ROI

(3 minute read)

Document automation can be a tricky concept to grasp, especially given all the jargon used by people in the field. It’s bound to be confusing when you are just getting started!

So why do you need to understand the complicated terminology? Legal technology is making strides in the legal and business worlds – in fact, according to Gartner, by 2024 it is estimated that 50% of legal work in major corporate transactions will be automated! This is especially crucial because of the impact of the pandemic. Check out how Avvoka has leveraged technology to help law firms and businesses solve challenges and drive business outcomes.

We admit – we’re guilty of using those complex terms sometimes too! So we thought that a handy glossary would help you understand document automation terms better. 

• Jargon for total newbies
• Jargon for the more experienced or tech-savvy

Document Automation Terminology

Jargon for total newbies:

• Templating: This is one of the most fundamental concepts of document automation! Templating refers to the process of taking a standard precedent document and introducing automation instructions to turn it into an automated template.

• Mass generation: Users can input information for numerous documents into an excel sheet and automatically produce large numbers of bespoke documents, saving them time and money. You can check more about how our clients have used this feature in Avvoka here.

• Placeholders: Think of this as filler text linked to a particular question. Responding to the question inserts the answer wherever the placeholder was inserted in the document. They are basically dynamic input fields that can replace any field with interchangeable information that would typically be in square brackets (think about the parties, specific details of a particular contract).

• Conditions: Using conditions, a user can control whether a particular word, sentence, phrase or clause is included or not in a contract. Users may answer a questionnaire item in a way that triggers the inclusion/appearance or exclusion of select conditional text. This can be game-changing to save time and avoid human errors. Also, it allows you to have a consolidated template that accounts for all different scenarios and possible standard variations of a document or contract that will be triggered depending on what is answered in the questionnaire.
  • Block condition: Affects an entire clause or paragraph and readjusts the numbering of the document.
  • In-line condition: Affects a word, sentence, or phrase within a clause.

• Attribute: The name for a data point in a templated document. For instance, ‘Company Name’ would be a suitable attribute name for the data point that collects the answer to the ‘Please provide your company name’ question in a questionnaire. 
  • Attributes can be used where you’d like to create an input field into the document (like ‘Company Name’, the answer to which should drop the relevant company’s name into the document).
  • Attributes that only allow you to indicate a whole clause to drop in, using a condition.

• Document management system: This is a piece of software that is used to keep track of and store e-documents, which allows the user to manage them with ease.

Jargon for the more experienced or tech-savvy:

• Integrations: An integration is where two different subsystems are brought together to create one system. Interested in learning more about integrations? When considering what types of integrations you may come across in the document automation market, you should be looking at receiving data from one of the tools that you already use internally to fill out the questionnaires, sending completed questionnaires and the relevant data to your CRM system, or integrating with an e-signature platform like DocuSign and Adobe Sign. Check out Avvoka’s integrations!

• Webhooks: They allow apps to communicate with each other by sending custom messages after being triggered by different events. As an API, are something that you can leverage for third party integrations. This time, instead of the middleman interface calling the document automation provider’s API, it is listening for calls or ‘notifications’ from the platform instead. Webhooks will send a message to your chosen URL based on different actions. These actions might include when a document is signed or created. This means that rather than your API interface constantly checking for every document created and its status afterwards, it is able to just wait for the notification. Typically what happens after the notification is that you might leverage the API to download the signed document, for example, after the webhook that notified you it had been signed. Webhooks are also great for integrations with tools like Slack, to send messages every time the status of a document changes. You can check this page to know more about how you can use webhooks in Avvoka.

• API: A.K.A “Application Programming Interface”, these are the commands that two systems use to interact with one another. APIs allow software to interact and push or pull information to/from other databases or software. This might mean you can add users, create documents, or download documents without having to access the application itself. What’s important is that some software systems APIs are more extensive than others and will allow you to achieve more, so it’s important to look at what functions the API actually allows to ensure that it meets your integration needs. Learn more about Avvoka’s API here.

• Operations: A complex input field that generates an answer by making calculations or converting the data into other answer forms. With operations you can take your templates to the next level, applying complex logic to any data in the template. At Avvoka we’ve introduced new and more advanced operations to bring your templates to the next level. Using operations you can limit the number of questions that you’re asking the user. Say for example you know that the first payment date is on the 5th of December, well we can use the dependent list operation to find each subsequent payment month. Or if you have a single template for multiple regions, you can use operations to make sure that the formatting complies with the jurisdiction that the end-user is in.

