Handshake Software Accelerates Law Firm Client, Company and Technology Growth

Global News

09
Jun
2014

Editor

Handshake Software, Inc., the market leading, award-winning provider of SharePoint-based products and services to the legal market, announced its six month corporate update including increased demand for Handshake Software solutions in particular SharePoint-based portals; extranets and enterprise search solutions among Am Law 100 firms; high service, support and upgrade satisfaction rates among the acquired Thomson Reuters’ OneView (former XMLAW) business; availability of Handshake Software Release 3.7; 20% staff growth and office expansion; and the completion of key strategic partnerships and technology integrations involving LexisNexis, Microsoft and Manzama.

“We are thrilled to see the legal market’s enthusiasm when it comes to deploying the latest versions of SharePoint and leveraging Handshake technologies to get the most out of their investment from their line of business applications and Microsoft products,” noted Douglas Horton, President and CEO of Handshake Software.

Handshake’s client, company, partner and product accomplishments include:

• Clients: Integration, growth & accolades - Since Handshake’s August 2013 acquisition of Thomson Reuter’s OneView business (formerly XMLAW) including OneView Connect, OneView Search and OneView Extranet, the company has focused on stabilizing the OneView software code and providing excellent support. Less than a year after the OneView acquisition, support requests are down and customization requests are up as firms continue to benefit from Handshake’s acquisition. CEO Doug Horton added: “A big switch for OneView clients is that all of the Support and Development is now located in the U.S., in our Tallahassee office, and everyone involved is a full-time Handshake Software employee.  This provides the continuity required to address issues in a timely manner.” Handshake software currently provides SharePoint-based intranets, extranets, enterprise search, document and email management to 50+% of the Am Law 100, and 45+% of the Am Law 200/NLJ 350 with total users exceeding 100,000 across 10 countries. According to ILTA’s 2013 Technology Survey, roughly 86% of all Am Law firms are using Microsoft SharePoint in some form or fashion. Since September 2013, 8 Am Law 100 firms have selected Handshake’s intranet and enterprise search solutions. Specifically the inclusion of the FAST search engine within SharePoint 2013 has resulted in a huge uptick in Handshake Search projects, totaling 20 since January.
• Partnerships & integrations 
• LexisNexis: Handshake was chosen by LexisNexis to support and integrate Lexis Search Advantage (LSA) into SharePoint 2013 Search.  This included adding the familiar LexisNexis terms and connectors to firms’ document searches within their SharePoint environment.
• Microsoft: Handshake Software, a Microsoft Gold-certified software partner, was selected for the Microsoft Business-Critical SharePoint (BCSP) Program late last year.  The Microsoft partner program includes top solution and service providers who focus on advanced, company-wide SharePoint solutions. The BCSP program is focused on expanding the market for building and delivering solutions that generate a business impact through advanced SharePoint solutions.
• Manzama: Manzama, who partnered with Handshake, is a provider of news listening, monitoring platforms and aggregators for legal professionals, to build a “next generation” Handshake based SharePoint Web Part leveraging Manzama content to provide clients with current information and knowledge from news sources, blogs and social media outlets.
• Staff & company growth - The Handshake team grew by 20% within the last six months and added key personnel across Sales, Consulting and R&D. Significant executive-level hires included Glenn LaForce, a 12 year LexisNexis veteran, now heading up Handshake’s sales efforts; and Steve McHargue, a legal portal evangelist with over 20 years experience and former large firm CIO. In order to accommodate current and future growth, Handshake opened a new, more spacious office location in Alpharetta, Georgia. The company also expanded its Tallahassee office to keep pace with the growing number of recently hired developers and support staff.
• Technology - The recent Handshake Software Release 3.7 includes major enhancements to the SP Bridge enterprise search product and incremental, user-based usability updates and integrations within the portal, document and email management solutions for both SharePoint 2010 and 2013. Search now supports the enhanced Microsoft FAST capabilities in SharePoint 2013, improved administration and usability, and integration with Lexis Search Advantage. Handshake has also upgraded the user interface (UI) to use HTML5 in its Portal, Search and Mobile solutions. Manzama integration has also been added to Handshake’s suite of portal integrations.