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 BigHand voice software has replaced outdated analogue tape dictation equipment for 700 users.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.’’

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

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 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.

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  

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

Nivotec, a Speech Recognition and Digital Dictation consultancy, has delivered BigHand dictation workflow software to Northern Ireland law firms McShane & Co and Samuel Cumming & Son

BigHand, the leading voice productivity specialist for the global legal community, has today announced that Northern Ireland law firms McShane & Co and Samuel Cumming & Son have replaced their incumbent dictation equipment with BigHand workflow software in order to increase their productivity. The projects have been delivered in association with Nivotec, a BigHand partner in Northern Ireland.

Rory McShane, Managing Partner at McShane & Co commented:

‘’McShane & Co has recently implemented BigHand and our productivity has certainly increased as a result. The firm has two offices and fee earners regularly travel between the two. They are now able to dictate and submit from one office, and the transcription is ready when they reach the other. Day to day management of the firm has also improved as BigHand enables us to monitor the volumes of work created and work outstanding, allocating resource or re-assigning work as necessary.’’

Regis Calard, Technical Consultant at Nivotec commented:

“In our experience of digital dictation workflow solutions, the BigHand product, with its suite of remote and mobile working options, has to be the de facto choice for forward thinking law firms. We are very impressed with the comprehensive product delivery methods that ensure end users’ expectations are met. We are delighted to be able to offer BigHand to our existing and new customers in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.”

Over 800 law firms have implemented BigHand software to help legal professionals do more with less, expedite the document production process, reduce support & hardware costs and improve client service. In addition to McShane & Co and Samuel Cumming & Son, law firms in Northern Ireland using BigHand technology include Carson McDowell, Cooper Wilkinson, Mills Selig and Tughans Solicitors.

Unique promotion sees BigHand offering firms a free 30 day trial of a BlackBerry smartphone with BigHand voice productivity software and an outsourced transcription service

BigHand, the leading voice productivity specialist for the global legal community, has today launched a unique opportunity for law firms to achieve efficiency savings by trialing a BlackBerry® smartphone with BigHand’s dictation software and outsourced transcription service completely free of charge for 30 days. Not only is the 30 day trial free of charge on both a hardware and mobile app basis, but additionally the volume of dictation that can be submitted for transcription by the outsourcing service is unlimited and the network operators’ data plan charges are also free.

As part of the promotion, legal professionals can utilise BigHand’s application to record, edit, and send voice files using a BlackBerry smartphone. The application securely sends the dictation to an outsourced transcription service, with the user able to prioritise important items, track the progress of work, and then receive transcripts back via email.

David Fryer, Chief Executive Officer at BigHand commented:

‘’We have experienced high demand over the last 2 years for our BigHand for BlackBerry software as law firms have looked to leverage the wireless investment they have made in recent years by bringing in mobile productivity applications. Additionally, given the current economic situation, we felt that it would be helpful if we could provide a free BlackBerry smartphone so firms can assess how effective these devices can be when coupled with our software and an outsourced transcription agency.  Our client base has seen significant productivity gains and reduced overheads and this trial offer will allow firms who have not done it yet the chance to try without any expenditure or risk to themselves.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the 30 day free trial should register their details at www.bighand.com/blackberry.

Leading Scottish law firms MacRoberts and Simpson & Marwick have selected BigHand technology to replace their incumbent Winscribe digital dictation systems

BigHand, the leading voice productivity specialist for the global legal community, has today announced that leading Scottish law firms MacRoberts and Simpson & Marwick, ranked in the UK Top-250 as numbers 121 and 206 respectively, have replaced their existing Winscribe digital dictation systems with BigHand software. MacRoberts is currently in the process of implementing BigHand to 300 users across Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Simpson & Marwick has already completed its implementation to 175 users across 7 offices.

Robert Crichton, Network Manager at MacRoberts commented:

“The replacement of our Winscribe dictation system with BigHand incorporates 300 users across Edinburgh and Glasgow, plus up to 100 users of the BigHand for BlackBerry® mobile dictation application. Administration of the Winscribe system had become an irritation for the IT team; each time a dictation needed changing, for example reallocating or escalating, IT had to manually intervene.

Having researched providers in detail I am now delighted to be rolling out BigHand. Technology wise BigHand is the most advanced system we saw and we are excited to be implementing their BlackBerry dictation module, as well as integrations with WorkSite and LawSoft. BigHand’s integration with WorkSite is particularly impressive and demonstrates why they are way ahead of the competition.”

Graham Herd, IT Manager at Simpson & Marwick commented:

‘’Simpson & Marwick operates a Citrix infrastructure for all remote offices and this was fundamental in our decision to replace Winscribe with BigHand software. The performance of the Winscribe system was extremely problematic in a thin client environment, something now emphasised by the excellent functioning of the BigHand system on the same infrastructure. We also found the administration of Winscribe cumbersome, to the extent that system admin was so difficult it had become a manual process. In contrast BigHand administration hooks well into Active Directory making BigHand a far easier system to administer. BigHand also integrates with the Visualfiles system and their experience in delivering this was attractive to us.

The final component in our decision to switch was the lack of support we received for Winscribe; it was very awkward to get a resolution as we had no direct access to the developer. BigHand’s implementation and support have been first class. Users prefer the BigHand interface and we have had such positive feedback, it is really great to deliver an IT project that makes such a difference to users’ lives – it’s not often that you receive such a positive response to an IT project. The final piece of the jigsaw is that we will be deploying BigHand for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile in the next couple of months.’’

BigHand awarded tender contract at Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

 London, UK, 7 July, 2009 – BigHand has today announced that it has been selected by Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust as their preferred supplier of digital dictation technology. After a successful pilot and subsequent public tender process, the Trust will now roll out BigHand software trust-wide to over 400 users across 4 sites with the intention of improving document turnaround times, reducing administrative costs and providing an easy to use interface for staff involved in the dictation and transcription process.

 Digital dictation facilitates the instant submission of dictations containing crucial patient data, coupled with report tracking and turnaround alerts, and enhanced sound quality. These factors eliminate the administrative delays caused by analogue tape equipment and supports Trusts in meeting key national health targets. BigHand technology itself is renowned for offering the network resilience required when moving thousands of sizable digital voice files around a Trust infrastructure, and for the ease-of-use that quickly ensures staff buy-in.

 Pam Green, IM&T Project Manager commented:

 ‘‘BigHand will allow us to eradicate the costs of our current analogue tape equipment and provide the ability to transfer work across sites and between secretaries electronically, thus allowing quick turnaround typing times to meet Trust targets.”

 BigHand digital dictation has enabled many Trusts to enhance the level of patient care they are able to provide to their local communities, and has been identified as a key tool in assisting Trusts trim costs and increase the efficiency of consultants, doctors and medical secretaries. Other NHS Trusts currently using BigHand software Trust-wide include Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Western Sussex 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 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