BigHand for BlackBerry® smartphones mobilises property surveyors

Kirsop & Co Ltd implements BigHand voice technology to enhance remote working capabilities

London, UK, 4^th February, 2010 – BigHand, a leading provider of voice technology software has today announced independent firm of chartered building surveyors, Kirsop & Co Ltd has implemented the BigHand for BlackBerry® smartphones application throughout the company.

 Previously working with out-moded and expensive analogue tapes for all dictated work, surveyors and secretaries found it difficult to effectively manage incoming workload.  Surveyors, who often find themselves working out of the office, acknowledged that there was a time delay between returning tapes to the office and the work being actioned.

 Due to the implementation of BigHand, all dictations are now sent direct from the surveyors BlackBerry smartphones immediately as they are prepared.  The ability for secretaries to share work has also made a remarkable difference to the operating function of the office. Surveyors now dictate entirely from their BlackBerry devices, 75% of which is done out of the office remotely and can be instantly submitted back to the office from any location to be dealt with immediately.

 Susan Kirsop, Kirsop & Co Ltd commented;

“Surveyors spend a lot time out of the office. With the use of analogue tapes, secretaries had the issue of ‘all or nothing’. Surveyors would normally dictate onto tapes, which would not be available until the Surveyor could deliver the tape back to the office to pass over to the secretaries.  Many dictations would not be project specific on one tape, making prioritising and sharing workload difficult.  Each dictation is now project specific and sent immediately.

 The main benefit of BigHand for BlackBerry smartphones has been the absence of the need to return to the office in order to drop-off dictations. Secretaries now have access to visible workloads, detailed on screen, and more importantly status updates, providing the secretaries with a greater control of incoming workloads.”

 Kirsop & Co Ltd joins over 1000 firms with over 100,000 users worldwide that have implemented BigHand voice technology to increase productivity and streamline processes.

 -ENDS-

Contact:

Chris Bell, BigHand. Email: chris.bell@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5907

About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Chicago, London, Sydney and Toronto. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global professional and public services sector and our BigHand Mobile (BlackBerry Edition) was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand is currently used by over 1000 professional and public services organisations worldwide. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com/digitaldictation/Property.html

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust invests in BigHand digital dictation and speech recognition technology to improve patient response times

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust purchases BigHand voice technology through the Yorkshire and Humber NHS Framework

 London, UK, 11 January, 2010 – BigHand has today announced that it has been selected by The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, based in Harlow, Essex, as their preferred supplier of digital dictation and speech recognition technology through the Yorkshire and Humber NHS Framework Agreement. The NHS Framework has allowed the Trust to remove lengthy tender/RFI processes, enabling them to access the clear benefits of BigHand voice technology more quickly.

 A spokesperson from The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust commented:

 “The Trust recognised the immediate benefits of using such technology. Implementing it will allow the Trust to cut out time spent on administrative duties. It means that we can reinvest this time back into dealing with our patients.”

 Other NHS Trusts who have already invested in BigHand technology include, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.    

 -ENDS-

 Contact:

Chris Bell, BigHand. Email: chris.bell@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5907

 About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Chicago, London, Sydney and Toronto. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global professional and public services sector and our BigHand Mobile (BlackBerry Edition) was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand is currently used by over 760 professional and public services organisations worldwide. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com/digitaldictation/Healthcare.html

Top-40 UK law firm switches 700+ users from Winscribe to BigHand

BigHand, the leading voice productivity vendor in the global legal community, has today announced that Halliwells LLP, ranked within the top 40 UK law firms in terms of number of fee earners, has signed up to switch from their current Winscribe dictation system supplied by SRC, to BigHand voice productivity technology across the firm. The 700+ user software changeover will take place early this year.

Dene Rowe, Partner & IT Director at Halliwells commented:

“As a Firm we have been established users of digital dictation technology for a number of years now. In line with our annual review and following an appraisal of the technology and opportunities available we have chosen to move our digital dictation platform to BigHand. As in all technology changes we had to review a number of factors such as business and technological fit, strategic direction, the ease of change and commercial return on investment. Put simply, we felt that the BigHand solution suited our needs now and in the future and we look forward to working with them as a strategic provider to the Firm.”

