Neota launched their first in a series of roundtable events in New York this week. The event was designed for in house legal departments to discuss how they can leverage AI automation to transform their legal department and overcome the challenge of achieving ‘more with less’. We were joined by professionals from KPMG, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, AIG and many more. Here are some of the lessons we learned:
- How can I utilize my current applications with new ones?
Organizations are investing huge amounts of money on new technology but don’t want to resort to logging into multiple tools that sometimes only perform a small part of the overall objective they are trying to achieve.
Platforms, such as Neota, can integrate seamlessly with almost any data source or system to help organizations achieve greater levels of operational efficiency and quality. One example raised was Neota’s integration with data extraction applications such as Kira and RAVN iManage. Neota applications can integrate with these tools and apply logic and reasoning to further analyse the data to give you specific answers to legal questions based on the output taken from the data extraction tool. Learn more in this video.
Further examples of integrations include SharePoint, Salesforce, HighQ, DocuSign and many more.
- Can AI really do anything?
Our panellists asked ‘can AI really can do anything?’ The answer is ‘yes, within reason’. At Neota we always recommend clients to begin by automating more of their ‘high volume’ and ‘low value’ work and reserve more complex tasks for the lawyers themselves. That’s not to say that Neota can’t automate more complex tasks but this is a good way to begin getting used to the tool and getting buy-in from the rest of your business. The more complex the work, the more preparation needs to go into planning the application.
An example of a more complex document that Neota can automate are ISDA negotiations.
- What are the true benefits of AI automation?
Many of our panellists were clear of the benefits of AI automation with regards to making overall processes more efficient. What about some of the less obvious benefits? Several panellists commented on the fact it improved the overall consistency of advice that was given. Another panellist stated automation would improve their team’s overall morale, ‘if it allows my people to finish at 8pm instead of 10pm then it’s money well spent’.
Sometimes, it’s not only the platform itself but the audit trail it leaves behind where the true value lies. This user data can be valuable in helping make better business decisions. Neota Logic has recently launched NL9.2 with data analytics where customers can quickly assemble custom views and charts to display reports about any aspect of Neota application collection and usage. These reports can help customers track and analyse usage of individual applications or groups of applications leading to important insights into such things as the sources of usage, process blockages and opportunities for further service improvement.
- Understanding design thinking
It’s important to note that preparation is key. You need to ensure your workflow and process is mapped out thoroughly and to get buy-in from the rest of your department. If you don’t have time to put in the prep work then it’s difficult to make a success out of your app. Our panellists mentioned that if you are tasked with planning the application workflow that it would be useful to separate yourself from your normal role, even sitting with another team within your organization to fully dedicate your time to plan. What can you do if you don’t always have this luxury? There’s a number of other avenues you can try. For example, ask your organization if there’s anyone from other departments that could help. Talk to your panel of law firms, Neota works with several law firms who can either help build the application or some may have already built an application and provide this to you as a service.
Lastly, Neota runs an education program with leading law firms around the globe training students in ‘legaltech’ to build applications in Neota and we are always happy to recommend these people to clients through our Alumni group.
- Emerging innovation departments
Several panellists mentioned that their organization was building internal innovation teams, with legal and compliance backgrounds. The idea is to approach these professionals with your business problems and they will do the research into finding out if there’s a solution that could overcome these challenges, if there’s a reasonable ROI and what the time investment would be.
If you are interested in attending one of Neota’s breakfast roundtables aimed at in house legal departments then please contact marketing@neotalogic.com.