Workshare

Workshare was established in 1999 by UK technology entrepreneur Barrie Hadfield, initially providing client-server software for document comparison. The company carved out a niche by focusing on legal and professional services firms, offering them tools to meticulously track changes in high-stakes documents and contracts. A significant milestone occurred in 2012 when Workshare merged with Skydox, another venture from Hadfield centered on cloud-based document collaboration, a deal supported by a £20 million investment from Scottish Equity Partners and Business Growth Fund. That same year, Workshare expanded its capabilities by acquiring IdeaPlane, an enterprise social network. The company's journey as an independent entity concluded in July 2019 when it was acquired by its competitor, Litera Microsystems, a move aimed at creating a more comprehensive, end-to-end document drafting solution for the legal industry.

Barrie Hadfield, a self-described tech geek, has spent his entire career building technology companies and their products. His entrepreneurial drive is rooted in a core value of autonomy, having exclusively worked in companies he founded. This background in creating technology solutions from the ground up directly informed Workshare's development, focusing on practical applications for professional environments that require robust document control. Following the acquisition by Litera, Hadfield joined the new company to help guide the evolution of the combined comparison technologies, ensuring his foundational vision continued to influence the product's direction.

Workshare operates as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, targeting professionals in the legal, professional services, and healthcare sectors who handle sensitive documents. Its business model is centered on selling subscriptions for its suite of products that facilitate secure file sharing and collaboration. The company's core offerings include Workshare Compare for document comparison, Workshare Secure for metadata cleaning, and Workshare Transact for managing deals. These tools empower content owners to track and compare amendments from multiple contributors simultaneously while maintaining control over the collaborative process. With a global footprint, including offices in the UK, US, and Australia, Workshare's solutions were used by over two million professionals across 70 countries on desktop and mobile devices prior to its acquisition.

Keywords: document comparison, legal technology, secure file sharing, collaboration software, metadata cleaning, transaction management, SaaS, document protection, enterprise software, professional services