How digital transformation improved a global tech company’s operational efficiency with data refinement.

Over three decades, a large global technology company has grown dramatically, undertaking more than 35 acquisitions. The company delivered record total revenues of $4.5 billion — 81% of which are annually recurring.

That said, completing so many acquisitions brought with it the predictable complication of the company having to deal with multiple contract repositories. Operating efficiently while continuing to grow required the company to centralize contracts, and EY Law teams were ready to help.

As the company rapidly expanded over the last decade with several acquisitions, so did the complexity of its recordkeeping. This led to an array of contract types stored across several repositories, resulting in typical metadata challenges.

To streamline operations and enhance the organization’s data-backed decisions, the company engaged EY Law teams for a broad data refinement project that included reviewing nearly 50,000 documents against contract metadata. This would pave the way for the company to tap into digital procurement and sourcing solutions and focus their energies on unlocking fresh, innovative opportunities.

With the company’s rapid growth, it inherited nearly 50,000 documents from numerous acquisitions that had to be reviewed against contract metadata to streamline operations. The compilation — which ranged in complexity from master service agreements to purchase orders — posed a significant challenge. EY Law teams devised a customized approach to cater to the company’s unique needs.

The strategy included integrating resources from EY Law's global network, developing a 24/7 legal managed services model and employing two technical platforms to help-optimize uptime and reduce risks. This global, agile and technology-driven model significantly enhanced delivery speed and prioritized accuracy.

In an impressive span of only four weeks, EY Law teams consolidated nearly 50,000 contracts metadata into a single system. This was achieved with the help of AI technology for initial review and human intervention for structuring and interpreting contract metadata, followed by a detailed quality assurance process to validate data accuracy. The company was constantly updated at every project stage so its fast-paced growth was well accompanied by efficient document management and streamlined operations.

Supported with refined, analyzed, clean contract metadata, the company migrated these documents and contract metdata into an end-to-end procurement solution. Doing so generated instant value for the organization. The company now had clear visibility into the company’s contractual obligations, significantly improving efficiency and manageability on a daily basis. How so?

By offering cleaner, accurate contract metadata, this immediately reduced legal risk to the business. Because these documents now live in a common, centralized repository, the company was able to decommission redundant and legacy systems, improving turnaround time for teams.

All of this helped the business reduce in-house expenses, with the company benefitting from EY Law’s technology platforms and teams across the globe. Working with EY Law teams in this way allowed the company to create additional bandwidth for their in-house procurement and contract management teams, who have been able to move away from tactical tasks and focus on more strategic initiatives.

Looking forward, this foundational work positions the company to continue operating effectively from day to day — all while pursuing additional acquisitions and growth to shape the future of the business.