Machine Learning Tool Creates a Paper Trail

The application of AI tools to the shuffling of paperwork—tedious, yet essential—is getting another upgrade with the release of a framework designed to sift through, analyze and organize digital documents and contracts.

Conga, the privately-held digital document organizer, this week released a machine learning-based AI Analyze tool designed to identify and convert both structured and unstructured data in contracts and other documents. The AI “engine” is being integrated with the company’s digital document suite as a way to speed up the processing while improving the accuracy of rounding up critical contract information. Among the benefits, Conga said this week, is accelerating the contract negotiation process.

Conga, Broomfield, Colo., asserts that automating the contract review and approval process helps reduce human errors in what is typically a tedious process prone to mistakes. The AI tool is designed to streamline the review process by identifying key clauses and contract metadata, steps that can often take hours to complete.

The AI approach is also promoted as a way to spot contracts and other legal documents that do not comply with company policies or organizational “gold standards.” The results can then be fed into existing workflows such as customer relationship management platforms.

The use of machine learning models to mine unstructured data for patterns has been gaining momentum in areas like customer sentiment analysis. Companies like Conga are attempting to move up the value chain with tools that can scan and organize contracts and other critical documents while reducing human error.

The company claims more than 900,000 users of its flagship digital document suite.

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