When it comes to contract lifecycle management (CLM), optimising your contract workflows is an on-going process. There are several different stages on the CLM maturity ladder. You may start off by using a CLM solution as a system of record to create a centralised contract repository and help you organise key data, and then move on to using it as a system of engagement, for instance, to automate contract creation using templates and collaborate on documents. Then ultimately you can use it as a system of intelligence, notably by utilising AI-powered document review capabilities to create visibility across the entire contract portfolio.
As you move up this ladder, CLM solutions become proactive rather than purely reactive. Beyond providing tools to enable companies to have robust processes across their contract lifecycle, CLM solutions can also deliver vital value to the business by providing reliable, actionable data around their contracts and obligations, to better inform decision-making.
Harnessing AI to do the heavy lifting
Unearthing detailed data from deep within documents en masse, structuring it so it can be made meaningful and then analysing it for business insights is a tall order if you are attempting it manually. That’s where AI comes in, as outlined at a recent webinar.
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WebinarAdvanced CLM: Unlocking the
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By leveraging pre-trained AI as part of your CLM process, you can take contract management to the most advanced level. Thomson Reuters is heavily invested in the AI space and our Document Intelligence solution uses machine learning algorithms built in conjunction with legal experts from Practical Law to identify and learn from patterns within datasets and automatically extract contract provisions from one or multiple contracts. Meanwhile, our provide answers to users’ questions that are accurate, relevant and high quality.
By harnessing AI-powered Document Intelligence, you can accomplish large-scale document review projects with speed and accuracy. Now there’s no need to outsource such initiatives: you can keep the process in-house because the AI makes it both efficient and effective. This also means the knowledge gleaned from these reviews remains accessible to the company for future planning, on-going opportunity identification or subsequent review.
Plus, thanks to its seamless integration with HighQ, companies can have that clean, accurate data from those large volume document reviews undertaken by the Document Intelligence solution flow seamlessly back into HighQ.
This matters because many companies use HighQ as their essential collaboration space where they undertake most critical CLM tasks. So the data delivered by Document Intelligence can be deployed back in HighQ for document creation and execution, workflow management, reporting and visualizations.
HighQ CLM manages the contract lifecycle from intake to renewal by providing central collaboration space, and automating document creation and execution, workflow management and reporting and visualization processes.
Document Intelligence is pre-trained to read, organise and manage contracts at volume, so it can identify key data and extract insights from the contents of multiple documents at once, surfacing key terms, and spotting errors or deviations to mitigate risk.
How does it work?
When you add Document Intelligence to HighQ, you can:
- Navigate your full contract portfolio with ease, with simple, yet sophisticated search capabilities. The AI is trained to understand contract concepts and pull out language in relevant terms without having to rely on section headers or specific words being present. Or you can search all your contracts based on the business context, e.g. by what part of the business they apply to
- Get instant access to your past work to inform new drafts and proprietary playbooks. These can be auto-filled with clause-level negotiation, guidance, escalation and contact information and pre-approved language, to eliminate any bottlenecks or gaps in processes
- Provide a single platform for collaboration, while still allowing individuals to edit and review contracts in their preferred software, thanks to integrations with Word and Google Docs
- Streamline contract execution and approval control with custom approval processes, and integrations with DocuSign and Adobe Sign, and gain visibility over signing status with e-signature dashboards
- Eliminate manual steps in the contract analysis and review process, by using automated triaging to set logic parameters and automatically assign work to the correct member of the in-house legal team
- Ensure business SLAs are met, with logic-based workflow builders that manage and track contractual processes from start to finish. Using pre-trained AI models, you can locate and analyse key contract terms from individual or bulk contracts with just a few clicks of the mouse
- Compare different contract terms with ease, including powerful standard form deviation analysis to draw your attention to where it’s needed most.
Delivering real business value
With Document Intelligence, companies can save almost a third of the time taken for a large document review. In the due diligence process, time savings can reach 70%, while on-boarding post-deal is simpler too. So, you can refocus that human capital on high value work where it belongs.
Realizing the full potential of your CLM solution as a system of intelligence also allows your company to make data-based decisions and proactively focus on the opportunities your contracts afford rather than only reacting when critical fire drill views are needed.
One example of this is when one of our customers was able to identify from their contracts where there were price escalations that they should be charging back to their customers, and as a consequence where they could recoup significant amounts of money.
As Stephen Sickman of Thomson Reuters said in the webinar, “This turns the contracts department and the legal department into a way of effectively making money versus being a cost centre.”
HighQ and Document intelligence are both very powerful tools to help you manage and understand your contracts. By deploying them together, you can truly turn your CLM into a system of intelligence.
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Discover how Thomson Reuters Document Intelligence can enhance your CLM processes.
