Technology

Posted on August 8, 2019 by staff

US tech firm acquires London-based Iphelion

Technology

London-based template management company Iphelion has been acquired by Chicago headquartered BigHand, a provider of digital dictation software and workflow solutions.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed but Andy Driskell, Iphelion managing director and Simon Ashby-Crowe, Iphelion CTO, will join BigHand.

BigHand specialises is helping legal, healthcare and professional organisations improve the way they work.

Iphelion has 30,000 users, largely located across the UK and EMEA, with 20 of the UK Top-100 firms utilising their Template Management System ‘Outline’.

The acquisition of Iphelion will enable BigHand to bolster its document creation capability and complement its existing template management solution ‘BigHand Create’.

As part of the deal Andy Driskell, Iphelion managing director and Simon Ashby-Crowe, Iphelion CTO, will join BigHand.

Prior to co-founding Iphelion 13 years ago, Driskell spent several years working within law firms and at OpenText, while Ashby-Crowe built his professional services experience working at KPMG.

Dan Speed, managing director of BigHand in the UK, said: “We were aware of Iphelion’s success in the Top-100 with their Template Management solution and the great reputation they have built in the market.

“With this acquisition, we can now start to consider the value of making the whole proposals building process more seamless – one that inevitably includes business development content, templates and pricing. It is a very exciting concept and will bring another exceptional offering from BigHand to the market.”

Andy Driskell, Iphelion’s managing director, said the acquisition would take their products to the next level.

He said: “Iphelion’s growing customer base and our own ambitious plans for the products gave us the challenge of shifting the business up a gear, while trying not to lose the personal touch we have tried to cultivate.

“Our clients had always been very positive about their experiences working with BigHand, so when Dan and the team contacted us, we were excited to see where it might lead.

“As the discussions progressed and we got to know the BigHand team a bit better, we got a greater insight into their strategy and growth plans and it quickly became apparent they had the infrastructure, resources and experience to help us deliver the next generation of our products.”

BigHand PitchPoint will be available globally, while BigHand Outline will be primarily sold in the UK & EMEA, with BigHand continuing to develop and support BigHand Create, the market-leading product in North America, in all other regions.