The impact AI has had on legal operations cannot be overlooked. Under pressure from leadership and in a challenging market, many legal operations professionals are exploring what AI can do for their organizations and how it can be incorporated into existing business processes. While AI offers substantial benefits, the greatest value comes from implementing solutions that support an organization's specific goals.
At Spaulding Ridge, we've seen firsthand how AI is transforming legal operations and contract management. Here's what every legal operations leader should know about using AI to modernize contract lifecycle management.
Outdated contract management processes are holding organizations back
Many organizations are still relying on outdated contract management solutions that make it difficult to work efficiently. Manual, cumbersome, and disconnected contracting processes consume valuable time and introduce unnecessary complexity. Not to mention the increased risk of human error that comes with managing contracts manually.
Organizations often spend countless hours reviewing document after document. Even the most experienced reviewers can miss important details, especially when working through large volumes of contracts. It's simply human nature. As contract volumes grow, manual processes become increasingly difficult to sustain.
AI simplifies contract review and data extraction
AI is automating and simplifying many of the manual tasks involved in contract management, particularly when it comes to searching and analyzing contracts. Large language models can query extensive contract repositories, identify and extract key information, and deliver that information to the people who need it.
By automating repetitive tasks, organizations can reduce manual effort, minimize opportunities for mistakes, and allow legal teams to focus on higher-value priorities. The result is time savings, better alignment across teams, and more efficient contracting processes.
AI should be viewed as a tool that enhances human expertise
Organizations adopting AI should think of it as a first pass in the contract review process. AI can accelerate review by identifying key information and flagging potential issues, while legal professionals validate the results and investigate anything that requires additional attention.
The efficiency gains are difficult to ignore. While a person may review only a handful of contracts per hour, AI can analyze thousands of contracts in a fraction of the time. The productivity improvements speak for themselves.
At the same time, it's important to have realistic expectations. AI is not perfect, and it doesn't need to be. The goal is for AI to make fewer mistakes than a person performing the same repetitive task. Rather than replacing legal professionals, AI extends their capabilities by handling routine work, allowing them to focus on higher-value analysis, decision-making, and strategic priorities.
AI helps organizations unlock more value from their contracts
The greatest value begins with identifying business outcomes. Organizations may need to determine who should be contacted regarding late payment fees, understand how new regulations affect customer relationships, or quickly locate specific contractual language.
AI can automatically identify relevant contract clauses and support documents based on these types of business questions, making critical information much easier to find and use. By connecting contract data to real business needs, organizations can reduce costs, improve compliance, mitigate risk, and make more informed decisions.
Getting started with AI for contract management
Spaulding Ridge helps organizations implement Docusign Insight, an AI-powered solution that integrates with the Docusign Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) ecosystem. For organizations already using Docusign CLM, adding AI can be a seamless next step. Insight can also be implemented as a standalone solution for organizations that are not currently using a CLM platform.
With a centralized contract repository, risk analysis, improved reporting, and automated workflow decision-making, organizations can better understand their contracts while reducing manual work.
Our approach is to work closely with legal, procurement, sales, and other stakeholders who will use the system to understand the outcomes they aim to achieve and to deliver a solution tailored to their specific needs.
Once Docusign Insight is fully implemented, organizations gain greater visibility into their contracts and can extract valuable data more efficiently. The result is better decision-making across the business while saving time and effort on routine data extraction tasks.
Looking ahead
In today's era of AI, legal operations leaders have an opportunity to drive meaningful business results by modernizing contract management. By combining AI with the right strategy, processes, and technology, organizations can unlock greater efficiency, reduce risk, and empower legal teams to focus on the work that matters most.
If you're interested in bringing the power of AI into your contract lifecycle management system, connect with our Docusign Insight experts to start your journey.