BigHand transforms analytics offering by acquiring DW Reporting

BigHand is excited to announce the acquisition of DW Reporting (“DWR”), the leading provider of legal financial reporting, business intelligence (BI) and matter pricing solutions.

BigHand already works with over 3,000 organisations globally across their various products including dictation, speech recognition, task delegation, template management and analytics.

The acquisition supports BigHand’s strategy of providing solutions to support law firms to achieve operational excellence. The adoption of BigHand’s newer products identified a demand for more operational, financial and business data to enable quicker and more informed decisions and help shine a spotlight on profitability.

BigHand has a reputation for actively listening, and responding, to customers’ needs; this led directly to the acquisition of DWR. After a review of the market, BigHand identified DWR as the strongest provider of financial BI and matter pricing solutions. The business is growing rapidly and with existing customers across both the UK and North America, they were the perfect fit to join the BigHand group.

DWR has two products; Quantum, a modern financial BI solution with intuitive self service, role-based dashboards and reporting environment and Evaluate, a matter pricing, budgeting and tracking solution with a focus on enhancing profitability.

“From the moment we engaged with Dan and the team it became apparent they would be a fantastic addition to the BigHand group," says James Kippenberger, Managing Director Product Strategy & Innovation of BigHand, who led the acquisition. "Our customers tell us they want more data to make better decisions and to operate more efficiently. This is underpinned by the success we have seen with BigHand Now and BigHand Capacity Manager. By adding Quantum and Evaluate, we offer the full suite of data-rich solutions. We now provide unique visibility across the firm covering both fee earners and support staff. This gives firms a new and truly granular insight on matter revenue, cost and profitability. Law firms want to improve financial performance and achieve operational excellence; BigHand can now offer them both.”

In a short time, DWR has built an exceptional client list, a great reputation and a deep knowledge of the legal industry and its financial reporting requirements. They have a wealth of in-house experiences and, similar to BigHand, they build products focused on delivering real value to their clients, that are easy to use and of the highest standard.

Dan Wales, Managing Director of DWR, says: “There is huge pressure for firms to improve their financial insight, but to also start putting that information into the hands of lawyers and management. This coupled with the increasing spotlight against the financial delivery of legal transactions has resulted with us being well placed to help resolve some of the really fundamental questions law firms are asking themselves.

"We’ve had amazing success over the past five years since we launched the business and are in a great position to work with our customers in this fast emerging and growing part of the legal technology market," Wales added. "As we went through options to help accelerate our growth, BigHand quickly became the most suitable investor. Apart from their extensive global client base, and established infrastructure, they have a great reputation and a culture very similar to ours. I know the two teams will work well together and I’m hugely excited by the opportunity for the combined businesses.”

Kippenberger added: “BigHand plans to accelerate the investment in the DWR business and is excited by the opportunity to work with Dan and his excellent team to continue the development of the business.”

Ian Churchill, CEO of BigHand, states: “The vision for our legal business is very clear; we want to be the industry’s most supportive technology partner when it comes to helping law firms transition to newer and more business oriented ways of working. We want to enable them to meet the demands of their rapidly changing landscape. Our product strategy underpins that and will develop along the same theme. This acquisition is another, but certainly not final, step on that strategic path and I’m delighted to welcome Dan, and the whole DWR team into the BigHand family.”

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.