50% Improvement In Turnaround Times at Cobham Day Surgery via BigHand Software Forms Part Of Paperless Strategy

BigHand voice software replaces analogue tapes in push to facilitate a faster more reliable service for patients  

London, UK, 4 January, 2010 – BigHand, a leading provider of voice technology for the NHS, has today announced a 50% improvement in turnaround times of documents at independent hospital, Cobham Day Surgery. Turnaround times have now been reduced to approximately 3-4 days whereas previously this could be anything up to 7-10 days. Incorporating over 30 consultants and 5 secretaries across 2 sites, BigHand technology has enabled consultants to record important notes and instantly submit them to a pool of secretaries across either site for immediate transcription.

 As the number of patients supported by Cobham Day Surgery began to grow significantly, so did secretarial and administrative workloads. Not in a position to add to the existing secretarial team, and coupled with the implications  of the ‘patient pathway’ aiming to make sure correspondence is turned around quickly, meant Cobham Day Surgery began to consider other ways of working. The eradication of analogue tapes, which would often end up broken, lost (especially working cross-site) and the sound quality of tapes deteriorating, has allowed BigHand technology to effectively eliminate the detrimental effect of analogue tapes slowing down the document turnaround process. Secretaries are now able to monitor their own workloads on a daily basis and effectively manage each individual dictation instantly as it comes in; ensuring work is turnaround in the fastest time possible.

 Michelle Campbell, Administration Manager at Cobham Day Surgery commented;

 “One of the big improvements by switching to digital dictation was the quality of dictation. We have a varied group of Consultants with different accents and even those that speak clearly can often seem muffled on the analogue tapes.

 We also hoped to achieve a faster, more reliable service and so far we feel we are well on our way to achieving that. In addition Cobham Day Surgery are working towards becoming a paperless unit and hopefully in time we will be able to work without notes completely, so having BigHand digital dictation technology compliments our own future plans.”

 NHS organisations that have already rolled out BigHand technology include Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Yaxley Group Practice, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Edinburgh University Health Service and Wrightington Wigan & Leigh NHS Trust.

 -ENDS-

 Contact:

Chris Bell, BigHand. Email: chris.bell@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5907

 About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Chicago, London, Sydney and Toronto. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global professional and public services sector and our BigHand Mobile (BlackBerry Edition) was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand is currently used by over 760 professional and public services organisations worldwide. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com/digitaldictation/Healthcare.html

Hammonds LLP Achieves 4:1 Ratio Following BigHand Voice Productivity Implementation

BigHand, the leading voice productivity vendor in the global legal community, has today announced that Top-25 commercial law firm Hammonds LLP has improved its fee earner to secretary ratios from 3:1 to 4:1, and the BigHand digital dictation workflow technology has assisted the firm in achieving this objective. BigHand voice software has replaced outdated analogue tape dictation equipment for 700 users. The Hammonds team introduced new working practices whilst rolling out the system to improve efficiencies.

Issy Freeman, HR Manager at Hammonds commented:

‘’BigHand has been rolled out as a business task management system. We replaced our analogue tapes with the BigHand system, at the same time we took the opportunity to review and improve firm wide working practices. This has enabled us to improve the service we provide to clients, it has allowed our workforce to become more flexible, and improved document turnaround times. Overall the system has been received extremely positively by fee-earners and secretaries alike.

Hammonds has taken the opportunity to ensure that the right people are doing the right work, and that the correct secretarial structure is in place to support the fee earners. Since implementing BigHand we have improved our fee earner to secretary ratio from 3:1 to 4:1. Additionally we have developed a Secretarial Career Path for our secretarial workforce. Hammonds has high expectations of its secretaries and we encourage a mentality of wanting to make a difference and go the extra mile. The feedback from secretaries since we implemented BigHand has been extremely positive and they have felt it has enabled them to add more value than they were able to previously. We encourage our secretaries to take ownership and make the system work effectively. As a result turnaround times are much faster and we also have a great teamwork ethos not only within departments, but across locations as well. BigHand has given our secretaries greater autonomy and the above demonstrates that they are now able to support each other in a way that was simply not possible using tapes.’’

