The imperative for transformation

For in-house legal teams and the executives who rely on them, contracts are not just background admin—they are where business happens. As regulatory demands rise, deal velocity increases, and risk management becomes critical, legal teams struggle with outdated tools and piecemeal processes. The gap between organizations that excel in contract management and those that lag continues to widen, with top performers fueling business agility and competitors left behind.

What is contract automation?

Contract automation refers to the use of technology and software platforms to streamline the creation, review, approval, execution, and management of contracts. By automating once manual tasks—like drafting templates, routing documents for approval, and collecting e-signatures—organizations can significantly reduce errors, turnaround times, and administrative overhead. These solutions often include artificial intelligence for contract drafting and analysis, automated workflows, digital signatures, and integration with key business systems, transforming contracts into strategic, data-driven assets for the enterprise.

Understanding the core challenges legal teams face today

1. Operational friction and time lost to manual tasks‍

Many legal teams still operate in a landscape dominated by emails, spreadsheets, and scattered folders. Our survey data reveals that 49% of legal teams rely on these manual tools, resulting in constant document chases and administrative gridlock. The frustrations include:

• Difficulty finding the latest document version.
• Time-consuming searches and unclear ownership.
• Errors and delays due to a lack of centralized control.

These symptoms drain time from higher-value work and erode legal’s strategic standing within the business.

‍2. Managing increasing complexity without scalable solutions‍

Contract complexity is at an all-time high, with over 90% of teams handling moderate to highly complex agreements. Without structured processes, this complexity leads to:

• Missed obligations and renewal deadlines.
• Mistakes arising from poor visibility and nonstandard workflows.
• Increased legal and business risk.

Manual solutions quickly become unsustainable, amplifying confusion and inefficiency as organizations grow.

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3. Disconnected processes and lack of visibility‍

The absence of process standardization is a core pain point:

• Approvals are routed inconsistently across stakeholders.
• Lack of reporting means leadership cannot see where contracts stall, which risks are rising, or who owns each stage.
  This lack of visibility traps legal teams in a reactive posture, handling last-minute fire drills instead of anticipating business needs.

4. The gap between automation aspirations and reality‍

While 76% of teams want to automate, only 12% have fully committed budgets and roadmaps. The roadblocks include:

• Internal misalignment about priorities and ROI.
• Hesitancy to adapt to new systems.
• Difficulty maintaining momentum after initial rollout.

A transformation towards legal contract automation often stalls when legal automation is seen as a technical “add-on” instead of a core driver of process excellence.

What are the benefits of contract automation?

Implementing contract automation yields a wide range of practical benefits:|

• Accelerated contract turnaround: Automation minimizes bottlenecks and delays, allowing businesses to close deals faster.
  
  
• Improved compliance and accuracy: Automated systems ensure that contracts adhere to legal and regulatory standards while reducing human error and oversight.
  
  
• Scalability: Even as contract volumes grow, automated platforms scale effortlessly––enabling legal teams to manage thousands of contracts efficiently.
  
  
• Cost savings: Organizations save on time and administrative expenses, allowing legal talent to focus on high-value tasks.
  
  
• Enhanced visibility: Real-time dashboards and analytics provide ongoing insight into contract status and risk, supporting better decision-making.
  
  
• Consistency: Standardized templates and workflows lead to more reliable and uniform agreements.

How can CXOs drive contracting excellence in 2025?

1. Prioritize process clarity before technology adoption‍

Smart contract automation can only be as smart as your team. Therefore, a process-first mindset is foundational:

• Map your contracting journey end-to-end: Intake, drafting, review, negotiation, approval, signing, storage, and reporting.
• Define clear roles and boundaries for legal, business, and procurement.
• Establish cascading approval paths to avoid bottlenecks.
  Standardized processes ensure teams can scale up automated contracts without amplifying chaos.
  

2. Leverage data to inform continuous improvement‍

Leading teams benchmark against key metrics:

• Monthly contract volume, average turnaround time, and automation maturity.
• High performers finish standard contracts in as little as 3 days, while manual teams average 19 days.
• Use dashboards to identify bottlenecks and periodically review metrics with business partners.
• Continuous analysis helps teams adapt to changing workloads and regulatory contexts, and provides a business case for further investment.

