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Automation and AI workflows cut procurement legal costs for software provider

We partnered with a software engineering provider experiencing very high legal costs stemming from manual processes in procurement of contract services, across multiple jurisdictions.

Partnering with Chris and the team at four deep has been a game-changer for our legal process. These guys are tech experts but they are completely focused on people and how they can become more productive. This has certainly worked for us, letting our legal department deliver more accurate contracts, faster with positive knock-on effects throughout the business.

Senior legal counsel

UK Software Engineering firm

Overview

Analysing process data and the outputs from in person workshops, our deep dive assessment identified automated contract templates, AI-powered workflows and centralised document management as key opportunities to reduce workload. We created a solution combining Microsoft Power Automate and Chat GPT to deliver on this, validating with pilot projects before scaling up in just 8 weeks. This lowered operational costs by £300,000 annually delivering year one ROI of 250%.

Challenge

With a business model that is highly dependent on supplier partnerships across multiple territories, the company’s legal team was overwhelmed by high demand and inefficient processes in issuing contracts.

  • Manual drafting and routing of contracts required significant time and effort, often leading to delays.

  • Multi-step, multi-territory approval processes were inconsistent and prone to bottlenecks, slowing down critical decisions.

  • Contracts and related documents were stored across multiple fragmented systems, making retrieval difficult and increasing the risk of errors.

  • Tracking contract statuses and approval timelines lacked transparency, leading to missed deadlines and reduced accountability.

These challenges not only slowed down operations but also increased compliance risks and strained resources within the legal team.

Solution

We implemented our proprietary four step process:

Phase 1. Assessment

Through in person service design workshops with key stakeholders, we mapped the end-to-end state of the existing contract journey. Workshop outputs, combined with historical contract process data highlighted inefficiencies in contract drafting, approvals and file management processes. This enabled us to identify high-impact automation opportunities.

  • Automated contract templates based on territory and key contract parameters.

  • Applied AI-powered workflows for multi-step approvals with real-time notifications.

  • Centralised document management, integrating with existing SharePoint for seamless storage and retrieval.

We defined the following success metrics: 60% reduction in contract generation time, 50% faster approval processes and 85% reduction in errors.

Phase 2. Prototype

We developed a solution around two main concepts:

  • Integration of automated contract templates into Microsoft Power Automate workflows for more efficient contract drafting.

  • An AI-powered approval routing workflow using Chat GPT.

These concepts were fine-tuned and validated through pilot projects across the two busiest departments.

Phase 3. Scale

Once the pilot projects had established proof of value, we scaled the solution across all departments.

  • Standardised contract templates were fully implemented for all territories including options for common variants.

  • Microsoft Power Automate workflows were integrated with SharePoint for centralised document management.

  • Automated approval routing included notifications to stakeholders at every stage of the process.

  • Real-time dashboards were created for central visibility into contract statuses and escalation risks.

Full implementation was completed within eight weeks across all departments involved in procurement.

Phase 4. Measure

We monitored key metrics for six months post-implementation:

  • Contract generation time reduced by 49%, freeing up legal staff for higher value tasks.

  • Approval timelines shortened by 62%.

  • Errors in contract management reduced by 85%.

The project overall, lowered operational costs by £300,000 annually delivering year one ROI of 250%.

Conclusion

This solution dramatically reduced manual effort for the legal team and improved the company’s global procurement processes. As this business relies upon speedy onboarding of contractors in different locations, the positive effects were felt throughout its operations.