Data extraction from contracts – in-house or outsourcing to a specialized firm
When clients are dealing with contracts or legacy contracts, NLP/AI technologies can be used to extract salient data points. This data is then loaded into a CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management System). Having good software for the extraction of data is essential, but it is not sufficient if any accuracy is desired.
Why is accuracy a must?
What is the point of investing in a new CLM system when the data imported is incorrect? Your complete investment in the CLM will be negated if the data is incorrect, inaccurate, or inconsistent. The only way to achieve high accuracy is to check each and every data point extracted by software. To achieve high accuracy is to check EACH and EVERY data element visually against the original contract after the software has done its part. Additionally, it is necessary for a good solution to have trained lawyers and a stringent process in order to guarantee consistent and accurate results.
If you going to do extraction in-house, you would have to –
• License the software
• Learn the software
• Train/configure the software for the data points that you need to extract
• Sort your documents
• Match up masters and addendums
• Get a team of lawyers in place
• Train the team of lawyers on the software
• Put a good process in place to ensure accuracy and consistency of data
The answer is simple, a full-service firm is better suited, a company that is solely focused on extraction that has its own software, its own team of lawyers trained solely on extraction, and a stringent process is the only way to guarantee accuracy and consistency in extracted data.