A Major US Transportation Company Achieves 91% Legal Review Time Reduction with Leah
A major US transportation and logistics corporation with 60+ corporate departments faced a contract management crisis that threatened operational efficiency across the organization. The marketing department alone managed over 1,000 legacy contracts using manual processes—spreadsheets, email negotiations, and basic document repositories—creating version control nightmares that the team described as "very dicey" to track.
in legal review queue creating multi-month execution delays
average on-hold time for service requests blocking vendor approvals
automated contract workflows or approval tracking systems
“We were having so many issues trying to get things through legal review. The roadblocks were getting deeper and deeper, and we often forgot that we'd negotiated with vendors three years ago and changed specific language.”
Contract Manager, Major US Transportation Company
Challenge
A major US transportation and logistics corporation with 60+ corporate departments faced a contract management crisis that threatened operational efficiency across the organization. The marketing department alone managed over 1,000 legacy contracts using manual processes—spreadsheets, email negotiations, and basic document repositories—creating version control nightmares that the team described as "very dicey" to track.
Multiple stakeholders touching the same contracts made it nearly impossible to determine which version was current. The organization often forgot terms negotiated with vendors years prior, forcing repetitive work and creating inconsistency. A single legal counsel managed contract reviews across the entire organization, with over 100 agreements awaiting attention—delays measured in months rather than weeks.
Manual processes extended throughout the contract-to-payment lifecycle. The contracts team manually extracted payment terms from executed agreements and copied them into emails for the accounts payable department. With no automated tracking, the team maintained separate systems to reconcile payments against contractual obligations. Historical contract data scattered across SharePoint and Box lacked robust search capabilities, requiring manual document review to extract specific data points—work that could consume hours or days.
Knowledge transfer challenges compounded the problem. Contracts sometimes went to legal review only to discover clauses the business team thought were acceptable actually weren't. With contract playbooks constantly evolving, the trial-and-error process created workflow inefficiencies and eroded confidence.
A previous evaluation of Cobblestone CLM had failed spectacularly. The vendor provided system access without adequate guidance or training, leaving users struggling without hands-on support. Metadata extraction demos from multiple vendors either missed critical fields, pulled incorrect data, or required extensive manual re-tagging across 1,000+ documents—dealbreakers that sent the organization back to square one.
Solution Search
The company selected Leah comprehensive CLM platform after identifying it as a market leader through independent Gartner research. The solution addressed their core requirements through several key capabilities:
AI-Powered Intelligence: Automated metadata extraction with plain English clause summaries enabled faster contract review without constant legal escalation. The system's historical precedent surfacing helped business teams understand previously negotiated terms with the same vendors, eliminating guesswork in negotiations.
Comprehensive Workflow Automation: Configurable approval workflows with automated routing and sign-off tracking provided the governance controls the organization needed. Visual workflow designers and relationship hierarchy features made it easy to understand contract routing across business review, legal approval, negotiation, and signature stages.
Repository and Search Capabilities: AI-powered search that could answer specific queries across hundreds of contracts represented a fundamental advantage. The platform's document findability solved the core question: why invest in a repository if you cannot find your documents?
Payment Terms Extraction: Automated extraction of payment terms, net terms, and fee structures eliminated the manual copy-paste workflow to accounts payable, streamlining the entire contract-to-payment process.
No-Code Configurability: The platform's flexibility allowed the contracts team to adapt workflows as processes evolved, without requiring costly change orders or IT resources.
Translation and Global Support: Built-in translation capabilities for 115+ languages, including French Canadian, exceeded requirements for their global operations.
Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with existing DocuSign e-signature workflows and Outlook email systems preserved investments in current tools while adding comprehensive CLM capabilities.
“We reduced legal review time by 91% for service requests and cut software request reviews by 71% in a single quarter. The system eliminates hours of manual contract review that used to take days.”
Contract Manager, Major US Transportation Company
Implementation
Implementation began in March 2024 with discovery and evaluation, but faced an unexpected obstacle: enterprise AI governance policies required steering committee approval for any AI-enabled tools. Rather than waiting months for policy approval, the vendor team proposed a creative solution—implement the core CLM platform immediately while deferring AI modules until governance approval. This approach removed the blocker while allowing the project to proceed.
The contracts team demonstrated exceptional preparation during the three-week approval process, completing workflows, metadata schemas, user lists, and migration specifications. This readiness accelerated deployment once final approvals were obtained in July 2024.
The Leah’s guided workshop approach made a strong impression, directly contrasting with the previous Cobblestone experience. Rather than providing system access without support, Leah offered structured training with flexible office hours for questions and troubleshooting. This hands-on implementation methodology built confidence across the team.
The platform's bulk upload capability proved critical for migrating 1,000+ legacy contracts. Instead of weeks of manual document entry, the organization uploaded agreements in batches with automated metadata extraction, dramatically reducing implementation time and resource requirements.
IT security completed comprehensive reviews including SOC 2 reports and other security documentation, providing approval to proceed. Outside legal counsel reviewed terms with no major red flags. The implementation included DocuSign integration, playbook creation, workflow configuration, and user training for the initial marketing department deployment.
Weekly check-ins with the customer success team ensured rapid issue resolution. The implementation specialist's quick turnaround on technical questions and proactive problem-solving maintained momentum throughout the deployment.
Outcome
Within one year of implementation, the organization achieved dramatic operational improvements across nearly all contract workflow stages. Legal review times dropped 91% for service requests—from 11 days to just one day—and decreased 71% for software requests, falling from 38 days to 11 days. Business review cycles improved 54% for software requests, and NDA negotiation times decreased 29%. Most notably, the organization completely eliminated the 71-day average on-hold status that had previously blocked service requests.
1,081 contracts
centralized in searchable repository with automated workflows
91%
legal review time reduction freeing critical capacity
100%
elimination of service request delays previously averaging 71 days
The marketing department now processes 35-47 contract requests monthly with systematic workflows and automated approvals, replacing the previous email and spreadsheet chaos. E-signature adoption reached 60-62%, demonstrating successful integration with existing business processes. Outlook integration enabled seamless email-based contract management without disrupting established communication patterns.
Payment terms automation transformed the contract-to-payment workflow. The accounts payable department now receives structured payment data automatically extracted from executed agreements, eliminating manual copy-paste work and reducing payment disputes from transcription errors.
The platform's search and analysis capabilities solved the critical document retrieval challenge. Instead of manually reviewing every contract to find specific data points across hundreds of agreements, AI-powered queries deliver answers in minutes. Version control and audit trail features now provide the compliance documentation essential for union environments and legal challenges.
Beyond the marketing department's success, the organization identified expansion opportunities across HR for policy management, IT for contract needs, and sourcing for vendor agreements. The platform's proven ROI and operational efficiency gains positioned it for enterprise-wide adoption. Executive leadership committed to continued expansion despite competing departmental tool evaluations, recognizing the strategic value of centralized contract management.
"Despite other departments evaluating alternatives, our executive leadership committed that nothing will stop us from using Leah or expanding with additional capabilities. We're continuing because the results speak for themselves."
— VP Marketing, Major US Transportation Company
The organization continues to explore advanced AI capabilities for contract analysis, clause extraction, and cross-document querying. With quarterly business reviews demonstrating consistent improvement trajectories and strong vendor partnership support, the platform has become essential infrastructure for contract operations. The first-year success validated the investment and established a foundation for enterprise-wide transformation.
