Category: Business Process Management

How to Calculate ROI for Contract Lifecycle Management Solutions

Posted on August 27, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

In the last two issues in this series, we explored contract lifecycle management challenges and how to choose the right solution for your organization. In this blog post, we will discuss how to calculate savings metrics for a solution and highlight a company that has won multiple awards for their contract lifecycle management transformation.

ROI for Contract Lifecycle Management Solutions

Contract lifecycle management (CLM) solutions drive efficiencies and savings in many areas of the business – so much so that experts say the right solution will compress time to revenue, mitigate risks by having fewer contractual exceptions and increase customer satisfaction.

However, the question on everyone’s mind is this: What’s the return on investment?

To accurately assess the potential for contract lifecycle management ROI, we developed the Onit Savings Calculator. The calculator factors in time spent on contracts, missed renewals, obligation management needs, sales cycles and realization, rogue spending and expanding spend under contract.

For example, consider a company with more than $850 million a year in legal spend. The calculator determined that the company could save almost $6 million in the first year after deployment and close to $12 million by the third year of use.

Overall, we find that companies have an average cost savings of 9% and a 20% reduction in hours spent on contract review with a contract lifecycle management solution.

The numbers are generally the biggest persuader in whether or not your organization should invest in a contract lifecycle management solution. The savings calculator can help you build the business case and determine which cost-saving or revenue-generating projects to prioritize.

Our industry experts will help you pinpoint your CLM ROI. Visit here to request your evaluation.

An Award-Winning Success Story 

Pearson, a global learning company and an Onit customer, created a new way of delivering legal services. This initiative so transformed the company’s contract processes that it landed them multiple recognitions including:

Pearson, along with Onit partner Morae Global Corporation, developed, implemented and operated an innovative, highly efficient Transaction Service Center as an extension of Pearson’s legal team in support of the company’s businesses worldwide. This included the creation of playbooks, templates, workflows and standardized processes from intake on through drafting, redlining, negotiating, execution and post-execution support, as well as leading training and change management processes.

Morae partnered with Onit to deploy the Onit Apptitude platform that included a web-based “legal front door” for incoming service requests and a contract lifecycle management system for end-to-end processing of contracts. With Onit’s technology, Pearson gained a platform to drive automation, greater standardization, ease of access to information and increased process transparency.

The result: Pearson launched an innovative shared service center that supported commercial transactions worldwide for more than 10,000 users. Its ROI for contract lifecycle management included a 35% cost reduction and 30% improved contract turnaround time.

Bob Mignanelli, senior vice president, chief operating officer, legal, and associate general counsel for technology, strategy and operations for Pearson plc, discusses the project in this on-demand webinar.

Next Steps

We have information to help you through every stage of considering a contract lifecycle management solution.

To start, visit the previous two blog posts in this series on contract lifecycle management:

Next, download our white paper that outlines what to look for in a solution:

Hear what other customers have achieved with Onit contract lifecycle management solutions:

Finally, contact us to:

Driving Business Value and Growth, App by App

Posted on August 25, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

Mark Cuban once famously said, “We are going through the process where software will automate software, and automation will automate automation.” Apps powered by platforms are a big part of this evolution. Corporate legal departments (and most other businesses) are on a quest for technologies that help drive growth, add value and speed up processes. Many have already discovered that a platform approach helps them reach these objectives efficiently and quickly.

The Platform Advantage

The platform approach is a cloud-based service that empowers departments to build their own solutions or apps to address process and workflow problems. Saving time and money in turn allows businesses to focus on building apps that ultimately benefit their customers.

A cloud-based platform is an innovative and flexible tool that makes it easy to create, modify and deploy new software with robust workflow, transaction management and reporting capabilities. It helps solve real business problems without the need for costly support, training or IT infrastructure. This allows businesses to develop both very simple and very complex processes and workflows to drive everyday business functions and operations—in legal and other departments. These apps can be connected to other related apps to form a suite of cross-functional integrations to support complex operations. For example, this could include the creation and approval of matters, the drafting and review of non-disclosure agreements, and many other everyday activities.