• Repapering: The process of adapting client contracts after execution to account for an ever-changing regulatory environment. Have you checked out Avvoka’s SmartRepapering solution yet? With Avvoka’s SmartRepapering you can automate your document repapering with Avvoka’s end to end SmartRepapering solution. Transform your manual repapering process from a slow and costly activity that takes you weeks to one that can be completed in the click of a button.  Get started by extracting data from historic contracts including the clauses that need to be repapered using AI, then automatically generate new contracts in Avvoka, negotiate and e-sign them before storing them in your document management system.  Some repapering use cases can include
• Data Protection Legislation
• LIBOR
• US Legislative Changes
• MIFID II
• CCPA

As automation software extends its presence across various industries, its terminology use will continue to become more widespread. But don’t worry with this introductory glossary you are now prepared to get into the world of document automation with confidence!

Now that you’ve understood the basic terms, why not give it a go yourself? Sign up for an Avvoka Academy 1.0 to try your hand at automating!

If you want to find out how you can get started with document automation, check out The Ultimate Guide: Document Automation 2022 – Our very own e-book where we provide expert legal tech advice about everything you will need to know and learn.

Read more from Avvoka:

• How can a document automation API turbocharge your legal practice?
• Legal technology: how any lawyer can supercharge their practice
• Next generation of lawyers and the call for legal tech
• A Student’s Guide to LegalTech
• The power of no-code automation with Avvoka

By:  Raam Jeganathan and Macarena Valenzuela

(3 minute read)

As the pandemic accelerated the adoption of legal technology, the focus shifted from when law firms should adopt such tools to how they should be used. An intriguing and brilliant method that we have seen our clients deploy is the use of contract playbooks.

In this blog post we review :

• Definition of a contract playbook  
• Is it worth creating one?
• How to create a contract playbook
• Iterate

With remote working likely to be a permanent fixture of employment moving forward, helping employees efficiently manage contracts has become a business priority. Contract playbooks use the existing technology infrastructure of an organisation to improve the execution of contracts, whilst saving time and developing employees. Previous blog posts have reviewed some of the success stories of our clients, how they have made the most of document automation during the pandemic and how they’ve achieved superb ROI through using Avvoka.  This week’s blog post will follow a similar line, deconstructing contract playbooks and provoking a discussion around why and how you should apply them to your organisation.

Definition

A contract playbook is a comprehensive guide for a particular contract. It provides the user with the overall strategy for executing the document, including how to approach the negotiation and markup of a contract to protect the organization’s commercial interests. 

Common elements include a malleable precedent containing a number of alternative drafting options, or fall-back positions, for the most common points of contentious wording; drafting advice for the negotiator to understand which alternative wording should be used in any given situation; and ‘workflow’ instructions for any necessary approvals from senior stakeholders.

Is it worth creating one?

In short, absolutely! A contract playbook saves time when it comes to training the user and reviewing the contract. Instead, it sets the foundation for the organisation to achieve better, more consistent commercial outcomes in negotiations. The user knows what to do in each contractual negotiation (on granular per clause level), and the negotiation data from the subsequent negotiation can be utilised by staff responsible for contract maintenance. Importantly, the user can develop professionally by having an excellent resource at hand. The user will be more confident to negotiate independently, thus making them a better negotiator in the long run.

In addition, a contract playbook helps to “democratise” the management of contracts, particularly for in-house business units like the HR or Sales departments. Instead of always seeking the help of the Legal department, individuals in these business units can comfortably manage the execution of a contract on their own, which improves efficiency for the organisation as a whole.

The challenges that emerge when setting up a playbook stem from the use of data: firstly, around capturing it, and secondly, the extent to which it should be used. Data from negotiations via Word and email needs to be captured to refine future negotiation strategy. This way, staff responsible for contract maintenance can constantly iterate upon and improve contracts’ contents. This accelerates contract negotiations and achieves better final negotiated positions. Nonetheless, utilising all of this negotiation data would create an excessively detailed contract playbook. The playbook needs to guide the user, not eliminate the need for exercising intuition; its purpose is to help the organisation and the development of the user, as mentioned earlier. One of the advantages of negotiating contracts with Avvoka, is not only an improved experience in negotiation but also that all that data is captured and can be analysed with our analytics tool. This makes the process of creating contract playbooks easier and accurate.

How do I create a contract playbook?

Having worked with our customers to create their own contract playbook, we thought it would be helpful to share our best practices so you know how to approach creating one too!

Keep it simple

The key purpose of a contract playbook is to make the negotiation of a contract efficient. This can only be achieved if the user is accessing a simple guide with clear instructions. Overloading it with information will result in conflicting drafting and negotiation instructions, which undermines the purpose of the playbook and the fact it will be regularly updated. This is imperative, particularly where the playbook is used by non-legal business users or those without a legal background.

