Sykes Anderson reaps the benefits of Country Life

Three-partner City firm Sykes Anderson has entered into a unique joint partnership dealing with upmarket magazine Country Life.

The firm, which has a large conveyancing practice, has a link on its Web site to the Country Life site, and the magazine has a corresponding link to Sykes Anderson's site.Sykes Anderson partner David Anderson said the advantages of having a direct link to a site such as Country Life, which advertises a substantial number of properties and as such is read by buyers and estate agents alike, were many.

'No other publication or site has such a large number of prestigious properties advertised for sale,' he said.

'The link-up has meant that we now have access to a great deal of high net-worth conveyancing work, and the quality of our client base has shifted significantly upwards.' Country Life has a substantial US readership, and Sykes Anderson has had a number of enquiries from American users of the site.In another IT linkup, Norwich firm Steele & Co has entered into partnership with electricity company Powergen to offer its 200,000 business customers an on-line business management system and service tool developed by the firm.Steele & Co's 'e-b1s' - 'Business 1 stop' - was launched in 2000 and offers subscribers business guides, typical documents, a 'build your own' document facility, on-line news and a news archive, among other facilities.

The e-b1s service has previously been rolled out to computer company Compaq's business portal 'The Source'.

Victoria MacCallum