BigHand is now used at all Hammonds UK offices plus the firm’s Brussels office. In addition to the desktop software fee earners are able to submit dictation or delegate tasks via their BlackBerry, and then track progress also from their smartphone. BigHand software is now set to be rolled out to Hammonds offices in Spain, France and Germany.

Issy Freeman continued:

“BigHand for BlackBerry® has increased the flexibility and responsiveness of our fee earners; the instant submission of voice files via BlackBerry has enabled partners and fee earners to use BigHand to work seamlessly even when they are not in the office. All tasks are recorded through the BigHand system rather than being left on a secretary’s voicemail or email which helps provide the seamless service.  

Planning has been crucial to the success of our project and the support from BigHand has been superb. They have been flexible in their approach and imparted tremendous knowledge and experience; as a result the project has certainly achieved our objectives.’’

NHS Trust selects BigHand as preferred supplier of digital dictation and speech recognition technology

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Adult Directorate in Buckinghamshire has purchased BigHand voice technology through the Yorkshire and Humber NHS Framework

 London, UK, 14 December, 2009 – BigHand, a leading provider of voice technology for the NHS, has today announced that The Buckinghamshire Adult Directorate in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust has selected BigHand as the preferred supplier of digital dictation and speech recognition through the Yorkshire and Humber NHS Framework Agreement.

 The decision by the Yorkshire and Humber Commercial Procurement Collaborative to select BigHand as a supplier of digital dictation and speech recognition, has allowed other NHS Procurement Hubs throughout the country to utilise the same framework agreement. The result of the NHS Framework in this instance has allowed Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust to remove lengthy tender/RFI processes, resulting in them being able to access the clear benefits of BigHand voice technology more quickly.

 James Kippenberger, Healthcare Director at BigHand commented;

 “The Buckinghamshire Adult Directorate in Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust were looking to improve the speed with which patient related correspondence, documents and clinical notes can be made available to those who need them.  This in turn reduces the time that clinical staff spend on administration, increasing the time that they are able to spend on providing high quality, patient-facing care.  There are now established reasons for choosing voice technologies to both cut costs and significantly increase administrative processes and efficiency within the NHS.

 The questions Trusts face is which supplier represents the best short and long term partnership for achieving those benefits. The ability to deal direct with a UK-based development team such as BigHand, as opposed to going through a reseller, means three things. Firstly, Trusts are feeding directly into BigHand’s product’s road map and development plan. Secondly, support is provided by the same company that writes the product, offering greater expertise. Thirdly, the additional benefit that costs can be kept to a minimum dealing direct with the developer and cutting out the middle man. For these reasons, BigHand is immediately presenting itself as an attractive option for Trusts.”

 BigHand software helps to facilitate the instant submission of dictations coupled with report tracking, priority settings and enhanced sound quality. These factors help to eliminate administrative delays and are becoming essential for Trusts to meet key targets. BigHand software also offers a Server-Based Speech Recognition module, complete with medical dictionaries, allowing clinicians to convert voice-to-text automatically if desired (and further streamlining costs).

 Other trusts that have already rolled out BigHand technology include Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Wrightington Wigan & Leigh NHS Trust.

 -ENDS-

 Contact:

Chris Bell, BigHand. Email: chris.bell@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5907

 

About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Chicago, London, Sydney and Toronto. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global professional and public services sector and our BigHand Mobile (BlackBerry Edition) was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand is currently used by over 760 professional and public services organisations worldwide. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com/digitaldictation/Healthcare.html

NHS primary care practice improves patient notes turnaround by 40% via BigHand

London, UK, 30 October, 2009 – BigHand, a leading voice productivity application for the primary and secondary healthcare sectors has today announced that the implementation of BigHand digital dictation workflow technology at the Yaxley Group Practice in Peterborough has improved the turnaround time of patient notes by 40%. BigHand technology has replaced analogue tape dictation equipment for 10 GPs and 5 secretaries within the practice.

