BigHand Announces Transition to Microsoft Fabric for Business Intelligence

The move creates a new answer to the build-vs-buy debate by combining legal financial intelligence with the flexibility of the Microsoft data environment.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, August 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- BigHand today announced that its Business Intelligence solution will move to Microsoft Fabric, with existing BI 4.0 Cloud customers transitioning in September at no additional cost.

The new architecture brings BigHand’s legal-specific data model and more than 600 pre-built financial and operational measures into the Microsoft environment many firms are already investing in. It gives law firms a ready-made foundation for analyzing profitability, WIP, realization, utilization, cost allocation, and performance without spending significant time and resources building that legal financial logic from scratch.

“Law firms want greater ownership and flexibility around their data, but they should not have to spend years recreating the intelligence needed to make that data useful,” said Brian Taaffe, BigHand’s Senior Director, Platform & Data Strategy. “Fabric gives firms an incredibly powerful foundation, while BigHand brings the specialist understanding of how law firms actually operate and make money.”

The move reflects feedback from BigHand’s clients, many of whom are looking to align their business intelligence more closely with their existing Microsoft infrastructure. While some have explored building their own BI environments, doing so can require significant time, specialist resources, and financial expertise. BigHand’s approach provides the flexibility to work within their Microsoft environment without requiring them to recreate the underlying intelligence themselves.

On Fabric, firms can more easily connect BigHand’s financial intelligence with data from CRM, HR, time recording, billing, and matter management systems, while extending their analytics through familiar Microsoft tools. Fabric’s alerting capabilities can also surface emerging performance issues without relying solely on retrospective dashboard reviews.

The transition comes as BigHand invests more broadly in making complex firm data easier to structure, interrogate, and act on. Earlier this month, BigHand acquired Ayora, adding data enrichment technology and a conversational AI agent to its product expertise and strengthening BigHand’s ability to help firms unlock more value from the information they already hold.

That focus on earlier, more actionable intelligence is also reflected in BigHand's Resource Management Summer Update, released this week, which gives law firm leaders forward-looking visibility into lawyer capacity, matter performance, and financial risk to support decisions before allocation issues affect revenue, delivery, or client relationships.

“This is where we believe legal technology needs to go next,” Taaffe added. “Better reporting matters, but the real value is identifying risks, opportunities, and performance signals early enough for firms to act. Our focus is on putting intelligence in front of people before the decision is made, rather than explaining the outcome afterward.”

To learn more about BigHand Business Intelligence or book a personalized demonstration for your firm, visit bighand.com.

About BigHand

For over thirty years, BigHand has worked alongside law firms to provide the intelligence needed to improve profitability and client value at every stage of a matter's decision lifecycle. Specialist by design, its solutions act as the performance engine of the modern law firm, built for the business of law and trusted by more than 810,000 professionals across 3,300 firms worldwide.

Gavin Lee
BigHand
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