http://apttus.com/

THE GENERAL COUNSEL’S TECHNOLOGY REPORT:

Top Trends Impacting Legal & Contract

Management

It is a time of incredible change. Both business and our daily lives are becoming increasingly digital,

increasingly connected, and increasingly technology-driven. Answers are at your fingertips, decisions made

on your wrist, communication instant, and more and more business is migrating away from the desktop and

into the cloud. The need for speed and innovation seems imminent.

While in other departments, technology and change are quickly adopted and often bragged about, Legal

professionals tend to remain more pragmatic and judicious in the face of trends. Legal is the backbone of

your company and much like a backbone, as the rest of the company moves and reacts the backbone

(albeit not as flexible as other parts of the body) should move along with it. In short, a successful legal

department ensures it is aligned with the actions and strategy elsewhere.

Apttus developed this Survey Report to gauge where Legal departments stood amidst this breaking wave of

technology. This report explores the top technological trends, legal department demographics and tool

stacks, and the impact changing technology is having on the Contract Management process.

“Innovation and change are affecting every corner of commercial

practice and contract management.” – Tim Cummins, CEO IACCM

Stepping Up to the New Opportunities and Threats – is our Profession Ready?

SURVEY REPORT

© 2017 APTTUS 2

About the Survey

Apttus conducted a month long, global Legal Survey to assess the developing technological trends within Legal

departments. The survey consisted of 40 questions and respondents came from small firms, Fortune 1000 companies

and a wide spectrum of industries. Below is a visual breakdown of respondent demographics:

About the Respondents

By Location By Industry

By Company Size

SURVEY REPORT

© 2017 APTTUS 3

Legal Technology Trends

Outside the Legal Department

Inside the Legal Department

In your opinion, what is the fastest growing trend in legal departments?

Cloud-Based

Solutions

Automation

Analytics

41%

33%

26%

Tech Priorities in Sales:

81%

Want to increase use of analytics

79%

Increase use of mobile

technology in their sales

strategy

Tech Priorities in IT:

Gartner reports that IT’s Top 5 Technology

investment priorities are:

1. BI / Analytics

2. Cloud

3. Digital / Digital Marketing

4. Infrastructure & Data Center

5. Mobile / Mobile Apps

Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Tech Trends:

1. AI / Adv ML

2. Intelligent Apps

3. Intelligent things

4. VR and AR

5. Digital Twins

6. Blockchains

7. Conversational Systems

8. Mesh App, Svc Arch

9. Digital Tech Platforms

10.Adaptive Security Arch

SURVEY REPORT

© 2017 APTTUS 4

Smart People Assessing Legal Department Demographics

How many people work with or manage contracts in your organization?

Who handles the contract management function in your company?

Is contract management

a business function, or a legal function?

SURVEY REPORT

© 2017 APTTUS 5

Smart Contract Tools

Assessing Legal Department Technology

62% of respondents use Microsoft Word as

their primary tool to generate contracts

27% of legal departments use Electronic

Signature

70% of respondents use mobile devices in

their daily legal work

23% of legal departments have a contract

playbook

54% of those playbooks are hard copies

located in binders

19% of legal departments have analytics

tied to their contracts

Does your company use enterprise social media tools?

SURVEY REPORT

© 2017 APTTUS 6

Contract Automation as an Asset

Assessment: Automation Could Make Up For Limited Resources

While some legal departments have embraced automated contract specific tools, the slight majority have yet to

make the investment. When asked what is preventing your company or department from automating, 46%

indicated a lack of resources, either in budget or in personnel. While almost any department in any company would

likely love more budget or headcount, our results supported the harsh reality that Legal in many businesses is being

asked to do a lot with very little.

More than 80% of a business’ transactions are tied to a contract – and these critical documents outline who is

paying you, what amount they’re paying you, how long they’ll be paying you, penalties for agreement violations,

compliance risk – the list goes on. Yet, Legal departments only command a fraction of a company’s overall

headcount.

Do you use a Contract Management or Automation Tool in your org?

25% are not interested in adopting new tools or

technology

29% are interested, but not sure where to begin

46% said they are interested, but lacked

resources either in budget or personnel

What is preventing your legal department from automating?

1 in 3 Legal Departments see automation as the fastest growing technology trend, yet

less than half have invested in an automated contract management tool.

SURVEY REPORT

© 2017 APTTUS 7

Based on personnel alone, 61% of the companies employ 10 or less

people to manage their contracts, despite 75% of the responding

companies having 100 or more total employees. In fact, 32% of the

represented companies have 5,000 or more employees. Resources

become even more limited when budget constraints are considered.

Mix in external pressures for speed, and the high volume of

contracts that many of the responding departments deal with, and

contract management can quickly become an onerous task. Manual

steps in this process can exacerbate some of the pains.

Automation and intelligence are some of the ways in which legal

departments across the globe are looking to ease some of the

pressures for speed, and make their contract management process a

strategic advantage. In addition to automation, AI can also help with

limited resources.

Without an automated solution, all of the contracts and related tasks

are managed across various platforms, each with their own host of

manual and administrative steps. Pricing and basic reporting is

typically done with Excel spreadsheets. Clauses and terms are

written in Word. Approvals are done over the phone, red-lining and

versioning across email inboxes and printed paper. As work moves

from one location to another, inefficiency and risk of error are

introduced by members of the legal team having to manually input

the data, plus much time is lost to redundant, time-consuming work.

In Their Opinion:

What are some of your biggest pain points within your contract management process?