 GPs at the Yaxley Group Practice found that analogue tapes would often break requiring them to re-record patient notes. It was also impossible for GPs to prioritise dictations before handing across to secretaries for transcription. BigHand technology has enabled GPs to record and instantly submit work to the pool of 5 secretaries for transcription. Secretaries are now able to pick up each dictation as it is recorded and share or delegate work amongst themselves, balance workloads across the Practice, ensuring work is carried out in the fastest time possible and improving the overall service to patients.

 Dr Tom Davies, Partner at Yaxley Group Practice commented:

 “One of the main benefits of BigHand has been the ability to prioritise patient notes. Urgent cancer referrals have to be processed within a short space of time and BigHand has enabled our secretaries to transcribe urgent dictations within 24 hours of the GP seeing the patient, as a result we now meet referral targets. In total we have experienced a 30-40% improvement in patient notes turnaround since eradicating the use of tapes.

 The introduction of BigHand has enabled us to alter working practices to better suit our patients’ needs. Our GPs now dictate in front of the patient reassuring them that the dictation has been accurately recorded and immediately sent to the secretary for transcription; they can leave the surgery knowing that their notes aren’t stuck on a tape waiting for a secretary to type them up.’’

 NHS organisations currently experiencing the benefits of BigHand software include Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Edinburgh University Health Service, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust and Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust.

 -ENDS-

 Contact:

Chris Bell, BigHand. Email: chris.bell@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5907

 About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Chicago, London, Sydney and Toronto. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global professional and public services sector and our BigHand Mobile (BlackBerry Edition) was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand is currently used by over 760 professional and public services organisations worldwide. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com/digitaldictation/Healthcare.html

Legal 500 law firm Muckle LLP switches from Dictaphone to BigHand

Legal 500 law firm Muckle LLP has increased productivity by replacing its Dictaphone system with BigHand’s 3-tier digital dictation workflow technology

BigHand, the leading provider of voice technology for the global legal community, has today announced that Legal 500 commercial law firm Muckle LLP has replaced its Dictaphone standalone digital dictation system with BigHand’s 3-tier digital dictation workflow technology. The switch to BigHand, incorporating 100 lawyers and personal assistants (PAs), has seen an increase in the firm’s productivity.

Robert Porter, Head of IT at Muckle LLP commented:

‘’We experienced various technical difficulties and restrictions with our previous system and over time simply lost confidence in it. We encountered a number of reliability issues, including the loss of dictations on a number of occasions which resulted in our lawyers having to re-dictate work. When PAs were on leave, our IT team had to manually intervene in order to re-allocate dictations and this inevitably became quite a time consuming process. As well as being unable to share dictations between virtual teams of PAs, Dictaphone did not facilitate mobile or remote working.

Once we had taken the decision to switch to a more advanced workflow system, it was important that we selected a provider committed to software development and with superior technical support capabilities. We undertook a review of the BigHand and competitor systems to ensure the selection of a system that could evolve and adapt in line with the firm’s requirements. BigHand offers direct access to development and support whereas other providers operate through multiple resellers. It was on this basis that we selected BigHand.

Having completed the implementation, I can say that BigHand is a fantastic system; it works exactly how we want it to. Administration is far easier than with our previous system, lawyers and PAs can very easily reallocate or escalate dictations when required. Furthermore, every single dictation recorded has reached its intended recipient. The number of hours lost by lawyers having to re-record dictations with the previous system has been regained, therefore instantly increasing productivity.’’

Voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008, BigHand voice technology is used by over 850 professional service and public sector organisations worldwide at sites ranging from three to over 3,000 users.

E-Health Insider shortlists BigHand for ICT Product Innovation Award 2009

London, UK, 28 September, 2009 – The E-Health Insider has announced the shortlist for the E-Health Insider (EHI) Awards 2009 and has named BigHand as one of three finalists for the ICT Product Innovation of the Year Award. The BigHand for BlackBerry® smartphones application was shortlisted by EHI following a record 200 entries from across the UK and three days of judge’s questions and queries. The award recognises companies who were able to demonstrate an innovative approach to generating new products that provide benefits for staff and patients within the healthcare industry.

