AI and the value compounds. (For example, JD Supra’s AI Insights—part of our integration with Intapp DealCloud—delivers industry and company-level signals derived from site-wide readership data, right inside DealCloud.)
It’s telling that at the recent LMA Northeast regional conference, InterAction signaled a 2026 move to the cloud with embedded AI—a shift aligned with what users are asking for and what the market is rewarding.
Other Findings
As I mention above, I have no interest in calling out any platforms that appear to be losing clients, but I will share a few data points that might be helpful to teams trying to decide their next CRM moves:
- Three general-market CRM platforms (versus those specifically built for or focused on legal) appeared in the survey results: Salesforce, Hubspot, and Monday.
- Firms indicating a switch to Nexl are small/mid-sized (50-200 attorneys); firms switching to Legal360 and Hubspot tend to be slightly larger (over 200 attorneys); whereas firms moving to Peppermint and Intapp DealCloud tend to be anywhere from 200-800+ size.
- Among all responses to our survey, only one CRM does not have clients who plan to switch elsewhere. It happens already to be one of the leading platforms, in terms of survey answers: Intapp DealCloud.
This last bullet point, and the overarching trends I see in the results, affirm my excitement in my new role as director of data integration and strategy at JD Supra. I am happy to arrive at an organization that is already leveraging these exciting developments, but again will rely on someone else’s words to sum it up. From Intapp’s Chris Raymond:
"We are thrilled to partner with JD Supra, as this integration allows our users to harness the combined strengths of DealCloud’s industry-leading platform and JD Supra’s legal intelligence. Together, we’re enabling professionals to unlock deeper insights, streamline workflows, and drive smarter, data-driven growth for their firms."
*
Meghan Van Dalinda is JD Supra’s Director, Data Integrations & Strategy. Connect with her on LinkedIn
