Barry Nilsson Drives Innovation, Productivity and First-Class Client Service with BigHand Workflow Management


For over three years, BigHand has been monitoring the evolution of technology to support legal resources globally. Pressures from rising attrition & retirement, recruitment challenges and hybrid working pose issues for effective workflow management. Today the drivers are greater and more complex. Increased market competition, client demand for cost-effectiveness & agility along with governmental requirements on legal service providers, are elevating the need for firms to optimize their internal workflows by aligning their people, processes and technology. BigHand spoke with Barry Nilsson’s Head of IT, Neil Blum, to learn more.

 

A snapshot of the story

Barry Nilsson optimized workflows and enhanced client service through their migration to BigHand Workflow Management Cloud as the firm experienced rapid growth.

~500

staff supported by BigHand

6

offices across Australia

Background

Barry Nilsson is an Australian mid-sized law firm, with a specialty in the Insurance and Health sector and Family and Wills & Estates. Over the last ten years, the firm has seen significant growth, more than doubling in staff numbers and expanding operationally. Today, Barry Nilsson is an award-winning business with almost 500 staff and six offices throughout Australia.

Naturally, the biproducts of such rapid growth include a potential loss of visibility as to how and where work is being allocated, as well as greater difficulty in managing traditional operational processes. If those in themselves were not challenging enough, for Barry Nilsson, operating in the highly competitive insurance sector brings additional complexity.

As Neil Blum explains, “Our rate of growth meant that we had a number of different, piecemeal solutions that different teams were using: MS Web Forms, basic documents, emails, even post-it notes. In addition, with more than 80% of our business coming from the insurance sector, we needed to be able to respond to client requests very quickly and cost-effectively - a scenario that was compounded in 2023 by the establishment of a new Victorian Government Legal Services Panel, which places a number of eligibility requirements – including demonstrable, ongoing investment in technology innovation - on law firms servicing the sector.”

 

Seamlessly Upgrading to the Cloud

Barry Nilsson had already established a strategic plan to migrate its on-premise tech infrastructure to a cloud-based, software-as-a-service system and opted to start this process by upgrading its BigHand dictation platform to BigHand Workflow Management, in order to take advantage of BigHand’s dictation suite, customizable task forms and reporting.

“The client experience and client service levels are the ultimate driver,” says Neil. “But you can’t ensure that you’re delivering those optimally without full visibility and transparency of the distribution of work. For us, the obvious starting point in our cloud migration strategy was therefore the BigHand upgrade.

 
“From a technology perspective, migrating to a SaaS solution meant we would always be on the latest version of the software, and has freed up my team’s time from IT management / maintenance to allow us to focus on strategy. Similarly, from an operational perspective, standardizing dictation and our task forms has allowed us to redistribute work in line with the business’s needs: irrespective of where the work is coming from, it can be allocated nationally.”

 

- Neil Blum

Head of IT, Barry Nilsson

The insight that comes from real-time access to data and reporting in BigHand Workflow Management supports the firm’s goals in achieving more productive workflows. “We are able to snapshot the entire business and see where, at any given time, capacity might sit and dynamically reallocate jobs, improving turnaround times, which ultimately is best for both clients and staff alike. In addition, having a broader picture of demand across teams means we can look at efficiencies around where work is going and where there might be opportunities to improve workflows.”

 

Balancing Change

With support from BigHand’s experienced team, Barry Nilsson was able to take both a pragmatic and strategic view to both the software roll-out and workflow process enhancements.

“We were happy that the look and feel of the new platform was the same as the dictation platform,” Neil comments. “We felt it was key that the first impression of the technology was one of familiarity, which would allow us to focus on the bigger picture and communicate the benefits we – both as a business and as individuals - would gain by making the changes to workflow management.”

Barry Nilsson worked on identifying champions within the business to support the roll-out of the new working practices. “We approached this by identifying the areas within workflow that were most critical, that need to be done efficiently to respond to work demands. We reorganized these functions into pods with members of the team who enjoyed these types of jobs, so moving away from the traditional structure of a fixed ‘lawyer-to-support staff’ ratio.”

By taking this pragmatic and deliberate approach, combined with a heavy focus on training, Neil and his team were able to ensure the project’s success by allowing the business and mindsets to change gradually.

 

Empowering Innovation

Of course, business never stands still, and for Barry Nilsson, the upgrade to BigHand Workflow Management remains part of ongoing investment in workflow process improvement and client-focused innovation. As Neil says, “Over time, the plan is to leverage technologies that enable better distribution of work.”

The alignment of people, process and technology is also a key component of the approach being advocated by the Victorian Legal Services Panel. “For law firms to remain on the panel, we have to report every three months on technology and innovation,” Neil explains. “Not only is this important to stay competitive within the market, but it’s also a fundamental part of how we service the work while retaining profitability.

“At the end of the day, it’s simple,” Neil concludes. “If you don’t give your clients and staff members access to technologies that are going to make their working lives easier, fairer and more transparent, you’re doing them a disservice.”

About BigHand Workflow Management

To provide the best client service while supporting your bottom line, it’s vital to ensure your teams are working efficiently and smartly. Ineffective and outdated methods of delegating tasks makes it easy for things to be overlooked, means your workforce isn’t properly optimized, your tasks aren’t being delivered on time, and your bottom line is suffering as a result. BigHand Workflow Management is a task management solution that lets you turn your tasks into fully auditable, digital workflow entries. You can create tasks from voice, email, electronic or paper-based requests – from document production requests to reprographics and travel bookings.

BigHand Workflow Management