How a Leading BFSI Player Reduced Risk and Maximized Productivity with 5x Faster Contract Approval with Aavenir Contractflow on ServiceNow

About Company

Aavenir's customer, a leading Southeast Asian bank with advanced technology and digital banking platforms, offers individuals, businesses, and institutions a comprehensive range of banking and financial services. With customer satisfaction and innovation as its most prominent areas of emphasis, the Bank provides solutions in retail banking, corporate banking, wealth management, and investment banking through online and mobile channels.

Contract Management Challenges

• Difficulties in efficiently storing contracts on Google Drive. The lack of a systematic approach to organizing contracts consumed too many hours, especially while searching for specific documents and finding details specific to contact. This challenge was compounded by the struggles in locating different versions of contract redlines on Google Drive, causing delays in the review process and confusion among stakeholders.
• Cumbersome and Inefficient Review Process. The customer faced difficulties in efficiently reviewing and summarizing contract submissions from stakeholders. The lack of thorough review of submissions led to delays in contract processing and inaccuracies in contract details. Maintaining an up-to-date list of executed contracts based on MSA, NDA Tech MSA, and Non-Tech MSA, as well as tracking contract statuses manually, made it challenging to ensure that all executed contracts were accurately documented and accounted for.
• Submission and Processing of Contract Review Request Forms. The bank found it challenging to consistently perform this Task, as it involves issuing legal ticketing numbers, maintaining independent trackers based on various contract types, and tracking progress with multiple stakeholders. It led to inefficiencies and discrepancies in contract management.
• Approvals from Multiple Stakeholders. Obtaining all the necessary approvals for contract execution required coordination with various stakeholders. Delays in the approval process impacted the overall execution of contracts and caused the legal team to burn out.
• Risk Assessment. Although there was a defined contract risk assessment process for the Bank vendors' contracts, no system was in place to track compliance and its reporting. Considering most contracts are 3pp, risk assessment scoring is critical.

Approach

The customer challenges called for a centralized system to automate, track, and monitor workflows as per contract types. This system needed to store documents and their redlining history and facilitate timely review, negotiation, and approval processes. Once contracts became active, it was necessary to enable searches for contracts and information within them, enhancing visibility, traceability, and stakeholder accountability. The AI-enabled Aavenir's flagship product, built on the ServiceNow platform - Aavenir Contractflow, ticked all the boxes.

The Solution - Aavenir Contract Lifecycle Management Solution for BFSI Industry

The Bank had its own and third-party papers. Aavenir created different workflows based on the type of contract and enabled the bank users to search documents or access the key fields (interest rates, benchmark rates, etc.) and clauses (for instance, indemnity, limitation of liability, force majeure, liquidated damages, etc.) within the document.

• Contract Intake: To automate the request process, Aavenir created a request intake form that the various departments would fill out when submitting the request for the Bank's paper. An attachment would be required for third-party paper. The requester will require approval from the respective department when submitting the request within Aavenir Contractflow.
• Risk Assessment: Based on the department and the request type, Aavenir Contractflow will trigger an email for risk assessment for the risk assessors. The Risk Assessors will approve the request, and an email with the status will be sent. The updated status will be available in the Contract Request.
• Contract Request Review: The department-level Person in charge will review the request, and a contract Author will convert it to an agreement along with the data and attachments from the request to the agreement.
• Contract Internal Review: The contract is reviewed internally on office365, and the redlined version and changes against each Reviewer are preserved in Aavenir Contractflow. Once the internal review is completed, the contract goes for external review.
• Contract Approval: The internal approval cycle is triggered upon completion of the external review cycle. It goes through three-level approvals to manage risk and compliance:
  • the Clause level to determine deviation,
  • the risk assessment process to mitigate risks.
  • the document level approval that required CEO approval.
• Contract eSignature: The Department-in-Charge will verify all approvals and send for signature via Adobe Sign. Once the contract is fully signed, it will automatically be stored in Aavenir Contractflow.

Key Results

• Efficient Workflows: Aavenir tailored workflows based on contract types (own paper or 3rd party paper), ensuring streamlined and automated processes helped improve traceability and accountability throughout the contract lifecycle.
• Centralized Repository: Aavenir Contractflow served as a comprehensive repository, managing the entire contract lifecycle from initiation to execution. It consolidated all contract-related documents in one centralized location, including the final signed document and all versions. This centralized repository helps the Bank streamline document management, enhance accessibility, and improve usability by providing easy access to key fields and clauses.
• Enhanced Search Functionality: Robust search capabilities empower the bank users to efficiently locate specific documents, contracts with key fields, and clauses. Besides, its advanced search functionality enables quick retrieval of relevant information, enhancing productivity and facilitating informed decision-making.
• Automated Requests: The request intake form helps automate submissions, reduce manual effort, and improve efficiency while ensuring accountability in the contract request process.
• Improved Risk Assessment: The solution is integrated to trigger risk assessment emails to relevant stakeholders, facilitating timely evaluations and enhancing the risk assessment process.
• Enhanced Tracking and Transparency: The solution offers readily available updates on contract statuses, helps improve transparency, and enables better tracking of each contract, thereby enhancing accountability.
• Real-time Collaboration: The solution allows multiple users to collaborate and review in real-time via Office 365. All changes are captured in a single document in Aavenir Contractflow. This makes the contract negotiations and review process simple, hassle-free, and more collaborative for Contract Managers, thus saving time, enhancing traceability and accountability.
• Thorough Approval Process: The solution enables a three-level approval process, including clause-level, document-level, and CEO-level approvals, to mitigate risks and ensure compliance.
• Efficient Signing Process: Aavenir Contractflow streamlines the signature process by setting signature workflows and sending them to internal and external signatories via Adobe Sign. Once the contract is fully signed, it is automatically stored in Aavenir Contractflow. This has helped the Bank reduce delays and ensure the timely completion of their contracting process.