If
you
work
in-house
and
you’re
not
treating
your
vendor
contracts
like
strategic
assets,
you’re
overlooking
one
of
the
most
valuable
sources
of
operational
insight.
In
a
recent
episode
of
“Notes
to
My
(Legal)
Self,”
legal
ops
leader
Navin
Mahavijiyan
explained
how
most
legal
teams
are
sitting
on
a
treasure
trove
of
data
without
realizing
it,
and
what
to
do
about
it.
Watch
the
full
episode
here:
Contracts
Are
More
Than
Agreements.
They’re
Data
Sets.
Vendor
contracts
often
live
quietly
in
the
background.
They
get
filed
away
and
rarely
resurface
unless
something
goes
wrong
or
a
renewal
is
approaching.
But
as
Navin
pointed
out,
these
agreements
contain
critical
information
about
how
a
business
functions,
spends,
and
scales.
“One
of
the
things
that
I’ve
come
to
learn
in
my
career
is
that
managing
your
vendor,
your
supplier,
your
subcontractor
contracts
is
incredibly
critical
for
the
business,”
Navin
said.
“That’s
a
huge
amount
of
spend.
Being
able
to
track
them
—
when
they
expire,
when
you
need
to
have
renewal
discussions,
or
just
the
fact
that
you
have
them
—
is
instrumental.”
This
isn’t
about
building
a
better
repository.
It’s
about
turning
static
documents
into
living
data
that
supports
smarter
business
decisions.
AI
Helps,
But
Only
When
You
Know
What
You
Need
Navin
is
a
strong
advocate
for
using
AI
to
manage
contracts,
but
with
a
caveat.
He
warns
against
rushing
into
a
tool
just
because
it
can
extract
a
lot
of
data.
The
key
is
clarity
of
purpose.
“When
you’re
just
starting
out,
the
typical
motion
is
let’s
take
our
contracts,
dump
them
into
a
tool,
and
have
the
vendor’s
AI
analyze
them,”
he
said.
“That’s
really
easy
to
do.
But
it
can
become
too
much.”
Instead,
start
with
your
priorities.
What
do
you
actually
need
to
know
to
support
your
business?
Renewal
dates?
Payment
terms?
Auto-renew
clauses?
Navin
recommends
building
a
shortlist
of
must-have
data
points
first.
“Have
your
own
checklist
on
what
data
points
you
want
to
collect
from
your
contracts,”
he
said.
“Then
you
also
know
what
needs
to
be
trained
into
the
AI.”
Searchable
Is
Good.
Contextual
Is
Better.
Scanning
and
uploading
contracts
into
a
central
system
might
check
the
box
for
“digitized,”
but
it’s
not
enough.
Navin
stressed
that
legal
teams
need
to
go
beyond
searchability
and
focus
on
usability.
This
includes
setting
up
alerts,
triggers,
and
workflows
that
actually
help
stakeholders
take
action,
whether
that’s
procurement
needing
to
renegotiate
a
contract
or
finance
needing
to
plan
for
upcoming
obligations.
“You
can
use
[AI]
to
analyze
all
the
contracts,
pull
vast
amounts
of
data
out
of
it,
make
them
searchable,
and
automate
alerts
and
tracking,”
Navin
said.
“The
right
people
in
different
parts
of
your
business
can
be
notified
when
something
as
simple
as
the
contract
is
about
to
expire,
or
when
language
creates
risk.”
Not
All
Contract
Data
Lives
In
The
Contract
One
of
the
smartest
points
Navin
made
is
that
some
of
the
most
useful
contract
data
isn’t
in
the
contract
itself.
Details
like
vendor
contacts,
internal
owners,
and
business
context
often
live
outside
the
document,
but
they’re
just
as
essential.
“There
are
elements
of
the
contract
information
that
are
not
in
the
contract
itself,”
he
explained.
“That’s
where
AI
can’t
help
unless
you
build
that
into
your
contract
review
process.”