Leading with Workflow

A workflow-centric approach is another important feature in a platform that seeks to transform matter management or other legal operations technologies into independent, collaborative and functional lifecycles that lawyers and operations managers use on a regular basis.  An a la carte model empowers users to add capabilities and components as needed. The ideal platform includes a modern architecture that showcases class-leading technology and a decidedly SaaS-based approach to legal business application management. Flexible and agile, these platforms are designed for rapid deployment and results.

Why You Should Consider a Platform for your Corporate Legal Department

Now that we’ve discussed the platform approach, here are reaons every legal operations professional should consider it.

  1. The Apps and Solutions are Easy to Create – Some workflows can be created in less than 30 minutes. A no-code platform is highly configurable and scalable and visual interfaces allows users to build and manage business logic and workflows using a drag-and-drop interface. This makes it easy for even non-technical professionals to create apps.
  2. You Can Reduce Costs – Solve business problems without the need for costly support, training or IT infrastructure. Software as a service (SaaS) frees up your team members to focus on meaningful contributions, not administrative tasks.
  3. Implementation Times are Lightning Fast – With a platform, most implementations take weeks – not months. A corporate legal department will spend less time waiting for an app and more time using it, meaning time to value is realized quickly.
  4. A Platform Creates Business Transparency – Business teams have real-time visibility in processes, such as sales quote approvals, NDA requests or contract negotiations.

When it comes to building apps for your business you must have the workflow, process and collaboration platform that is the best fit for the way your teams work. Equally important, balancing business needs with long-term growth has now become much easier with cutting-edge platform solutions.

Building Success, App by App

The Onit Nation, which includes customers, partners and employees who build on the Onit Apptitude Platform, have created impactful apps and solutions for legal operations. You can hear more about Apptitude successes by listening to the following webinars:

If you’re interested in driving business value with a platform approach, here’s how to learn more about Onit Apptitude:

 

5 Tactics for Reading Legal Contracts

Posted on August 21, 2020 by - Artificial Intelligence, Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

A contract is a collection of legally enforceable promises between two or more parties. Contracts can be full of “legalese” terminology, the rough size of a short story and intimidating to review. No matter how scary reviewing a contract can be, it is important to always understand what exactly you’re agreeing to.

Here are 5 tips you can use to learn how to read a contract:

  1. Examine the Contract

Reading a legal contract is as much about learning as understanding. There will be language that you understand at a first glance, and items that you want clarified further. Use the headings in the contract to understand the theme of the section, and the rights and responsibilities that fall under it.

As you read the contract, ask yourself if you know what each sentence means, and how it might affect you. You want to consider what happens when things go wrong.

  1. Understand What to Expect

Contracts usually start by stating parties and context — the “who” and “what.” For example, employment agreements will say that the employer will pay the employee for services.

A definitions section usually follows. This section spells out the defined meanings of words for the purpose of the contract, such as what “Effective Date” means. Definitions like “Default Event” might say something like “any event set out in section X.”

Another common contract feature is cross referencing: when one section or legal clause references another (sometimes on a completely different page of the agreement). This can make contracts hard to read, going back and forth or yo-yo-ing the scroll bar to read one section in the context of another.

  1. Make Notes

Take note of anything you aren’t sure about so you can look it up later or seek legal advice. It helps to print out a contract and use a pen or highlighter on it like you are studying for an exam. It’s a good idea to write notes or jot down questions in the white space of a contract to remember where you came across that issue.

  1. Google Some Legal Terms

Legal terms and jargon can make contracts feel impossible to understand; however, these terms can be easily googled. There are plenty of legal dictionaries available online. Some words, like “default,” mean something different in a legal context. Try googling “default meaning legal” or “default meaning contract” to get the legal definition of these words. It’s important to have a concrete understanding of what you’re agreeing to.

  1. Ask Questions

Once you are comfortable with the meanings of words and clauses, read the contract again and note any further questions or concerns you have. In particular, ask the other party whether there are any implied terms, and ask for clarification on any broad or ambiguous terms. It is important that the contract clearly state the parties’ intentions.

Bonus: Use a Legal AI Tool

Use our AI-powered contract management software, ReivewAI, to boost your confidence when reviewing your contract. Click on the defined terms or cross references in your agreement to pull out their meaning in the side bar of Word — allowing you to read your contract alongside the extra details. This helps you understand the contract better and alleviates eye strain!

