Wolters Kluwer's tax and accounting customers have been the quickest to adopt the company's new technology products, Chief Executive Nancy McKinstry said yesterday. "And that’s because, believe it or not, accountants are early adopters of technology because they get a significant amount of profitability improvement if they can automate their workflow," she said. Wolters Kluwer is the parent of CCH.

In response to a moderator's question, McKinstry outlined the benefits of CCH's workflow products and as discussed the role paper will continue to play in the product line as it decreases as a percentage of revenue. Print contributes about 11 percent of revenue and that largely represents books, although the company also published professional journals. McKinstry expects book publishing to show low growth.

The loose-leaf business continues to decline, but remains a high-margin business. The reason is that as the number of customers decrease, prices for loose-leaf products go up to cover costs and because the remaining loose-leaf products are must-have products for customers.

McKinstry also said that the biggest reason WK loses customers is that they leave the profession or their businesses are consolidated with another operation. Customers who don't use products they purchase are the second biggest source of lost business. Coming in at No. 3 is loss of customers to competitors. While WK pays attention to those, "We don’t lose a lot of companies to competitors," she said.

Europe has lagged the United States in the adoption of online and software products. That's because there are few large firms there, McKinstry explained. However, the continent is catching up and software and online revenue now comprises 47 percent of the European total.