BigHand for BlackBerry smartphones is a digital dictation application that enables doctors and clinicians to record clinical and non-clinical dictations onto their BlackBerry smartphone, and then have the recording instantly and securely submitted to internal or external providers.

Paul Curley, Consultant Surgeon at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, commented on his use of BigHand for BlackBerry:

“I am familiar with the use of hard-wired Speechmikes and also handheld portable devices. The only disadvantage of the portable devices is the need to “dock” them to download the audio files and send them to the secretary. Having recently installed the BigHand mobility suite I now use the BigHand application on my BlackBerry. This has revolutionised my ability to transfer audio while on the move. I am now never truly “away”. Even on train journeys I can dictate, send and be confident that my dictation is being typed without having to touch down at my desk to download. We have seen no deterioration in audio quality and I believe this application will significantly enhance my clinical and administrative work flows.

The fact that this application is communicating with a BlackBerry Enterprise Server on our secure network gives me confidence in the security of the data. I expect use of the Mobility Suite will be an integral part of our data input strategy for some years to come.”

BigHand was also recently selected as one of the preferred suppliers for digital dictation by the Yorkshire and Humber NHS Procurement Hub. The framework agreement removes the requirement to undertake further lengthy tender/RFI processes and allows Trusts to purchase award winning voice technology from BigHand direct.

NHS organisations currently experiencing the benefits of BigHand software include Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Edinburgh University Health Service, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust and Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust.

-ENDS-

Contact:

Chris Bell, BigHand. Email: chris.bell@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5907

 

About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Chicago, London, Sydney and Toronto. BigHand is the leading voice productivity application in the professional service community and the BigHand for BlackBerry Edition was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand is currently used by over 900 organisations worldwide. Further information about BigHand in the Healthcare sector is available at http://www.bighand.com/digitaldictation/Healthcare.html  

Yorkshire and Humber NHS Procurement Hub Selects BigHand Voice Platform

The Yorkshire and Humber NHS Procurement Hub has selected BigHand for the provision of Digital Dictation and Speech Recognition technology

 London, UK, 13 August, 2009 – BigHand, a leading provider of voice technology for the NHS, has today announced that following an extensive tender and evaluation process, the NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commercial Procurement Collaborative has selected BigHand along with 5 other providers for the provision of digital dictation workflow software and speech recognition technology.

 The decision taken by Yorkshire and Humber has established a Framework Agreement for other NHS Procurement Hubs and Trusts to follow, removing the requirement to undertake further lengthy tender/RFI processes and allowing Trusts to purchase award winning voice technology from BigHand direct.

 James Kippenberger, UK Sales Director at BigHand commented;

 “For BigHand to be part of the Yorkshire and Humber Framework Agreement is a reflection of how popular our software has proved to be within the healthcare sector during the last 12 months. The NHS has worked directly with us over the past year to improve the levels of patient care delivered and reduce overheads. One Trust in particular has used it as part of a multi-million pound efficiency & savings plan.

 As the developer and service provider of our own software, BigHand’s NHS clients directly influence the future development of our technology and provision of services offered. We have established a community of NHS Trusts who share their experiences and help one another achieve common productivity and service objectives. Being able to deliver leading technology and facilitate best practice will enable many more NHS Trusts to deliver first class patient care amidst increasing pressure to hit key government targets.”

 BigHand digital dictation workflow and speech recognition software removes the administrative delays that occur between dictation and authorisation of notes, expediting communication between consultants, GPs and other medical professionals. The BigHand platform also enables a Trust to better control and secure any work that it outsources to specialist medical transcription agencies.

 Trusts that have replaced their analogue tape dictation equipment with BigHand technology include Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Wrightington Wigan & Leigh NHS Trust.

 -ENDS-

 Contact:

Chris Bell, BigHand. Email: chris.bell@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5907

 About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Chicago, London, Sydney and Toronto. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global professional and public services sector and our BigHand Mobile (BlackBerry Edition) was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand is currently used by over 760 professional and public services organisations worldwide. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com/digitaldictation/Healthcare.html