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Dolmans, one of the largest law firms in Wales, has rolled out BigHand’s Digital Dictation system ahead of schedule due to the overwhelming popularity of the software with users. Both lawyers and support staff on the pilot reported an immediate increase in productivity, and a quick improvement in work sharing, which lead to the software going across the firm early.

Dolman’s Practice Director, Joy Phillips, commented:

“There has always been a good team work ethic within Dolmans, but as we have grown in size it has sometimes been time consuming and frustrating for our Co-ordinating Secretaries.It is their responsibility to assess and effectively use resources within their teams, particularly when someone is away.

The introduction of BigHand has not only made it possible to assess workloads and share the pressure amongst the secretarial teams, but has also enabled the fee earners to properly prioritise their work. Quite simply it was in our interests to get the software to the whole firm as quickly as possible.

Our output across the practice has improved and in times of pressure we are no longer reliant on temporary staff or the goodwill of our staff to work extra hours. This obviously also helps keep a cap on overheads.By sharing work across various teams we are able to overcome any unexpected shortage of secretarial support.The throughput of work has also improved - this can only be good news for both the firm and our clients!”

BigHand Digital Dictation is noted for both its technical stability and ease of use – making it popular with IT teams as well as users. The BigHand system uses 3-tier architecture that ensures it is more robust and secure than 2-tier ‘shared folder’ systems. Dictations are also intelligently distributed by the server to appropriate users as required, keeping bandwidth usage to a minimum.BigHand’s intuitive interface also means it is extremely easy-to-use and train.

Chris Hope, Dolmans IT Manager said:

“I have been involved in IT for 15 years.I have been responsible for the rolling out of many projects during my career but there have been very few so well received by all users and the IT team as BigHand!Our initial pilot project proved so successful that the practice made the decision to bring forward the expected practice wide roll out date.The roll out itself could not have been easier and training of users both fee earners and secretarial staff was simple and quick.The support from BigHand staff was excellent - if only all IT projects were like this!”

ENDS

Notes

Dolmans Solicitors

Dolmans is a leading regional law firm based in Cardiff. We have 15 partners and more than 100 staff.

The firm is recognised for its expertise in the core areas of defendant litigation, particular within the Public Sector, Corporate & Commercial, Commercial Property, Dispute Resolution, Employment and Private Client.