iManage RAVN has hired Workshare’s former chief revenue officer Nick Thomson as general manager to grow the business and help accelerate adoption, including further expansion outside of the legal sector.
Thomson, who joined in the middle of August, told Legal IT Insider: ”I’m looking after the whole unit and we have big plans to grow the team and expand out so that we can capitalise on all of the really good innovation going on at RAVN, which is transforming how lawyers work in the document management system.”
He added: “It’s a human play. The RAVN engine does everything from universal search to classification to extraction. Because the platform is comprehensive you can do more with it and the potential is enormous. We have access to the largest repository of legal documents in the world and harnessing that is a huge unique differentiator. Why I’m excited is that this is a scale up and we need to capitalise on the technology and work out our direction.”
Thomson will focus on ensuring that RAVN has teams focussed on embedding its technology across the entire iManage suite as well as expanding RAVN’s market share outside of the legal sector. Thomson said: “Deals are coming in from all segments of regulated industry. We signed three POCs last week who are outside of the legal industry.”
RAVN will also be focusing on extracting data from a wider range of documents and Thomson said: “The advanced deep learning stuff in the lab is mind blowing as to how it works on a variety of document types.
“We are broadening it out but you still get a high level of accuracy and you can still customise it.”
While RAVN has made a name for itself in complex projects such as the Serious Fraud Office’s Rolls Royce Investigation, one area of focus will be developing an out-of-the box capability, where competitors such as Kira Systems have made significant inroads.
Thomson’s hire follows the departure of RAVN’s former CEO David Lumsden, who took over as CEO of Enable Business Solutions in July.
In an announcement out later today iManage CEO Neil Araujo will say: “By embedding the RAVN AI engine in the world’s leading document and email management solution, iManage is able to automate a wide variety of cognitive tasks for professionals, empowering them to cut costs, uncover valuable insights and offer their clients innovative new services. Nick’s expertise in product strategy and development will help iManage continue to accelerate the adoption of practical AI solutions across legal and other corporate markets.”