Workday, Inc., the AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, released “The Contract Intelligence Index Report.” This research uncovers a widespread problem: many companies don’t clearly define who is responsible for their contracts. This lack of clarity results in significant financial losses, inefficient operations, and unmanaged risks for businesses worldwide.
Contracts are vital for understanding revenue and obligations. However, if no one clearly owns the contracts, their full value is often lost. The report highlights a major issue impacting profitability: a staggering 76% of employees don’t fully understand who is responsible for contracts. This confusion often comes from not knowing whether the vendor relationship manager, legal team or procurement department is ultimately in charge. Without clear ownership, contracts remain static documents, preventing organizations from using the valuable information these contracts contain to drive business growth. Until companies move beyond basic administration to true contract intelligence, companies will continue to simply manage documents instead of strategically using contracts to achieve business results.
Key Findings from The Contract Intelligence Index Report include:
- Untapped Revenue, Unforeseen Costs: Lack of insight into customer renewals, upsell, and cross-sell opportunities can hurt revenue growth. Half of all legal (50%) and enterprise employee (49%) respondents say they’ve lost money from unintended auto-renewals – with sales and marketing departments hit hardest (60%). When organizations unknowingly have unused services or miss upsell opportunities, it can directly impact revenue growth, operational efficiency, and market share.
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- Legal Blind Spots, Mounting Risk: If legal teams aren’t fully involved in the business, there can be gaps in how contracts are handled. While 85% of legal professionals say they’re part of contract approvals, only 67% of other employees agree. This 18% difference suggests that a third of employees might be bypassing legal, creating significant risks and legal exposure from overlooked regulatory requirements, inconsistent language, and unfavorable or unenforceable terms.
- Data Disconnect, Fragmented Future: Buried across shared drives, systems, and communications, scattered information prevents different departments from sharing analysis and insights. The report found that contracts are primarily spread across shared drives (70% for legal, 50% for non-legal) and CRM systems (62% for legal, 53% for non-legal), as well as individual desktops, in email accounts, and even paper records. This fragmentation not only slows down processes, but also undermines the value of having holistic contract visibility, enforceability, and opportunity identification.
- Slow Processes, Stifled Innovation: Slow contract approvals, lengthy legal reviews, and time spent on legal disputes can disrupt the speed of business. More than two in five (41%) respondents – including legal professionals – believe contract processes are too slow. This hinders innovation and productivity across departments like R&D and engineering (79%).
“Contracts are packed with critical business information that’s often buried across hundreds of pages,” said Jerry Ting, Vice President, Head of Agentic AI and Evisort, Workday. “With the rise of AI agents, we can finally turn contracts into living, intelligent assets. Our research shows how legal teams can unlock hidden insights to become a strategic engine that accelerates business decisions, protects the enterprise, and ultimately leads the way to greater efficiency and profitability.”
Source: PRNewswire
