The integration will reduce the number of clicks and simplify the process of producing legal documents for both fee earners and support staff, enabling them to dictate, proofread and generate finished documents directly within the BigHand system.

BigHand is best known for offering workflow solutions, including digital dictation, speech recognition and mobility apps, and has expanded their offering to include workflow and document creation tools that enable firms to streamline even more processes.

BigHand’s modules work independently or in conjunction with one another, to give clients the benefit of a multi-faceted solution that is highly configurable to suit their needs. The decision to further integrate the workflow and template management tools was the next logical step.

Ben Mills, Managing Director - UK Legal for BigHand, says: “The integration between BigHand Workflow Management and BigHand Document Creation will make it much simpler for users to create documents from dictations. The process of typing up a dictation or proofreading text transcribed by speech recognition is the same as before, but the steps required to transform that text into a great looking, finished document are simpler and more user-friendly.

"With this integration, users will be able to launch Microsoft Word templates directly from within BigHand, whether it be a letter, or any other document, and the text is automatically carried over. Any editing, including using the BigHand Styling Tools formatting tools, can be completed within Microsoft Word.”

For a firm already using BigHand Digital Dictation and Speech Recognition, the integration will automate the majority of the back-end document production process.

"This is a really exciting prospect for law firms producing hundreds of documents a day," Mills said. "The time involved in creating so many documents and the pressure to be highly productive means people often take shortcuts, like starting a new document by working directly over an old one. This can cause complex document corruptions, which can take even longer to fix.

"By automating a large portion of the administrative work, and lifting the burden from their staff, firms can ensure all documents are produced to a consistently high quality, while freeing up administrative time for higher-value tasks.”