How to Select a Contract Lifecycle Management Solution

Posted on August 20, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

In the first entry in our series detailing the value of contract lifecycle management solutions, we shared signs that indicate you need a new approach to the contracting process. In this blog post, we will discuss the items your company should consider when deploying the ideal solution for its needs. 

Businesses that implement a seamless contract lifecycle management process compress their time to revenue, mitigate risks by having fewer contractual exceptions and increase customer satisfaction. While the opportunities are plentiful, the path to finding the right solution for your company can be challenging.

With the numerous contract lifecycle management solutions available, how do you determine which one is the best fit?

First, adopt a platform approach. A platform approach combines a set of software and a surrounding ecosystem of resources. Its value comes not only from its own features but also from its limitless ability to connect external tools, teams, data and processes. It offers growth that comes from a highly scalable, seamlessly deployed and continuously updated technology.

One more platform benefit to consider: Timeliness of implementation. Instead of taking months and months, you can employ a quick-start implementation package that streamlines the contract process so you’re using it in less than 30 days.

Second, the most effective solutions make critical tasks easier and more accessible with automation. With this approach, a contract can be requested via an online portal that gives access to standard verbiage and templates. Automation within the system ensures the appropriate people and processes are assigned and notified of the request. It also allows the easy building of configurable workflows, so you know you can change workflows as needed as a company grows.

Third, the solution must provide the ability to sign electronically. This eliminates the need for paper and enables anytime, anywhere signatures. When the contract is signed, it is automatically stored in a central repository that is the single source for all contracts and related documents.

To view more suggested features for a contract lifecycle management solution, download our white paper here.

Final additions

As contract lifecycle management solutions grow in prominence, the discussion has shifted from whether adoption is necessary to the best solution to adopt. If you want to learn more about Onit and these solutions, feel free to read our whitepaper “What to Expect from a Contract Lifecycle Management Solution” or contact us directly.

How Artificial Intelligence and Automation Augment ReviewAI

Posted on August 18, 2020 by - Artificial Intelligence, Business Process Management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is disrupting every industry, including the traditionally paper-based legal sphere. While it’s taken time, lawyers are getting on board with the idea of ditching red pens and legal pads in favor of technology that will help them complete work more efficiently.

Reviewing and drafting contracts is manual, repetitive work that takes up to 70% of a legal department’s time. With increasing pressures on teams to do more with less, improving contract management efficiency and document consistency can be a serious cost issue. Contract automation, fueled by AI, helps teams spend more time on customer-facing tasks, improve business performance and reduce business risk.

But where do you start? AI might seem like a daunting technology to learn and integrate into your everyday work life, but in reality, it doesn’t take long to become proficient. You just need to find the right product. We recommend looking for the below items in a contract automation solution.

It Allows You to Manage Contracts in Microsoft Word

First things first. We believe that lawyers shouldn’t have to completely change the tools they use or download separate software. Lawyers primarily use Microsoft Word to review contracts, which is why we created an AI contract review solution as a Microsoft Word plugin so lawyers can edit legal documents right within the software they are already comfortable using. Got a PDF that needs to be redlined? Not an issue. Microsoft Word automatically converts PDFs into Word Documents when opened with the MS Word software.

The ReviewAI Word plugin opens on the right pane of your document and lists alerts, clauses and details that it automatically detects in your legal contract that you should pay attention to.

It Includes Contract Templates

ReviewAI ships with a range of preconfigured contract review templates to help you get started quickly, including legal document reviews in areas such as general supply, construction, employment, confidentiality, supplier agreements, due diligence, services and consulting agreements, etc.

It Offers the Ability to Customize

While legal contract templates are the easiest to use, different clients, contract values or work type might require different legal standards for you to adhere to in your contract management process; so your solution should include the ability to easily customize it to fit your needs.

Taking the time to create a playbook of reviews for different matters will allow you to use AI tools more efficiently across a greater range of work, while ensuring consistency across your team. These work similar to the pre-configured reviews, but are customized with your firm’s own standards.

It Allows You to Set up a Clause Bank

Don’t worry, you don’t need to have double majored in Computer Science to customize your own “review playbook.” One of the most important ways you can tailor your own legal contract review templates is by updating a central Clause Bank that stores your firm’s standard clauses, enabling you to draft and review contracts more efficiently with AI.