Focus on what matters to you

Achieving better commercial outcomes is at the heart of a playbook. Therefore, it needs to focus on the results that the organisation, and business unit in question, would like to achieve. For example, take a user in the HR team. The user will need to execute new hires, notably lateral executive hires, which is an obvious priority of the business unit. However, the user might want to specialize in managing intern or graduate hires too, thus the playbook for “new joiner” contracts should incorporate specialist advice around this matter too. Remember, the playbook needs to achieve better commercial outcomes, but it should also aid the professional development of the user! How do you ensure this happens? Get everyone involved when establishing and updating your playbook (we’ll cover this in more detail shortly).

Data, data, data

In today’s world underpinned by technology, data is gold. The perfect contract playbook uses data-driven instructions to guide the user through the negotiation of a contract. Therefore, it is critical that users have a way to capture and learn from that data, especially data that is unique to an individual or related suite of contracts.

• At Avvoka, lessons from previous negotiations can be learned using Avvoka’s Clause Heatmaps. This feature uses negotiation data accumulated on Avvoka to show a visual representation of which contract clauses are marked up most by counterparties, using a traffic light colour system. Staff responsible for maintaining and updating the standard contracts can easily spot contract wording that is problematic, and revise it whilst also adding simple drafting advice and options.
• Furthermore, using such data means the contract playbook can feed into future technological advancements within your organisation. For example, if you introduce the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to negotiate simple contracts, a contract playbook provides a fantastic, foundational set of instructions for the AI tool to use and learn from. 

Iterate

A contract playbook will be a perfect product, but it is never the finished product. As negotiations continue and achieve better commercial outcomes, there will be new areas of pushback. Subsequently, the staff responsible for contract maintenance need to keep their finger on the pulse so they can understand the new pushback to update drafting advice and options. 

Two solutions are detailed key performance indicators (KPIs) and quarterly reviews about each contract playbook.

• KPIs: This doesn’t mean a specific set of KPIs around the contract playbooks. Each business unit as a whole will have their KPIs, and each KPI will cover an individual or suite of contracts. By adding contract playbooks as a method of monitoring the relevant KPI, these will be reviewed on a regular basis and updated to meet the necessary targets to achieve the KPI.
• Quarterly review: Setting a quarterly review will ensure timely updates to the contract playbook. The time period is enough to capture the data on how contracts have fared since the deployment of the current version of a contract playbook; however, it avoids excessively tinkering with the playbook such that its purpose is undermined.

If you want to find out how you can get started with document automation, check out The Ultimate Guide: Document Automation 2022 – Our very own e-book where we provide expert legal tech advice about everything you will need to know and learn.

Read more from Avvoka:

• How can a document automation API turbocharge your legal practice?
• Legal technology: how any lawyer can supercharge their practice
• Next generation of lawyers and the call for legal tech
• A Student’s Guide to LegalTech
• The power of no-code automation with Avvoka

By: Raam Jeganathan 

(4 minute read)

Our last few blog posts have been exploring the implementation phase of your document automation journey. This article is the final one of the implementation series, and it focuses on a major topic for all technology solutions: adoption.

Adoption is probably one of the most demanding and vital parts of implementing technology, let alone legal technology. Many projects will fail if they cannot achieve adoption within the organisation. If the new tech is shelved and underutilised, the company will never see the benefits of the product. Many people can be resistant to change when a novel way of doing things is proposed, especially if there is a steep learning curve involved. But don’t worry! We have compiled a comprehensive list of the best practices to assist you that we have seen countless clients adopt over the years.

The best practices that we will review will help ensure that users feel engaged and comfortable with their new document automation software. Most importantly, it will allow your new document automation solution to unleash its full potential. 

Below you can find our top ten tips for adoption:

1. Interoperability;
2. Training,
3. End-User;
4. Content;
5. Network of Champions;
6. Success Criteria;
7. Clear Objectives;
8. Metrics,
9. Rewards;
10. Obstacle Resolution

1. Interoperability

You need to ask two very important questions about your new software.

Does your new software integrate with other tools or programs in your current technology stack? 

Does your new software integrate with CRM tools or other document management facilities? 

Adoption of technology can substantially increase if the new solution can be incorporated into existing tools. As we mentioned in one of our previous blog posts, when considering the different types of integrations you may come across in the document automation market, you should be looking at receiving data from one of the tools that you already use internally. This tool could be used to fill out the questionnaires; or send completed questionnaires and the relevant data to your CRM system (like Salesforce), document management systems like iManage; or sign the document remotely with an e-signature platform like DocuSign and Adobe Sign. We recommend that you check out the different integrations we offer at Avvoka that allow you to integrate Avvoka into your existing internal stack. 