Legal
ops
teams
need
a
process
to
capture
and
associate
this
metadata.
Intake
forms,
playbooks,
and
templates
can
go
a
long
way
in
closing
that
gap
and
making
the
contract
lifecycle
more
complete.
Too
Much
Information
Can
Be
Just
As
Bad
As
contract
systems
become
more
powerful,
there’s
a
temptation
to
broadcast
every
bit
of
data
to
every
stakeholder.
Navin
cautioned
against
this
approach.
“Finance
wants
to
know
very
different
things
from
your
delivery
folks
or
your
accounting
team,”
he
said.
“You
need
to
understand
their
cadence,
how
often
they
need
to
be
notified,
and
craft
alerts
that
are
robust
and
unique
to
each
group.”
The
goal
isn’t
to
make
everyone
a
contract
expert.
The
goal
is
to
deliver
the
right
insight
to
the
right
person
at
the
right
time.
Legal
Ops
Can
Lead
The
Shift
For
too
long,
vendor
contracts
have
been
treated
like
legal
housekeeping.
But
as
Navin
made
clear,
they’re
a
window
into
how
your
business
spends,
risks,
renews,
and
grows.
With
the
right
combination
of
tools
and
processes,
legal
teams
can
turn
that
window
into
a
control
panel.
This
is
more
than
a
tech
upgrade.
It’s
a
mindset
shift.
The
return
on
investment
isn’t
just
cleaner
records.
It’s
better
visibility,
faster
action,
and
greater
alignment
with
the
business.
Vendor
contracts
are
already
sitting
there,
waiting
to
be
unlocked.
Ready
to
start
digging?
Olga
V.
Mack is
the
CEO
of TermScout,
an
AI-powered
contract
certification
platform
that
accelerates
revenue
and
eliminates
friction
by
certifying
contracts
as
fair,
balanced,
and
market-ready.
A
serial
CEO
and
legal
tech
executive,
she
previously
led
a
company
through
a
successful
acquisition
by
LexisNexis.
Olga
is
also
a Fellow
at
CodeX,
The
Stanford
Center
for
Legal
Informatics,
and
the
Generative
AI
Editor
at
law.MIT.
She
is
a
visionary
executive
reshaping
how
we
law—how
legal
systems
are
built,
experienced,
and
trusted.
Olga teaches
at
Berkeley
Law,
lectures
widely,
and
advises
companies
of
all
sizes,
as
well
as
boards
and
institutions.
An
award-winning
general
counsel
turned
builder,
she
also
leads
early-stage
ventures
including Virtual
Gabby
(Better
Parenting
Plan), Product
Law
Hub, ESI
Flow,
and Notes
to
My
(Legal)
Self,
each
rethinking
the
practice
and
business
of
law
through
technology,
data,
and
human-centered
design.
She
has
authored The
Rise
of
Product
Lawyers, Legal
Operations
in
the
Age
of
AI
and
Data, Blockchain
Value,
and Get
on
Board,
with Visual
IQ
for
Lawyers (ABA)
forthcoming.
Olga
is
a
6x
TEDx
speaker
and
has
been
recognized
as
a
Silicon
Valley
Woman
of
Influence
and
an
ABA
Woman
in
Legal
Tech.
Her
work
reimagines
people’s
relationship
with
law—making
it
more
accessible,
inclusive,
data-driven,
and
aligned
with
how
the
world
actually
works.
She
is
also
the
host
of
the
Notes
to
My
(Legal)
Self
podcast
(streaming
on Spotify, Apple
Podcasts,
and YouTube),
and
her
insights
regularly
appear
in
Forbes,
Bloomberg
Law,
Newsweek,
VentureBeat,
ACC
Docket,
and
Above
the
Law.
She
earned
her
B.A.
and
J.D.
from
UC
Berkeley.
Follow
her
on LinkedIn and
X
@olgavmack.