Any legal AI tool worth its salt will have out-of-the-box, pre-configured checks for different contract review use-cases across multiple industries. These contract review templates speed things up so that the legal team doesn’t have to customize their own review templates for run-of-the-mill agreements.

By using ReviewAI, you can capture new clauses while working on documents by simply highlighting the clause you want to capture, going to the Draft Tab and clicking on the “Create clause” tab. Entering relevant tags along with the clause language helps team members effortlessly find your work within the easily accessible ClauseBank available to the entire team.

If you need ideas, we provide sets of sample clauses that users can modify for their own use. In light of the global COVID-19 crisis, we have added extra sample clauses to the ClauseBank to help with your new drafting challenges. The sample clauses are pandemic tagged and include Force Majeure Delays, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan, and Pandemic Preparedness and Definitions.

It Allows You to Jump to Legal Concepts and Details

Another way that AI comes in handy is being able to easily identify legal concepts, clauses and details within clauses without having to scroll back and forth.

Your legal contract review tool should automatically flag key contract issues and suggest edits that match successful precedent legal contracts. The more you use your chosen tool, the better the alerts and suggestions the AI provides for your given industry. In the case of ReviewAI, blended natural language processing, linguistic and machine learning techniques create an AI that learns faster from far less data with higher generalized accuracy.

At the end of the day, the legal AI tool you use should standardize the way your team identifies and remedies contractual issues and improve collaboration efforts overall by widely sharing standard and fallback positions when drafting and negotiating contracts.

But don’t take our word for it …

“This technology has become an indispensable tool for everyday contract work. It has enabled greater consistency across our corporate practice area.” (Tom Maasland, MinterEllisonRuddWatts)

If you’d like to learn more about our ReviewAI legal AI tool and how it can help your legal team improve, set up a free, 30-minute demo today!

Five Signs Your Company Needs a New Way to Manage Contracts

Posted on August 13, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

Contract lifecycle management solutions have seen wide adoption over the last five years, so much so that they’ve developed a market capacity worth more than a billion dollars. By 2024, the global market for contract lifecycle management software is estimated to increase to $2.9 billion*.

Why is there such a substantial increase?

Contract lifecycle management solutions offer a significant return on investment. They allow companies to capture, automate and analyze the entire contract lifecycle from initiation through approval, compliance and renewals. By eliminating data silos, automating workflows and reducing the overall time spent, a contract lifecycle management solution drives business value.

In this first of three blog posts, we dissect our latest whitepaper and look at what to expect from a contract lifecycle management solution. The posts will discuss everything from signs that you need one to how to select the right solution for your business.

If you’re the type of person who likes to skip to the front of the line, you don’t have to wait. You can download the entire whitepaper here. For everyone else, let’s begin.

Is it Time to Change How you Handle Contracts? Consider these Indicators.

Contract lifecycle management poses significant challenges, especially when you consider that the process for most companies extends across multiple departments, geographies, versions and external participants. Complex processes that are handled manually can lead to risks and too much time spent on low-yield tasks like following up or locating a contract version. The cumulative impact of these factors can cost your organization an immense amount of time and money.

Here are five signs that your company should explore a new approach.

  1. Inability to Make Changes

How does your company manage changes over the entire lifespan of a contract, from the first draft through renewals? Are the processes and technologies involved flexible enough to anticipate and accommodate renewal data, pricing changes and emerging legal requirements?

  1. Information Silos and Manual Processes

A business can impair contract management progress if it lacks a centralized, accessible location for contract information that tracks changes in real-time. Human error, bottlenecked contract cycles and limited process control – typical in many corporations when it comes to contract management – increase risk dramatically.

  1. Inconsistent Legal Language

Contracts depend on approved and consistent language. Gaps in standardized language introduce risk and confusion. If your contracts consistently have language consistency issues, it may open the door to unexpected risks.

  1. Struggles between Timeliness and Risk

Lawyers, who work to reduce risks, prefer to review contracts in detail. Sales professionals, who have the job of closing deals, have an interest in getting contracts through quickly. If your company is experiencing friction like this, it likely needs a better approach to contract lifecycle management.