53% Limited Resources

65% Time lost working on

administrative tasks

49% Pressure for quick

turnaround from other departments

44% Not enough tools or

technology

SURVEY REPORT

© 2017 APTTUS 8

Anticipating Contract Analytics

1 in 4 Legal Departments see analytics as the fastest growing technology trend, yet

only 19% have any sort of analytics tool in place.

How easy is it to run a report that shares information about

terms in your contracts?

How do you measure effectiveness of legal

contract negotiations?

How do you report on

contract cycle times?

50% Legal Departments admit to lacking the necessary insight into critical contract

information, including cycle times, number of active contracts and term success rates.

SURVEY REPORT

© 2017 APTTUS 9

Assessment: Analytics Can Improve Contract Visibility

Analytics are a growing trend both inside of legal departments and

outside. According to Gartner, analytics and artificial intelligence are

the top priority in both their Top Strategic Technology Trends and CIO

Agenda Report. It’s also a big priority for sales teams, as 81% want

to increase their use of intelligence. In our own report, 1 in 4 legal

departments identified analytics as the fastest growing technological

trend. However, only 19% of them are currently using an analytics

tool. We predict that number will grow significantly within a year’s

time.

The current interest is in artificial intelligence, which goes beyond

historical information and provides a glimpse into predictive

information and potential future strategic direction. With impactful

insight, Legal can better understand what terms work and why, make

successes replicable, and risk minimal.

In today’s legal departments, one of the driving forces towards

increased analytics is the limited amount of contract visibility. A

troubling 50% of legal departments admit they lack the necessary

insight into critical contract information. It’s very difficult to control

what you can’t see.

Visibility doesn’t just include the ability to find a contract—it also

includes the ability to track a multitude of change forms and

amendments associated with each contract. Without the right insight,

you are exposed to unknown risk, auto-renewals, reuse of outdated

language or unfavorable terms, and revenue leaks.

Blind Spots in Contract Visibility & Reporting: With the volume of contracts in

motion, respondents admit that their legal departments have trouble

tracking all of them.

21% Don’t know where their

contracts are stored

35% Don’t know how many

contracts they currently have active

73% Said it would be difficult to

run a report on their contract terms

60% Don’t report on contract

cycle times

Only 16% have visibility into a

majority (75%) of their contracts

SURVEY REPORT

© 2017 APTTUS 10

Cloud-Based Contract Tools & the New Front Office

Assessment: The Forecast is Cloudy

Cloud-capabilities are becoming less of a trend, and more of a reality

in today’s business. Companies continue to migrate away from back

office systems like SAP and Oracle, and towards the cloud-based

PaaS and SaaS providers like Salesforce or Amazon, which allow

businesses build on top of their existing infrastructure and operate

with greater speed, agility, and responsiveness than ever before.

Pundits are now referring to the cloud-based solutions as the ‘New

Front Office.’

But while the cloud revolution is an exciting time for other parts of

the business, legal watches with a nervous eye because the

exponential growth in software applications have also increased the

potential for data breaches. Law professionals can’t hear the term

cloud, without considering the ramifications on customer data and

cybersecurity.

But with the New Front Office, the best strategy is to fight fire with

fire, or in this case cloud with cloud. Cloud-based providers are

incentivized to maintain the highest levels of security, employing

multi-layered systems and up to the minute maintenance to keep

their software current and relevant. As the cloud continues to grow,

so do the cybersecurity barricades that keep your data safe.

41% Legal Departments see cloud-based solutions as the fastest growing technology trend

In Their Opinion:

“The cloud is making work quicker, and more efficient in execution.”

– Senior Contracts Manager of a 101-500 person sized company

“Cloud-based tools have helped us

centralize information, security

processes, calendaring, and accountability.”

– Vice President of Corporate Counsel of a 1,001 – 5,000 person sized company

“Our cloud-based contract

management tool has made it easier to find critical contracts, clauses, and

analyze benefits of each, potentially saving money and time.”

– Associate General Counsel of a 1,001 – 5,000 person sized company

© 2017 APTTUS 11

SURVEY REPORT

Closing Comments

By Jason Smith, Senior Director and Legal Counsel at Apttus

We are amidst tremendous technological change and innovation, both within and around legal departments across

the globe. Advancements in technology are transforming every industry — the legal practice is no exception. Law

departments are becoming more dependent on data-driven insight which is being applied to a broadening realm of

issues, from managing contracts to streamlining workflow. As transaction cycles become shorter, organizations

continue to respond to these pressures and the law department must similarly keep pace. Three key trends we

identified in this survey report were the growing use of cloud-based solutions, an emphasis on intelligent contract

management, and a need for increased automation. While interest levels were high, adoption for each of these

technologies is still catching up. Issues including limited budget and resources have temporarily impeded change,

but we fully expect an increase in analytics, cloud-based tools, and automation within legal departments.

About Apttus

Apttus, the category-defining Quote-to-Cash and Contract Lifecycle Management technology company, drives the vital business process

between a buyer’s interest and the realization of revenue. Utilizing a patented combination of SaaS-based applications, the Apttus Intelligent

Cloud maximizes revenue and business outcomes for companies of all sizes, including 100 of the Fortune 500. Enhanced by Machine

Learning and Max, an Intelligent Agent, Apttus applications include Configure Price Quote (CPQ), E-Commerce, Contract Management,

Incentives Management, Renewals, Billing and Order Management. The Apttus Intelligent Cloud is powered by the world’s most trusted

cloud platforms, including Salesforce and Microsoft Azure. Apttus is based in San Mateo, California, with additional offices located across the

globe. For more information visit: apttus.com.