For years, contract management has been a time-consuming, manual process, bogging down legal teams with endless reviews, approvals, and administrative work. Instead of focusing on high-value strategy, lawyers were stuck chasing signatures and sorting through different versions of the same doc.
But that’s changing.
Leading legal teams are embracing automation to move faster, smarter, and with fewer bottlenecks. Companies across industries—tech, fintech, education, and clean energy—have transformed their contract workflows, cutting turnaround times by 90%, increasing efficiency by 50%, and freeing up legal to focus on strategic initiatives.
In this post, we’ll explore five real-life success stories of companies that automated their contract processes with SpotDraft’s contract automation platform. You’ll see how legal teams went from being seen as a department of “No” to business enablers—helping organizations close deals faster, reduce risk, and scale effortlessly.
How contract automation is helping legal teams worldwide
Remember the dark ages of legal work? The endless email chains, version control nightmares, and that 11 PM “urgent” contract review? Legal teams are done with that.
Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) automation has changed the game, turning what used to be a tedious, error-prone process into a fast, efficient, and strategic function.
Why are the best legal teams making the switch?
Because they’re seeing numbers like these:
- 90% faster contract approval turnaround times
- 70% contracting efficiency boost (goodbye, manual work)
- 40% reduction in workload to focus on high-value legal work
No more chasing approvals. No more hunting down the latest version of a contract as if it’s a missing artifact. With automation, you track contract progress in real time, streamline workflows, and even enable self-service contracting—all while staying compliant and in control.
Also read: When to Switch Your CLM?
Five real-life case studies: In-house lawyers winning with contract automation
Let’s see how companies like Apollo.io, Gameskraft, and Open ditched the manual madness and transformed their contract processes with automation.
#1 Apollo.io: From legal bottlenecks to seamless collaboration
The challenge: Legal team drowning in contract overload
Apollo.io, a fast-growing sales intelligence platform, was scaling rapidly. But with growth came a surge in contract requests—NDAs, vendor agreements, customer contracts, partnership deals. And every single one had to pass through legal.
The result? A massive bottleneck.
- Sales teams couldn’t move fast enough: Delays in contract approvals were slowing down deals and partnerships
- Legal was buried in low-value work: Routine, repetitive agreements took up too much time
- Frustration was building: Business teams were stuck waiting on legal, creating friction between departments
Instead of focusing on strategic initiatives, Apollo.io’s legal team was spending hours reviewing standard contracts that didn’t need customization. They needed a way to scale without hiring more lawyers or slowing down business operations.
The solution: self-serve contracts powered by automation
Apollo.io turned to SpotDraft to revolutionize contract management and take legal out of the day-to-day contract review grind.
Here’s how automation changed the game:
- Self-serve contract templates: Pre-approved templates allowed sales, procurement, and business teams to generate agreements on their own, reducing dependency on legal
- Automated approval workflows: SpotDraft’s smart workflows routed contracts to the right people, eliminating back-and-forth emails and unnecessary manual intervention
- Centralized contract repository: Every agreement was stored in a single source of truth, ensuring easy access, version control, and quick retrieval of contracts when needed
By shifting routine contracts to self-service, Apollo.io freed legal from being a bottleneck while maintaining compliance and risk controls.
The impact: speed, efficiency, and seamless collaboration
The transformation was immediate and measurable:
- Contract approvals in minutes, not days: Business teams could now generate, send, and execute agreements without waiting for legal, significantly accelerating sales cycles
- 40% reduction in legal workload: Lawyers now focus on high-value strategic work instead of drowning in repetitive contract reviews
- Smoother collaboration: Legal, sales and other business teams now work in sync, with clear processes and visibility into contract statuses
📖 Read the full case study: Apollo.io & SpotDraft
#2 Gameskraft: 75% increase in contract efficiency
The challenge: Slow manual processes causing deal delays
Gameskraft, one of the fastest-growing gaming platforms, was expanding rapidly—but its contract management processes weren’t keeping up.
Every contract—whether for partnerships, vendor agreements, or licensing deals—had to go through multiple rounds of manual review. Legal was buried under contract admin, and business teams were frustrated by the delays.