  1. Lack of Insight into Contract Processes and Variables

When corporate legal doesn’t have insight into contract terms, obligations and value, it cannot ensure the business is getting the right value for deals, and money may be lost.

The Benefits of Contract Lifecycle Management Solutions

A contract lifecycle management solution – a combination of software and services – gives businesses unparalleled visibility into and control of their contract portfolio without sacrificing speed or time. It illuminates the journey of individual contracts from the initial request to managing obligations. It also applies technology and business best practices to the process to such as financial reporting, operational efficiency and overall contract compliance.

Ready for more information? Our next blog post of this series, coming out next week, will cover how to choose a solution. Until then, here are ways to explore these solutions and how they will impact your company:

 

* Markets and Markets: Contract Management Software Market by Component, 2019

3 Things to Consider When Signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement

Posted on August 11, 2020 by - Artificial Intelligence, Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) establish a confidential relationship between parties who share sensitive information. A well-drafted NDA can protect sensitive information from being shared with others without your consent. Without NDAs, any information shared can be taken advantage of or publicly disclosed.

Following are some tips when creating and/or signing an NDA to ensure that you protect your best interests:

Q: What is the Scope of Confidentiality?

Make sure the purpose of the agreement is clearly understood and defined. Consider what the permitted use of information is and how long you are expected to keep it secret. Otherwise, the other party could use your information for their own benefit, or you could be expected to keep the information private for years, etc.

Q: What is the Definition of Confidentiality?

It is important to specify the kinds of information you want to protect or exclude from protection under this agreement and make sure to include that in your definition of confidentiality. If you don’t get specific, your discussions may not be legally protected or you may risk accidentally breaching the agreement.

Q: What Happens if There is a Breach of the Agreement?

Pay attention to the consequences of breaching the agreement and avoid any extreme penalties, such as liquidated damages or indemnities. Otherwise you may be facing an expensive legal bill.

Being informed empowers you to make smarter legal decisions now and in the future.

Review your next NDA agreement with ReviewAI. Try out the Confidentiality Skillset to find core issues quickly when protecting your confidential information, and further your understanding and obligations of confidentiality.

 

Virtual Court from a Judge’s Perspective

Posted on August 4, 2020 by - Business Process Management

Welcome to virtual court. The judge is in.

Many lawyers and legal professionals have faced the COVID-19 shift, moving from workplaces to home offices. As a result, it’s redefined how law firms and corporate legal departments operate. It also impacts court proceedings. Court systems have faced a far more advanced challenge: how to hold sessions virtually and accommodate counsel, witnesses and legal considerations.

In this blog post, Judge Tanya Garrison of the Harris County Civil Court discusses virtual court, its potential long-term effects and how attorneys can excel in Zoom hearings.

Q: How has your court system handled going virtual?

Judge Garrison: We all got Zoom accounts instantly. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Texas Supreme Court has issued numerous emergency orders to give judges the authority to do what needs to be done during this time. For example, it allowed courts to conduct hearings remotely and court deadlines to be extended as necessary.

One of the concerns we had involved the Open Courts Provision in the Texas Constitution. The hearings have to be open so that anyone can watch. In the early days of COVID and Zoom, it wasn’t ideal to publicly post meeting links. The Harris County Civil Court experimented with multiple approaches like YouTube live streaming. I opted for phone hearings for the first month. That way, I could put the call-in number on the internet to comply with an open court. Finally, the court found a hybrid solution that involves judges and counsel connecting on Zoom and then live streaming the session so the public can see it.

Q: How have you found the change?

Judge Garrison: Everything takes a little bit longer now. We all have to have more patience. I do miss the human interaction and lawyers debating in a courtroom. It’s a hard adjustment but a necessary one.

Q: Has the change affected how your court runs?

Judge Garrison: Trials are all postponed, so most of my work is overseeing pretrial activities, discovery and mediation. I’ve moved more submissions to written ones rather than oral hearings. If I need explanations, I’ll have a call with counsel afterward.

Q: How have attorneys responded to virtual court?

Judge Garrison: The legal profession is filled with a variety of people with a range of talents and abilities. Some lawyers are excellent with technology, and some are learning. While being good with technology is a perceived advantage, that isn’t what I care about. I rule on merit. 

