BigHand software set to pay for itself within 12-months at Simpson Grierson
Announcement posted by BigHand 20 Apr 2009
Decision of leading New Zealand law firm to select BigHand technology pays-off with fast ROI
Auckland (New Zealand), April 20th 2009 -- One of New Zealand's leading commercial and technology-focused law firms Simpson Grierson has today reported that it has completed one of the most successful
firm-wide IT implementations it has ever undertaken. The firm completed the roll out of the award-winning BigHand Digital Dictation workflow system during early 2009, with the software now with 220 lawyers and 90 secretaries and having already delivered significant benefits. Full return-on-investment has been projected to be reached well within 12-months of the original start date of the implementation.
Simpson Grierson initially ran a head-to-head pilot between the Winscribe dictation system and BigHand’s 3rd generation workflow software. BigHand’s voice productivity technology was chosen, with users reporting the interface more intuitive and its features more complete and easier to access.
Valerie Fogg, Information Services Director, Simpson Grierson commented:
“Aside from lost or wiped tapes, one of the main problems with our old analogue-based system was that we couldn’t see the workload pipeline or manage our resources very effectively. Whether a tape had one or 15
client documents on it was a mystery, and the urgency of each doc was impossible to judge against other client files. As a result we had to operate with more resources than we perhaps ultimately needed in order
to account for peaks of work, and we also relied too heavily on temporary cover. We are only just approaching six months of usage of the BigHand workflow system and we already no longer use temporary staff and are more productive to boot. Some internally feel it has already paid for itself; and certainly it will have returned the investment well within one year.”
“Another big positive has been the control on overall output quality. Those earlier in their career often feel they are better off typing themselves, but they often lack the production skills to put everything in a consistent corporate style or format. We have seen younger lawyers now embrace the digital technology, even if they also send a portion of text they have typed themselves, as they can then accompany that file with voice notes or further instructions regarding formatting. The lawyer can then utilize the workflow to track the job or task through the system, and will be automatically notified when it is ‘in progress’ or completed. So the task management aspect comes into play nicely too for those who are not your most prolific users of dictation.”
An example of the enhanced workflow that BigHand promotes is exemplified by the fact that typists in each office can now work on dictation for their national workgroup and are not constrained by physical location. Document turnaround times have been streamlined, and the firm is now able to respond to clients with a service of the highest quality whatever the circumstances, location or time of day.
Greg Towers, a BigHand user and Partner in the firms Resources and Infrastructure department, commented:
“The use of digital dictation technology has transformed the delivery of typed documents using dictation. More often than not, the finished product is emailed to me within an hour of being sent electronically into the queue. This means that I can review the work while it is still fresh in my mind and get it to the clients faster than ever before. The ability to edit already dictated work and insert additional paragraphs without "over-recording" what has been dictated is wonderful. The controls are simple and logical. In all it is a
great leap forward in service delivery.”
Contact:
Kya de Rome, PR Consultant, Kinetics Pty Ltd. Email:
kya@kinetics.com.au Tel: +61 (0)2 9212 3848
Dan Speed, Marketing Director, BigHand. Email:
dan.speed@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5945
Tom Nockolds, Regional Manager, Asia Pacific BigHand. Email:
tom.nockolds@bighand.com Tel: +61 (0)2 9994 8933
About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Sydney, Chicago, London and Toronto. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global professional services sector. BigHand3 was awarded ‘Best of Breed System of the
Year’ at the Legal Technology Awards for 2008, and BigHand Mobile (BlackBerry Edition) was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand has also been nominated
in the Sixth Annual Law Technology News (LTN) Awards for 2009 as ‘Dictation System of the Year’ and ‘Mobile Tool of the Year’. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com
firm-wide IT implementations it has ever undertaken. The firm completed the roll out of the award-winning BigHand Digital Dictation workflow system during early 2009, with the software now with 220 lawyers and 90 secretaries and having already delivered significant benefits. Full return-on-investment has been projected to be reached well within 12-months of the original start date of the implementation.
Simpson Grierson initially ran a head-to-head pilot between the Winscribe dictation system and BigHand’s 3rd generation workflow software. BigHand’s voice productivity technology was chosen, with users reporting the interface more intuitive and its features more complete and easier to access.
Valerie Fogg, Information Services Director, Simpson Grierson commented:
“Aside from lost or wiped tapes, one of the main problems with our old analogue-based system was that we couldn’t see the workload pipeline or manage our resources very effectively. Whether a tape had one or 15
client documents on it was a mystery, and the urgency of each doc was impossible to judge against other client files. As a result we had to operate with more resources than we perhaps ultimately needed in order
to account for peaks of work, and we also relied too heavily on temporary cover. We are only just approaching six months of usage of the BigHand workflow system and we already no longer use temporary staff and are more productive to boot. Some internally feel it has already paid for itself; and certainly it will have returned the investment well within one year.”
“Another big positive has been the control on overall output quality. Those earlier in their career often feel they are better off typing themselves, but they often lack the production skills to put everything in a consistent corporate style or format. We have seen younger lawyers now embrace the digital technology, even if they also send a portion of text they have typed themselves, as they can then accompany that file with voice notes or further instructions regarding formatting. The lawyer can then utilize the workflow to track the job or task through the system, and will be automatically notified when it is ‘in progress’ or completed. So the task management aspect comes into play nicely too for those who are not your most prolific users of dictation.”
An example of the enhanced workflow that BigHand promotes is exemplified by the fact that typists in each office can now work on dictation for their national workgroup and are not constrained by physical location. Document turnaround times have been streamlined, and the firm is now able to respond to clients with a service of the highest quality whatever the circumstances, location or time of day.
Greg Towers, a BigHand user and Partner in the firms Resources and Infrastructure department, commented:
“The use of digital dictation technology has transformed the delivery of typed documents using dictation. More often than not, the finished product is emailed to me within an hour of being sent electronically into the queue. This means that I can review the work while it is still fresh in my mind and get it to the clients faster than ever before. The ability to edit already dictated work and insert additional paragraphs without "over-recording" what has been dictated is wonderful. The controls are simple and logical. In all it is a
great leap forward in service delivery.”
Contact:
Kya de Rome, PR Consultant, Kinetics Pty Ltd. Email:
kya@kinetics.com.au Tel: +61 (0)2 9212 3848
Dan Speed, Marketing Director, BigHand. Email:
dan.speed@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5945
Tom Nockolds, Regional Manager, Asia Pacific BigHand. Email:
tom.nockolds@bighand.com Tel: +61 (0)2 9994 8933
About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Sydney, Chicago, London and Toronto. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global professional services sector. BigHand3 was awarded ‘Best of Breed System of the
Year’ at the Legal Technology Awards for 2008, and BigHand Mobile (BlackBerry Edition) was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand has also been nominated
in the Sixth Annual Law Technology News (LTN) Awards for 2009 as ‘Dictation System of the Year’ and ‘Mobile Tool of the Year’. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com