AI-powered solutions can be a boon to legal departments in the manufacturing industry as they continue to explore ways to optimize their processes and service delivery.
In comparison to many other industries, manufacturers have been quick to recognize the potential benefits of AI and have used it to realize greater efficiency, minimize downtime, and expedite production. While those in functions such as logistics and maintenance may have years of experience leveraging AI to improve results, many of their legal counterparts are much earlier on in their AI journey.
Manufacturing company legal departments are also well-positioned to use AI tools to improve their function’s operations. There are proven AI-driven solutions that can help increase efficiency, reduce spend, and improve outcomes. However, as with any type of technology, you must choose high-quality tools from a reliable provider in order to achieve success. Fortunately, there are some easy steps you can take to help vet the effectiveness and utility of an AI solution before it ever reaches your legal department.
Set reasonable expectations
If the marketing campaign for a new AI-powered legal tech solution echoes the ads you’ve seen for the latest sci-fi film, it may be time to stop and reassess. While there are many AI products on the legal market that already offer tremendous value – perhaps by automating a process-centric task or analyzing data to provide new business insights – others may claim to possess functionality that is still far too theoretical to be of much use to anyone, let alone an attorney.
Look for AI solutions where the underlying concept or value proposition is relatively easy to understand. Proper due diligence is critical – talk to a prospective AI vendor’s salespeople and ask them any and every question that crosses your mind. Be sure to obtain concrete answers to what an AI solution can – or can’t – accomplish in order to avoid the sting of thwarted expectations.
Insist on legal experience and expertise
One of the core benefits of AI is its ability to make human-like decisions. In the legal profession, at least, many of those humans are attorneys. So, it stands to reason that many of the most advanced or effective pieces of AI on the legal technology market are designed with input from legal domain experts who can teach a fledgling piece of AI how to think like an attorney or law professional.
To be sure, a skilled team of data scientists is also a very important piece of the puzzle here. However, legal teams interested in procuring a new AI solution to assist with spend management or other process-centric tasks can save themselves a lot of heartache by confirming that a vendor also includes an equally savvy group of legal domain experts in their technology development process.
Inspect the foundation of data
Data is the underlying basis of any AI-enabled solution – and understanding how to evaluate the strength and quality of that data can make all the difference when it comes to determining how a solution will perform in a corporate legal environment. Unfortunately, this may also prove to be the most challenging aspect of the vetting process for general counsel, legal operations professionals, or others who don’t hail from a strictly technical background.
It's important to remember that “good” data isn’t just a question of quantity (although that does help). The quality of a vendor’s data set will correlate to the quality of its AI solution, so buyers should get some basic questions out of the way upfront – especially when it comes to verifying the source of said data. Data sourced from e-billing or matter management systems, for example, is typically clean because law firms comply with the standard Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) billing format.
Other questions worth asking include: What quality controls are in place around the data? And how has the vendor leveraged the data internally?
Commit to top-tier change management
Poor change management practices can doom the implementation of an AI-powered legal solution before it’s even begun. After all, the impetus behind onboarding any new solution is to enhance your existing processes, not to create a situation where you need to endure substantial disruptions or even devise an entirely new process out of whole cloth.
You’ll want to ensure that a prospective AI vendor provides ongoing support during the initial implementation process and beyond. Verify that a vendor will provide training for your in-house teams, as well as any outside counsel who may be asked to engage with the solution.
One way to quickly gauge the level of support a vendor may be willing to offer is to ask if they maintain personnel who can serve as a designated point of contact over the life of the solution. This isn’t simply a crisis hotline or glass to be broken in case of emergency. Instead, hold out for regular meetings to discuss any questions or problems that might arise.
For more on the specific ways optimizing legal operations can benefit manufacturing industry legal teams, visit our portal for manufacturers.