We’re asking lawyers to adapt really quickly to technology. I’m impressed with how well the legal profession has responded. A year ago, an online videoconference would have been implausible. Now, it’s not a big deal.

Q: Do you see virtual court having positive changes for the legal system?

Judge Garrison: The legal profession may realize that we can operate this way and we don’t have to be in the courthouse to do it. We’ll have more efficient hearings. If we continue to connect virtually, clients may end up saving money. A bill for a court hearing may reflect 15 minutes instead of three hours.

It’d have a positive impact on settlement hearings for minors. Moms and dads usually have to take a day off of work to testify. Now, they can give their testimony on Zoom, and it takes minutes instead of an entire day. It saves them time, hassle and frustration. Virtual also allows for depositions over longer distances. It can accommodate someone if they’re out of town.

On the other hand, it may take away educational opportunities for younger lawyers. When I was a young lawyer, I would sit on a docket and watch the cases in front of me. You can learn a lot that way. Now, you join at your time and drop off when done.

Q: What advice do you have for lawyers in virtual court?

Judge Garrison: A good Zoom hearing is similar to a good Zoom meeting. You have to frame yourself effectively with the camera. For example, don’t sit in front of a window. You have to be more patient with the other people on the video hearing and make sure you’re paying attention to nonverbal cues.

The biggest tip I have – for live or online – is to write better. I read motions before the hearing. Write a concise, clean motion and articulate why you are entitled to what you need. If you write a bad motion, I don’t fully understand and can’t give you what you want.

Q: What are the limitations of virtual hearings?

Judge Garrison: Unfortunately, online hearings don’t allow for two key parts of the legal structure: presenting physical evidence and witness transparency. You’re not going to have a Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Men” cross-examination moment in a virtual conference. If you’re on a Zoom hearing with a witness in front of the computer screen, it’s hard to know who is sitting behind it. Is there a lawyer feeding the witness answers? That’s an extreme example, though.

Q: What do you see happening when it’s safe to go back to court?

Judge Garrison: I will probably conduct mostly in-person hearings again when the courts can reconvene. However, the positive changes that can come from virtual hearings will hopefully lead me to have more virtual dockets in the future, if possible.

Thank you to Judge Garrison for sharing her virtual court experience.

About Judge Tanya N. Garrison

Judge Garrison was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1997, where she met her husband. After graduation, the Garrisons moved to Houston, where Judge Garrison attended the University of Houston for law school, graduating in 2000 with honors in both oral advocacy and academics.

During law school, Judge Garrison began working at the law firm of Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber, P.C., where she practiced law until being elected judge of the 157th in 2018. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Garrison’s law practice consisted of entirely civil litigation with an emphasis on appellate law. She is board certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and a proud member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Five Crucial Components of Enterprise Legal Management Solutions

Posted on July 31, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

The most meaningful enterprise solutions help grow a business.

Enterprise legal management solutions are no exception.

With robust enterprise legal management technology, corporate legal departments can generate gains in efficiency, productivity, business insight and cost savings – all valuable commodities when priorities are quickly shifting.

In this blog post, we’ll run down five of the most valuable parts of enterprise legal management solutions. But first, let’s talk about data vs. process.

Data vs. Process

At the beginning of legal operations management, lawyers and legal professionals relied on tools like spreadsheets, emails and documents to manage information. As corporate legal departments grew in size and complexity, they turned to traditional enterprise legal management vendors that provided a database-centric approach to handling legal operations. Their technology platforms worked as systems of record that only tracked or measured data put into it.

However, and this cannot be over-emphasized, your competitive legal department needs a system of engagement – a system that supports the highly collaborative nature of legal work.

An app-based focus addresses process problems and offers a workflow-based approach. It provides the power of comprehensive enterprise legal management broken into individual task-based solutions and processes, conforming more closely to how people work. Users can also extend their collaborative reach with other corporate departments by incorporating capabilities and components of broader company-wide systems as needed.

Working faster and smarter

When exploring enterprise legal management solutions, ensure that the prospective system can be built around the way teams work. After all, you’re trying to streamline your operations and avoid the old standards of relying on email and spreadsheets to get the job done. In today’s fast-paced legal settings, lawyers need to be able to work faster, smarter and more efficiently. The best way to do it is by automating legal department processes.

