Contract documents

June 30, 2023

Consistent growth is something every business leader aspires to achieve. When they review the bottom lines or metrics they use to gauge growth, they can’t help but feel satisfied when they notice how the proverbial needle is moving in the right direction. But here’s the other side of the coin. There’s also a measure of dread.

The dread they feel has nothing to do with the increases in revenues or profits or the additional hires that are sure to come. No, the fear comes from the increased volume of contracts. Contracts are something that every business needs to grow, but most companies need help managing them. It’s a challenge rooted in one area: the lack of transparency.

The lack of transparency has nothing to do with secrecy or one department hiding information from another, and it’s not intentional. It’s a byproduct of success, as each new customer or account, even renewals, typically leads to a contract. So, while the business is growing and growing, efficiency usually sinks due to the increasing volume of contracts that need managing.

Research shows that on average, a contract can take 92 minutes to review, representing a tremendous drain on organizational efficiency. With AI, review time drops significantly as tasks that typically take hours now take minutes or, in some cases, seconds. The improvement in speed and efficiency happens because the lack of transparency that led to delays is no longer present.

Aside from increased transparency, AI can help your contract management process in several other ways.

Formatting

Contract formatting is a considerable time burden. In a traditional environment, an attorney could spend days or weeks to complete depending on the complexity of the document. With AI, you can build consistent, accurate documents in next to no time.

Monitoring and Analysis Risks

Most contract AI software comes with a monitoring and risk analysis component. Whereas before, your team would have to sift through clause after clause and document after document to define risks, AI can do it for you. AI can also help track any discrepancies in your contract language that could cause challenges later.

It’s More Than Time … It’s Also Money

 There’s no way to overemphasize the amount of time an effective AI solution offers. But here’s a point that so many business leaders need to pay attention to concerning this arm of their operation. Poor contract management costs money. Ernst and Young and the Harvard Law Center recently ported that globally, inefficient contract operations cause over half the companies polled to lose business or revenue.

Increased Efficiency

 Negotiating a contract can be a lengthy process with delays that can test the patience of even the most ardent decision-maker. AI can help push negotiations along at a rate that keeps all parties sane. With AI, you can identify missing content and any potential legal red flags that could cause delays. Over time, the intuitive AI software builds a contract profile and develops a rhythm for how your organization writes contracts. Any content that deviates from the norm, triggers an alert. With this in place, negotiations flow smoothly, saving time, and money.

Conclusion

AI is having a tremendous impact on contracts and how organizations like yours manage this crucial operations element. For more information on AI and how it’s changing the face of construction, be sure to review our white paper entitled, “Artificial Intelligence in Contract Management – Rhetoric to Reality”.

AIA Contract Documents has provided this article for general informational purposes only. The information provided is not legal opinion or legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship of any kind. This article is also not intended to provide guidance as to how project parties should interpret their specific contracts or resolve contract disputes, as those decisions will need to be made in consultation with legal counsel, insurance counsel, and other professionals, and based upon a multitude of factors.