Key roadblocks included:
- Weeks-long contract turnaround times: Endless back-and-forth approvals meant deals were getting delayed
- Zero contract visibility: Business teams had no idea where contracts were stuck, leading to frequent follow-ups and miscommunication
- High risk of errors: With multiple stakeholders manually editing documents, version control was a nightmare
These inefficiencies were more than just an operational headache—they were slowing down business growth. Partnerships stalled, negotiations dragged on, and legal couldn’t focus on strategic priorities because they were too busy managing contract logistics.
The solution: AI-powered contract automation
Gameskraft knew they needed a smarter, faster way to manage contracts. So, they adopted SpotDraft’s CLM solution to automate contract workflows and remove bottlenecks.
Here’s how contract automation transformed their process:
- AI-powered approvals: No more manual follow-ups. Approvals were automated, eliminating delays and reducing back-and-forth
- Real-time contract tracking: Every contract’s status became instantly visible, reducing the need for constant follow-ups
- Error-proof compliance: AI-powered tracking ensured version control, flagging inconsistencies before they became a problem
Instead of waiting weeks for approvals, business teams could now execute contracts in days, without overwhelming legal.
The impact: faster contracts, reduced risk, and happier teams
By switching to SpotDraft, Gameskraft completely transformed contract management:
- 75% faster contract turnaround: What used to take weeks now takes days, accelerating deal closures
- Improved compliance and control: Legal can track changes and approvals seamlessly, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks
- Reduced manual workload: Lawyers are no longer buried in administrative tasks and can focus on high-value legal strategy
With AI-driven contract automation, Gameskraft has eliminated frustrating delays, improved accuracy, and built a streamlined, future-ready legal workflow that supports rapid business growth.
📖 Read the full case study: Gameskraft & SpotDraft
#3 Open: Contract approval accelerated by 90%
The challenge: Legal was slowing down revenue-generating contracts
As a fast-growing fintech company, Open was scaling rapidly—but its contract approval process wasn’t. Sales, procurement, and finance teams were constantly sending contract requests to legal, overwhelming an already stretched team.
Legal had to manually review each contract, leading to:
- Weeks-long approval timelines: Contracts sat in inboxes, waiting for legal’s sign-off
- Revenue delays: Critical deals stalled, slowing business growth
- Legal burnout: Lawyers were buried in repetitive contract reviews instead of handling strategic work
Every time a sales or finance team needed a contract approved, legal had to manually review and route it. The process was inefficient, frustrating, and ultimately unsustainable. Open needed a faster, smarter way to approve contracts without sacrificing compliance.
The solution: automated contract approvals for instant sign-offs
To eliminate bottlenecks, Open turned to SpotDraft for an automated approval process that streamlined contract workflows.
Here’s how automation changed the game:
- Automated approval workflows: Contracts were instantly routed to the right stakeholders, removing manual handoffs
- Pre-approved contract templates: Standard agreements no longer required legal review, reducing back-and-forth delays
- Real-time tracking and notifications: Sales and finance teams could track contract status instantly, cutting out the endless follow-ups
Legal set guardrails for compliance while business teams gained autonomy, creating a contract workflow that worked for everyone.
The impact: 90% faster contract approvals, smoother deal closures
By automating its contract approval process, Open transformed its legal workflows and unlocked faster deal-making:
- 90% reduction in contract approval times: What used to take weeks now takes just hours
- Sales and finance teams are empowered: No more waiting on legal for routine approvals, leading to faster deal closures
- Legal focuses on high-value strategy: Lawyers now dedicate time to risk management and business advisory, rather than admin work
With SpotDraft, Open’s legal team is no longer a roadblock—it’s a business enabler, ensuring contracts move faster, smarter, and without unnecessary delays.
📖 Read the full case study: How Open accelerated contract approvals by 90%
#4 Public US University: Contract automation for higher education
The challenge: Vendor agreements were a chaotic mess
For a large public university in the U.S., managing contracts across multiple departments wasn’t just inefficient—it was chaotic. With thousands of vendor agreements, sponsorship deals, and academic contracts, the legal team faced serious operational bottlenecks:
- Disorganized contract storage: Agreements were scattered across emails, shared drives, and individual office cabinets, making retrieval a time-consuming process
- No standardized approval process: Without a structured workflow, contracts were frequently lost, delayed, or stuck in endless back-and-forth approvals
- Inefficient vendor management: Departments duplicated efforts, used outdated agreements, and had no clear visibility into contract statuses
Without a centralized system, tracking contract terms, renewal deadlines, and compliance requirements was an ongoing challenge, leading to unnecessary legal risks and inefficiencies.