2. Training is paramount

Getting familiar with the product is vital for your software adoption strategy. This statement is also true for document automation. A successful training programme will usually introduce the new tool to different units of the business in stages. Sessions should follow the typical user journey you would like your colleagues to adopt (hands-on webinars, workshops and online ‘classrooms’ are great options).

For example, at Avvoka we offer automation training for our clients. One key differentiator is that our platform is intuitive and easy to learn, so there is a low barrier of entry, and the knowledge can be democratised and easily scaled within the organisation. With just one hour of training, most users will be able to grasp the document automation essentials. You can experience this yourself with the Avvoka Academy, our free automation workshops which are open for anyone that wants to learn how to automate a document!

3. Keep your end-user in mind

Early sessions with different practice groups, business users or departments will make it easier to achieve a smoother transition. When users feel they have been included from the start of a project they are relevant to, the organisation is rewarded in the long run.

4. Content is key

Create helpful guidance materials for your users. Using various forms of media helps to engage a broad variety of different learners. In our experience, summarised “one-pagers” and instructional videos with voiceovers work best. At Avvoka, we have a wide range of training materials to help with the onboarding process. We have catered our content for both our Avvoka Academy attendees as well as our clients.

5. Build a network of champions

These people will act as your “super-users” in various parts of the business. Ensuring that different units of the business have specialists who are well versed with the new software creates an environment where users can confidently use the software backed with a strong support system

6. Establish your success criteria

Have clear KPIs to measure the success of your new product. For example, how much faster does the new software compare to your manual process? If these performance indicators are not recorded in advance, it will be impossible to assess the performance of your new product and hence the value it is supposed to bring to the organisation.

Benchmarks and comparisons serve as hard evidence that will inspire other people within your business to adopt the new software you’ve chosen. Success brings success!

7. Set clear objectives and milestones

We all get caught up with day-to-day tasks. We recommend that you set practical but firm deadlines which force your users to put time aside and try something other than their typical daily tasks. Setting effective targets is essential in a pilot or proof-of-concept process. Your colleagues need to get familiar with the new product and start adopting it in their usual workflow.

The stress of delivering other projects often frustrates the testing and adoption of new technology. But if you send out early emails and hold briefing calls/meetings to educate people on the project and timelines, your project will be more likely to succeed.

8. Metrics and follow-up

Metrics offer a good insight into your project’s progress and serve as a backbone to your business case. Does your software have a “dashboard” to view who is using the software and who is not logging in at all or engaging with it? Tracking engagement is not a finger-pointing exercise, but it is a way for you to spot and train people who may be lagging behind. In our experience, follow-up sessions or drop-in clinics allow users who may not have had the best experience initially to get a better grip with the technology in a reliable environment.

9. Everybody loves rewards

Generally, adopters of a product with great user experience will become advocates of the same. We recommend rewarding these early adopters to incentivise those that have not had a shot yet. Company or business-unit wide “shout-outs”, greater responsibility, or even “hall-of-fame” programmes that visibly reward those using the new tools and showcasing their personal wins are great approaches to incentivise users to continue using new tech.

10. Be ready to resolve any obstacles

Like all organisations, conflicts and blockers often arise. Barriers to adoption must be resolved early, during the proof-of-concept or feedback phase. Will resistant users require more targeted and personalised training? Would it be worth checking in with users in different business units at regular intervals? Who needs to be reassured, convinced, or involved? These are critical questions that need to be addressed regularly to ensure that the adoption of any new tool is optimised.

Continuous improvement

Once you’ve launched your chosen software and ensured adoption, you will probably wonder what is next and how to keep it all going. Below are three expert tips that will guarantee that you regularly improve, hone, and tweak your process to assure you get the most out of what you’ve invested: 

• Keep your finger on the pulse: Periodic catch-ups, webinars and check-ins, especially with end-users and their direct managers are essential to keep up-to-date with how stakeholders feel about the new product. Being alert will help you evaluate any bottlenecks or gaps in understanding and deciding whether any revisions to the current process is needed. 
• Stay in touch with updates: Technology evolves quickly. By staying up to date with the latest trends and software updates, you can continue to evaluate the company’s needs against what the tool provides. 
• Implement and iterate: Once you have completed the previous steps, you should have a clearer understanding of how your team feels about the tool you have implemented. Through the strategic deployment of changes to your process, and identifying any blocks or bottlenecks, you will find the perfect fit for continuous improvement. It is also important to keep iterating and adapting your process to suit your business’ shifting needs. 