There are quite a few benefits of a cutting-edge enterprise legal management solution, including cost savings,  flexibility and robust reporting capabilities. Equally important are the numerous crucial processes that it can help your team with – especially since you’re working towards improving processes.

Here are five of the top components to look for in an enterprise legal management solution:

  1. A single platform for collaboration that captures notes, documents, attachments and email communications in one secure location. With all your processes centralized in a single, robust platform, operations are streamlined and optimized to the fullest.
  1. Improved collaboration and knowledge sharing that provides more transparency to your operations. Legal departments of any size can reap the benefits of a technology platform that supports the highly integrated, collaborative legal work that reinforces an enterprise’s business goals.
  1. Workflow capabilities that match your business requirements and are simple to change, alter or adjust. Different work types, such as matters related to employment, litigation, or mergers, have unique processes. Workflows must be able to evolve quickly as corporate legal departments grow and re-prioritize.
  1. Seamless integration with vital systems and the ability to be highly configurable. Corporate legal departments have a wide variety of systems in their technology ecosystems, including document management, intellectual property management, accounts payable and other back-end systems. This allows information to flow and populate as needed automatically across technologies.
  1. Reporting and dashboard views that make it easy to analyze invoices, evaluate performance against budget and see trends across your matter portfolio. Intuitive interfaces allow legal professionals to focus on the process and results instead of how the application works. Little or no training is required, which dramatically reduces the time and cost of solution deployment.

With an average cost savings of 4-7% of outside counsel spend, process-oriented enterprise legal management solutions also represent a new paradigm that drastically improves the delivery of legal services. Process-driven solutions integrate workflow and collaboration and allow you to explore and define the legal business processes critical to your organization.

Are you interested in learning more? Here are three steps to help.

  1. Explore what other leading corporate departments are accomplishing with a platform and process approach to enterprise legal management. For example, Corteva used technology provided by Onit and our partner PERSUIT to build a global panel of law firms. As a result, its legal operations leader helped the company significantly reduce average prices across vendors – by up to 60% in some cases – and increase outside counsel engagement
  2. Join Lean into Legal Ops. The comprehensive thought leadership initiative, offered at no charge, provides legal and business professionals masterclasses, case studies and discussions with industry thought leaders and innovators. For the U.S., join here. For Europe, join here.
  3. Learn about building better workflows and how they can help you build a better business by asking for a demonstration of Onit Enterprise Legal Management Solutions.

 

How to Work through Legal Operations Challenges as a Community

Posted on July 16, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

How do you get through challenging times? Most likely, with a little help from your friends.

The COVID-19 pandemic has critically changed work as we know it. Companies closed offices and employees switched to work from home. A decentralized workforce brought new challenges like the complexities of remote access and virtual collaboration. Businesses had to pivot immediately and reexamine strategies and budgets. As a result, corporate legal departments faced a renewed need for efficiency and cost savings.

It is now more important than ever to connect with your peers and leaders within legal operations. Sharing experiences can inspire and highlight innovative approaches to today’s challenges.

That why we created Lean into LegalOps.

The online learning initiative, offered at no cost and open to all legal operations professionals, connects thousands of Onit and SimpleLegal customers, in-house counsel, technology experts and more. To date, leading legal operations executives from McDonald’s, BT and Colgate-Palmolive have shared their experiences with timely topics such as:

  • How to use workflow tools to manage a distributed workforce
  • Implementing technology strategies that deliver immediate cost savings and ROI
  • Quantifying and defending the value of a legal department
  • Change management best practices in a challenging environment

The program also offers regular peer discussion groups, with members tackling top priorities and providing insight into how to address them.

The positive response to Lean into LegalOps inspired us to extend the program into Europe. Robert Johnson, the managing director of Onit’s London office, discusses Lean into LegalOps Europe and the state of legal operations in Europe here.

We invite you to view these on-demand recordings at your convenience. Hear how our customers have successfully realized cost savings and enhanced efficiency during these troubled times.

Get invitations and links to future presentations and peer-to-peer discussion groups by joining Lean into LegalOps or Lean into LegalOps Europe.