The solution: a centralized, automated contract repository
To regain control, the university adopted SpotDraft’s contract automation platform—creating a structured, searchable, and secure system for managing contracts across departments.
Here’s how SpotDraft transformed their process:
- A single source of truth for all contracts: Every agreement was centralized in one secure, searchable repository, eliminating lost documents
- Automated renewal and compliance reminders: The system automatically flagged upcoming deadlines, reducing the risk of missed renewals or lapses in compliance
- Faster contract processing with real-time tracking: Departments could track approvals instantly, rather than chasing legal for updates
- Role-based access for security and efficiency: Different teams had controlled access based on need, ensuring confidentiality while streamlining workflows
With automated contract tracking, legal could finally focus on strategic work instead of micromanaging paperwork.
The impact: transparency, efficiency, and risk reduction
By implementing SpotDraft, the university’s legal team transformed contract management across the institution:
- Full contract visibility across departments: Teams could now easily track, access, and manage agreements without relying on legal for every update
- Reduced compliance risks: Automated alerts ensured that no contract deadlines or regulatory obligations fell through the cracks
- Faster vendor agreement finalization: Contracts that previously took weeks to finalize were now processed in a fraction of the time
With contract automation in place, the university’s legal team no longer wastes hours hunting for lost documents or untangling approval delays. Instead, they focus on higher-value legal work that directly supports the institution’s growth, partnerships, and mission.
📖 Read the full case study: How a public US university automated contract management
#5 Sun Mobility: Enabling self-service contracts across business teams
The challenge: Sales and procurement teams depended entirely on legal
At Sun Mobility, a leading clean energy solutions provider, contract management was slowing down business operations. Every time the sales or procurement teams needed a contract—whether for partnerships, vendor agreements, or service deals—they had to wait for legal’s review and approval.
This manual, legal-dependent process led to several challenges:
- Delays in deal execution: Business teams couldn’t move forward until legal had reviewed and approved contracts
- Legal team overload: Lawyers spent too much time handling routine contracts instead of focusing on high-value negotiations
- Lack of flexibility for business teams: Without access to contract templates or approval workflows, teams were completely reliant on legal for even minor modifications
Sun Mobility needed a faster, more scalable approach—one that empowered business teams while maintaining legal oversight and compliance.
The solution: self-service contract creation for business teams
With SpotDraft’s self-serve contracting solution, Sun Mobility implemented an automated, structured workflow that allowed business teams to create, modify, and execute contracts independently.
Here’s how it worked:
- Instant contract generation: Sales and procurement teams could create contracts using pre-approved legal templates, eliminating unnecessary delays
- Controlled flexibility: Teams could make minor modifications within predefined parameters without requiring legal oversight
- Seamless e-signature workflows: Contracts were sent for signatures automatically, removing the need for manual intervention
While legal retained full control over key terms, risk parameters, and compliance checks, business teams gained autonomy—ensuring deals moved faster and smoother.
The impact: faster deals, reduced legal workload, and more efficiency
By adopting self-service contract automation, Sun Mobility saw immediate benefits:
- Faster deal closures: Contracts were executed in hours instead of days, accelerating business operations
- Reduced legal workload: Legal no longer had to manage every routine contract, freeing them up for strategic negotiations
- Empowered business teams: Sales and procurement could generate contracts independently, improving operational efficiency
By shifting to self-serve contracting, Sun Mobility transformed its legal team from a bottleneck into a business enabler—giving teams the tools to work efficiently while maintaining compliance.
📖 Read the full case study: How Sun Mobility enabled self-service contracting
Write your success story with SpotDraft
Legal should drive business forward, not slow it down.
Apollo.io, Gameskraft, Open, Sun Mobility, and a top US university proved it—contract automation isn’t just about speed, it’s about impact.
- Faster deals: Contracts move in hours, not weeks
- Less legal bottlenecking: Business teams handle routine contracts without waiting on legal
- More time for strategy: Lawyers focus on high-value work, not admin tasks
No more chasing approvals. No more contract chaos. Just seamless, scalable contract management.
Ready to make the switch? See how SpotDraft can transform your contract process.