Interested to know more about document automation? Then check out our ultimate guide, which contains everything you need to know about document automation, planning and executing a document automation project, and how document automation can help your business work more efficiently and get to “yes” faster. 

Read more from Avvoka:

• How can a document automation API turbocharge your legal practice?
• Legal technology: how any lawyer can supercharge their practice
• Next generation of lawyers and the call for legal tech
• A Student’s Guide to LegalTech
• The power of no-code automation with Avvoka

By: Macarena Valenzuela

(2 minute read)

The legal tech landscape and document automation

Legal tech encompasses many different types of technology. There are technologies that can automate contracts, manage entire suites of documents, act as a knowledge repository and do a whole host of other things! Narrowing in on document automation, there are tools that solely focus on document automation, and tools that make document automation a part of their overall offering, often pushing another capability as the overall product’s unique selling point.

In this post we will review :

• The most important questions to ask
• Custom Questions
• Self-serving your automation

What do I need to ask?

When picking a technology, it is difficult to choose one due to the sheer number of technologies available. We have a set of questions you should consider when procuring a new tool:

The most important questions

• How easy is it to automate my document? This is the most critical question you should be asking. Most platforms you see will tell you that the automation is ‘easy’ or ‘no-code’ – but both terms can be a bit deceiving. The easier the tool is to use, the quicker and easier it is for people to learn how to automate. Therefore, the more documents you will end up automating. As such, a live demo or even a free trial are optimal methods to try and get as hands-on as possible with the technology; and if a company are willing to offer this, it’s a sign that their tool could be the right one for you as they are confident in delivering the value proposition.

• Costs – Ask whether there be additional costs such as customer support, custom development or server maintenance fees. It is also important to note the technology’s pricing model. If you want to use the tool for the long haul, discounting by user group size is a key consideration.
• Hosting – Ask if your document automation tool will be hosted by your provider in the cloud or whether the vendor will be making an on-premise installation. This is a notable security concern in the age of data that we currently find ourselves in!

Custom questions

• Features – all tools will have different feature sets, but there are a few key ones to look out for you will probably need on your automation journey:
  • Loops – ability to dynamically add more answers to a question. E.g. Please add the name of the directors.
  • Formatting – custom numbering styles, tables, headers and footers, and so on!
• Integrations – it’s vital that the document automation software you select can integrate into your existing processes. This saves time and efficiency, making it easier to add the new technology to your existing methods of working. Check if the tool has a modern API, and ask for examples of integrations that have been already done. Common ones include pre-populating a questionnaire from another system or taking data out from signed documents.

Self-serving your automation

You need to ask who will be automating your documents. You have two fundamental choices:

1. outsource it (to the tech vendor, or a consultant); or 
2. learn to do the automation yourself. 

Outsourcing

Outsourcing offers a quick initial setup as the external contractor will already know how to use their automation tool of choice. Therefore, they could start automating documents as soon as you have prepared the document for automation. However, there are a few downsides.

Outsourcing can be very expensive with day rates reaching £1,000 per day. In addition, it can be very time consuming to make small adjustments to the automation. If you want to make a quick change to the automation at short notice, you will have to join the queue for automation to be done. This is before considering the additional cost.

Learning to automate

Conversely, learning to self-serve your contracts has multiple positives. It is cost-efficient as after you have the licences and the know-how to automate, you can add as many templates as you want, for the same price. Moreover, the knowledge of how the document was automated is retained within your organisation, which means it can be very quick to make changes.

Negatives

There are some drawbacks to consider, but these are quickly overcome with time and experience of self-automating. Automation takes time to learn. Even the most intuitive tools will take a couple of hours to understand. Hence, there will be slower initial results.

Recommended approach

In our experience, we think there is no doubt that learning how to automate yourself is the best way to go. You will save money, quickly apply changes, and be able to spread the knowledge across your organisation. Self-serving documents puts them in the hands of those who know them best!

Interested to know more about document automation? Then check out our ultimate guide, which contains everything you need to know about document automation, planning and executing a document automation project, and how document automation can help your business work more efficiently and get to “yes” faster. 

Read more from Avvoka:

• How can a document automation API turbocharge your legal practice?
• Legal technology: how any lawyer can supercharge their practice
• Next generation of lawyers and the call for legal tech
• A Student’s Guide to LegalTech
• The power of no-code automation with Avvoka

By:  Raam Jeganathan