Streamline AI on Streamline AI: Contract review with SmartParse

“Can you please review this redline and respond by tomorrow? We’re trying to get this deal closed this week.” Throughout my career, I've heard this countless times as sales teams work diligently to close important customers. 

Now, as the CEO and co-founder of Streamline AI, I still enjoy putting on my GC hat when it comes to our contracts. Engaging directly with our customers and reviewing contracts allows me to stay connected to the legal aspects of the business while also gaining valuable insights into our customer' needs and concerns.

However, this time I had a new tool at my disposal. Our company had just introduced SmartParse, an innovative AI-powered contract parsing solution, and I was eager to put it to the test on a real-world customer redline of our sales master services agreement.

With just a few clicks, I uploaded and submitted the contract through the forms portal and selected the option to analyze it using SmartParse AI. As the results loaded, I navigated to the Strike Zone evaluation results. I could immediately see the main issues that were outside our playbook standards,  with indemnification standing out as the most problematic clause.

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When I clicked on each clause, I could drill into each and double check SmartParse’s AI analysis. I confirmed that SmartParse's assessment was accurate. The system had flagged the clause as in the strike zone (and visually highlighted in green), indicating that it met our playbook baseline.

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I clicked to view the redline of the clause against our contract template text, and the system showed that one of the sentences had been deleted by the counterparty. However, that sentence did not make a material difference with the exclusion. SmartParse's advanced capabilities recognized this nuance, which is why it accurately classified the clause as falling within the strike zone.

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What sets SmartParse apart is its sophisticated analysis that goes beyond a simple word-by-word comparison. The system intelligently examines a contract's clauses, subclauses, facts, and facets, allowing it to make a nuanced interpretation of the contract's meaning. This approach is particularly useful since legal professionals often have slightly different drafting styles, rendering a word-by-word comparison less effective. By focusing on the substance and context of the clauses, SmartParse provides a more reliable and meaningful assessment of the contract's compliance with company playbook standards.

After scanning the contract terms using SmartParse, I was confident that we could resolve the issues within a week. I promptly updated my VP of Sales within Streamline’s Collaboration Hub, confirming that the anticipated close date was feasible. This action automatically added her as a follower on the request, ensuring she would receive notifications for any future updates. All of this happened before I had even started on the redline review. SmartParse not only streamlined my workflow but also provided my VP of Sales with more accurate insights for deal forecasting.

As any commercial lawyer can attest, receiving a new redline for the first time is often the most painful and time-consuming step in the contract review process. It's a task that many of us tend to put off for as long as possible. However, with SmartParse, you can obtain a snapshot of how far the contract deviates from your acceptable standards within just a minute or two of receiving the contract file from the business team. This tool would have made my life as a commercial lawyer much easier and helped me collaborate better with the sales team and prevented a lot of stress!