3. Embrace incremental automation with focus on ROI‍

Automation doesn’t need to be an overnight overhaul:

• Start with simple tools (e-signatures, templates) to build confidence and capture easy wins.
• Progress toward workflow automation and system integration (e.g., connecting CLM tools to CRM/ERP).
• Teams at automation level 3 close contracts 8 days faster than manual teams—incremental progress brings rapid results.
  Ensure each step delivers tangible ROI before scaling further.

4. Cultivate a culture of change and stakeholder collaboration‍

Change management is often underappreciated but critical:

• Identify automation champions within both legal and business units
• Regularly solicit feedback from users to fine-tune new workflows
• Offer “quick wins” and training to build trust and momentum
• Share outcome-based success stories to reinforce buy-in.
  Cultivating a collaborative, transparent culture turns legal from a business bottleneck into a trusted partner.

5. Harness emerging technologies strategically‍

AI and analytics are shifting the legal landscape:

• Deploy AI-powered automated contract review to handle routine risk checks—freeing senior lawyers for strategic negotiation.
• Use analytics to spot trends (e.g., which clauses trigger delays, seasonal contract surges) and inform proactive planning.
• Treat new technology as a means to boost both speed and quality, not as a replacement for sound legal judgment.
  One-third of leaders are already piloting AI to shift towards strategic, less administrative work.

Top use cases of contract automation

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1. Speeding up contract creation through templates‍

You can automate contract drafting by creating reusable templates for different business use cases, such as NDAs, supplier agreements, etc. Templates help speed up creation and ensure negotiating terms are up-to-date.‍

2. Collecting contract data faster through intake forms‍

You can use intake forms that map to template fields to reduce errors and support automatic contract generation rather than manual data entry. This process also enables automated contract data extraction, eliminating the need to manually extract the right information from contracts.‍

3. Integrating contracting process with CRM for faster execution‍

A CRM platform integrated with contract management software helps auto-populate contracts with the right data, upload and understand third-party contracts, and monitor contract status directly from CRM. Your sales team will appreciate you the most with this integration.

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4. Implementing AI-assisted contract reviews‍

Using AI tools to highlight risky terms, suggest changes, run compliance reviews, and pull key information from contracts can help you save hours every week. Think of all the times you had to manually go through contract terms and check for discrepancies. AI can now handle all that while you set the rules for review. ‍

5. Setting up automated routing for contract approvals‍

Automated contract approval routing with custom workflows ensures timely and error-free approvals. You can even set custom rules for routing based on contract value, size, and any particular customizations your organization prefers.‍

6. Automating the signature collection process‍

Automated eSignatures are a must in 2025. You can set up signing orders and automated reminder emails for eSignatures to increase execution speed and reduce manual follow-up.‍

7. Integrating with Slack for fast contract notifications‍

Most, if not all organizations use Slack for communication. Having a Slack integration to receive contract task notifications and upload contracts without switching applications makes your team faster and more context-aware.

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What features should you look for in a contract automation platform?

The most effective contract automation platforms for 2025 include a suite of advanced, integrated features:

Transforming the legal function from bottleneck to business enabler

Modern contract operations require an identity shift: Legal’s value increases when it empowers the business to transact quickly and safely. High-performing teams proactively forecast workloads, automate low-risk agreements, and provide business intelligence for leadership. As automation removes routine barriers, legal can focus on strategic guidance, risk prevention, and growth acceleration.

Final thoughts for CXOs

The future of in-house legal is being redefined—by leaders who invest in process clarity, actionable data, and smart automation, but also by those who understand the frustrations and behaviors of legal teams on the ground. By making contracting excellence an organizational priority and measuring progress obsessively, CXOs ensure their teams are strategic partners, not just operational support. 

The transformation starts by building a culture that prizes efficiency, collaboration, and innovation—and investing in the right contract automation software and mindsets to multiply Legal’s business impact in 2025 and beyond.

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Curious to see how efficient your contracting is?
Read our latest contracting efficiency benchmarking report to understand how you compare to your peers, and check out our efficiency estimator built to help you assess where you stand with your contracting. 

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