Future-proofing your CLM: Preparing for the unexpected

Multiple international conflicts have the world watching and waiting for the next escalation and their ensuing ripple effects. Inflation and unprecedented economic concerns have upturned once well-established, predictable financial markets. Technology continues to add to its rich history of disrupting norms in every industry, from entertainment to logistics to healthcare and nearly all segments of society.

Simply put, it’s become increasingly difficult – impossible, even – to predict what may happen next in nearly every facet of modern life.

Contracting, and legal work in general, thrives on predictability and detests unforeseen circumstances. Maybe your organization is working on a deal with a potential customer, but a hacking incident disrupted their business operations, completely throwing off the timeline. Or perhaps a critical stakeholder is unavailable due to airline shutdowns caused by an international threat. In today’s world, much can go wrong when it comes to business, and those ripples can affect the contracting process.

Global events, legal impacts

Unexpected events in the last few years have had a significant impact on their associated localities, economies, and cultures, but they have also had ramifications for legal agreements made around the world.

One common legal impact? Force majeure clauses. A force majeure clause is common in commercial contracts and refers to unforeseeable circumstances that prevent a person or company from fulfilling a contract. There are three types of force majeure: an act of God, an act of parliament, or an act of man.

Consider the following examples:

• March 2020: Considered an “act of God,” the COVID-19 pandemic invoked force majeure clauses in agreements for organizations and individuals alike.
• Feb. 2022: Russia invades Ukraine, triggering force majeure, termination rights, and pricing adjustment clauses.
• May 2023: The Writer’s Guild of America goes on their longest-standing strike since 1988, triggering force majeure clauses for individuals and corporations involved in the entertainment industry.
• August 2023: Record-low water levels from a draught hinders trade via the Panama Canal – another “act of God,” invoking force majeure clauses and disruptions in the supply chain. 

How would you respond?

You can’t control the future, but you can control how you respond. You have three options:

1. Rely on search tools and manual review

• More labor hours devoted to combing through search results and reading large portions of documents to find what you’re looking for  
• Greater risk of not properly detecting the presence or absence of key terms and clauses that can protect your business  
• Inability to adapt quickly to evolving legal priorities, regulations, policies, and risks

2. Use ‘out-of-the-box’ AI offerings

Most vendors provide pre-built AI models for set terms and clauses, plus custom AI models for an additional cost.    

• More time spent waiting for vendor to build custom AI models when pre-built ones don’t match your needs and high costs spent on custom model development  
• Less confidence about your ability to react quickly to unexpected change  

3. Use Agiloft’s AI Trainer 

Agiloft Agiloft’s AI Trainer helps you take the controls back in the tent by training your AI models using your organization’s uniquely-valuable clauses and phrases.  

• Get started immediately with building custom models whenever needed  
• Avoid the high cost of custom model development  
• Futureproof your CLM by being able to react more quickly to unanticipated events 

About AI Trainer

It’s nearly impossible to utilize a stock, “out of the box” AI tool that will fit your organizations’ needs in this fast-moving, unpredictable world. And many other AI vendors only offer customization as an add-on, increasing the cost of acquiring much-needed technology. 

That’s why we created AI Trainer, a completely customizable system designed for non-technical users. AI Trainer allows customers to future-proof their CLM to be ready for the many unanticipated international events and business situations that may arise.

With our AI model customization workbench, you can design AI models that detect the key terms and clauses most important to your organization, plus adapt your models over time to mirror your evolving business needs. 

“You don’t have to be a technical expert. You don’t have to be a data scientist to use AI Trainer.” said Jamie Krumrich, Agiloft’s Director of Product Management. “What you do need to know is contracts.” 

About Agiloft’s AI Platform

Agiloft’s AI Platform consists of a suite of powerful features that enable you to cut down on tedious, manual tasks and unlock the critical business intelligence trapped inside your contract data. 

“Our vision at Agiloft is to build connected, intelligent, and autonomous contracting processes that are going to enable you, our customers, to unlock the value of contract data and to ultimately help accelerate your business,” said Andy Wishart, Agiloft’s Chief Product Officer. 

Conclusion

Nobody can predict the future, but businesses can prepare for unpredictability by having the agility to always improve and positioning themselves to make quick, intelligent pivots when needed by utilizing customizable machine learning models, like AI Trainer. 

Embracing this technology is not an antidote to a one-time disruption, but rather the new normal for organizations if they want to remain competitive and protect themselves against future disruption in business deals around the world. 

Learn more about AI Trainer. Schedule a demo with us today.