What a legal and compliance department can automate today
Watching dates, gathering evidence and preparing documents is done by an agent. Processing, signing and accepting a risk, by a person.
In short
In legal and compliance, watching and preparing can be automated today: knowing what is due and when, chasing a third party in time, producing digitally signed documents and keeping every control with its evidence.
Legal judgement is not automated, nor anything with consequences: processing, signing, sending and accepting a risk are done by a person.
What can be automated today
Four processes an agent already runs in our own company, each with its own page.
Deadlines: everything that is due in your company in one list, with timely alerts and the reminders to third parties already prepared.
Signed documents: reports and documents in PDF with your identity and a digital signature, with nothing printed or filled in by hand.
Accessible documents: your PDF documents turned into accessible, editable web pages, and back into a signed PDF.
ENS controls: tracking the controls of Spain's National Security Framework (ENS), each review on time and with its evidence.
In our own company two people used to lay out documents by hand; today nobody does. And deadlines are checked with one question: what is due this quarter.
What is better left alone, and why
In this area almost everything that matters has consequences for third parties. We leave four things out.
Legal advice. An agent does not interpret a regulation for you or draft new clauses: it works with your templates and with what your advisers have already decided.
Signing. Each document is signed by a person with their own certificate, and their computer asks permission to use it. Without that permission there is no signed PDF.
Renewals and filings. The agent alerts and prepares; it does not renew a certificate or file anything with a public body.
Security decisions: opening an incident, blocking an account, revoking access or accepting a risk. The agent prepares the evidence and tells you which decision is waiting for you.
What a person still decides
Processing, signing and sending. Alerts and reminders stay in draft until a person approves them.
For documents, a person validates that the text says what it has to say, especially in tables, figures and notes. And for controls, the sign-off on each review comes from the person responsible.
Where to start
With deadlines. All it takes is a list of what is due, who handles it and where the document is, and from that day nothing expires without someone knowing. Almost nothing needs connecting.
Signed documents come next, and accessible documents if you publish reports or work with the public sector. Tracking security controls makes sense when a client or a public body asks you for assurances.
What we say and do not say about the National Security Framework
In our own company we work with the controls of Spain's National Security Framework (ENS) and we are in the process of being audited. We do not present it as a certification.
What we automate is the tracking: each review done on time and left with its evidence. Whether your organisation meets the framework is decided and signed off by whoever answers for its security.
Frequently asked questions
Does this replace a lawyer or legal advisers?
No. The agent watches dates, prepares documents on your templates and gathers evidence. Legal judgement remains with your advisers.
Can the agent sign for me?
No. A person signs, with their own certificate and after giving permission to use it. The agent does not send the document to anyone either.
Does the agent renew expiring certificates or insurance?
No. It alerts in good time and leaves the reminder prepared if it depends on a third party. Renewing and processing is a person's job.
Other guides
Finance department
Gathering, checking and preparing is done by an agent. Approving, paying and signing, by a person.
Human resources
Paperwork, deadlines and checks are handled by an agent. Decisions about people are not.
Sales
Searching, filtering and preparing is done by an agent. Choosing who to write to and what to sign, by your team.
Marketing
Reviewing every week and preparing the changes is done by an agent. Publishing and spending is approved by a person.
Customer service
Logging, searching and drafting is done by an agent. What a client is told is approved by a person.
The next step
Tell us how you work today and we will tell you where to start.