LexisNexis AlaCarte! provides access to more than 20,000 sources containing more than 3.8 billion documents, while the full LexisNexis subscription-based offerings provide access to as many as 32,000 sources containing more than 6 billion searchable documents. Only business public records (not individual public records) are available through this product. Also, according to the FAQ, LexisNexis AlaCarte! is "a self-help site that provides users with online help, while subscribers to our full services have access to our customer service department."

Users are charged a one-time fee for accessing the chosen documents, which remain accessible for 90 days. Document fees currently range between $1 and $10 with an average cost of $3. There are no additional fees for printing or downloading the files. The service currently accepts MasterCard and VISA for payment and plans to implement a program with PayPal in 2005.

Barbara Barclay, vice president of New Channels for LexisNexis Corporate and Federal Markets, said that access to legal information would be added to the service in the second quarter of 2005, when a second phase of the product is introduced. She also indicated that this was intended as a U.S. product launch and that phase 2 would have global options available. Other features being considered for the next phase are an alert service and results-sorting options (such as sorting by date). Results are currently presented in relevancy-ranked order with no optional sorting. Barclay also indicated that the company might consider adding sources that are not currently available in LexisNexis, such as video.

What I particularly like is the clear and easy access to what is being searched. When you're searching within any tab (news, business research, business public records), simply click on the "i" icon ("Information about the document sources being searched") at the bottom of the search window to see a full list of sources for that section. A full list of sources for the entire site can be found within the "Search Additional Sources" tab.

Barclay stressed that users don't need to know sources, just their questions. She said: "We hope we've created a user experience that isn't overwhelming for nonprofessional searchers and [is] also one that satisfies the needs of serious researchers."

"We developed LexisNexis AlaCarte! with flexible pricing that does not require subscription fees or other start-up costs," Barclay continued. "This service levels the business intelligence playing field for small businesses that often compete with larger firms that can support in-house research staff. LexisNexis AlaCarte! empowers them to retrieve the information, how and when they need it."

The company noted that "a soft job market over the last few years has resulted in more individuals pursuing freelance careers, start-up businesses, or securing short-term engagements with large companies as independent consultants or temporary staff. According to the Small Business Administration, over 579,000 businesses were started last year, and self-employment increased by 3.7 percent." The company sees this as a ripe market to be tapped. Barclay said the company didn't use the term SOHO (small office, home office) as a marketing term since it seemed to generally apply to offices of just 1 to 4 people, and this was too limiting for the product.

The company has offered a credit card payment option, LexisNexis by Credit Card, which launched in January 1999 (http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbreader.asp?ArticleID=17987). Barclay said that this product would be eliminated when phase 2 of LexisNexis AlaCarte! is introduced. The new product is very different in look and feel from the old one; it offers a much simpler and easier-to-use interface. LexisNexis by Credit Card was not specifically targeted at the small business market and, Barclay admits, never had much marketing behind it. But, despite this, the product was showing increasing revenues, thus providing some impetus for the development of a new and better product. This time it's different—there will definitely be marketing. The company is currently featuring ads for LexisNexis AlaCarte! in key print publications and on the Internet.

I asked Barclay how it stacks up against the competition, such as Dialog's Open Access (available since 2001 for credit card payments), Find.com, and affordable subscription services for small businesses, such as Northern Light and HighBeam Research—not to mention that so many business professionals, like consumers, think that everything is available on the Web through a search engine. She commented: "LexisNexis brings fabulous breadth and depth of content and information back to 1968. Much of it is not available on the open Web."

As Elizabeth Rector, senior vice president of corporate and federal markets for LexisNexis, explained: "With LexisNexis AlaCarte! we have alleviated the frustration of having to sift through a lot of outdated, unrelated, or unreliable data on the Web. We have shortened the distance from search to solution, which to a busy, working professional is priceless."