What benefits has the firm seen from the technology?

Currently, I use the BigHand Resource Management tool, which we have implemented about a year and a half ago. Tt has been very beneficial in the fact that it's allowed partners to save time in terms of being able to see real time capacity, rather than sending blanket emails to people asking who can pick up work. Also leading into well being - making sure that our fee earners aren't overworked and that they're sufficiently getting the support they need.

How has it helped with forecasting?

Our fee earners are required to forecast once a week, and that has led to the ability to be able to allocate work dependent on people's forecasts. Obviously, we know that may change, but what it allows us to do is contact those people who are showing capacity to be able to allocate them the work that is suitable to them.

How has it helped with retention?

What it's allowed me to do in terms of retention rates is reach out to those individuals who are overwhelmed or potentially are suffering in terms of workload, and enable them to be able to kind of have that helping hand in terms of being able to say, "Hey, I need help through the system."

This allows me to obviously be there as an arm of support, as well as also allowing people to track how they're doing on their targets, which leads to the retention rate, because they can see how they're tracking. And I can also reach out to those that are a little bit off target to try and get them onto their targets, which obviously then leads to internal promotions, things like that.

Would you recommend it to others?

Absolutely I would recommend the BigHand Resource Management tools to other firms. Largely due to the fact that it allows firms to see real time capacity. It allows us to see who is available and when and make sure that we're allocating the work to the right level, and also therefore increasing the firm's profitability.

In addition, it allows our fee earners to get their voices across through being able to allocate work to their areas of interest, and therefore helping them to lead their careers within the firm, and leading to greater retention rates, but also saving our partners and fee earners time and money.