Bain Capital Credit’s Global Team Completes Four Times More NDAs Annually with Ontra’s Contract Automation

Challenge

Legal team consumed with an increasing volume of NDAs

When the sheer volume of annual NDAs started to overwhelm the small legal team at Bain Capital Credit, Adriana Rojas Garzón, VP and Associate General Counsel for Capital Markets, sought a way to ease the burden. While NDAs had always been part of her responsibilities, the workload had increased to the point of consuming her entire workday, leaving little time for higher-value work.

At first, Adriana considered hiring a small law firm or negotiating a fixed fee with an existing law firm partner. Just as she began her search for the most cost-effective solution, she received an email from a company offering legal automation solutions. That company was Ontra. Without knowing anything about Ontra or its solutions, Adriana called to see if automation might be her new way forward.

“Just as I was in the process of exploring solutions for our growing volume of NDAs, the firm received an email from Ontra. I didn’t know what this company was, but I was open to finding a solution that would help reduce our workload and save money. The timing was serendipitous,” said Adriana.

Solution

Bain Capital Credit chooses Ontra for global network, responsiveness, and scalability

Bain Capital Credit chose Ontra’s Contract Automation solution over working with additional outside counsel for three significant reasons: First, Ontra was willing to listen to what Bain Capital Credit needed and provide a solution to fit the firm’s needs. Second, it was more economical for the company to automate its NDA processes with Ontra than to partner with an outside law firm. Lastly, Ontra’s international team of legal professionals allowed the firm to meet its aggressive response time policies regardless of geography.

“Ontra’s willingness to listen to us and the long-term cost savings of automating our contract management workflows were the two greatest factors that led us to choose Ontra over contracting with outside counsel,” said Adriana.

Since implementing Ontra, the legal team at Bain Capital Credit has offloaded 73% of NDAs to Ontra — approximately 1,300 a year, leaving less than 400 for internal teams to manage. As each NDA takes the legal team approximately two hours to process, Ontra has saved them over 220 hours monthly — giving them more time for higher-value work.

“Before Ontra, teams in one geography would have to wait for my team in Boston to get to work before we could start processing their NDAs. With our dedicated Ontra teams in Asia, Australia, and the US, we’ve been able to process nearly 2,000 NDAs a year,” noted Ariana.

With Ontra legal professionals in the same time zones as Bain Capital Credit’s deal teams, including Asia, Australia, and the US, Ontra has significantly increased the firm’s capacity to process NDAs. While the team still manages approximately 350 NDAs annually, Ontra handles 1,324 NDAs for the firm during the same period. This enables Bain Capital Credit’s teams to complete up to four times more NDAs each year using Ontra’s Contract Automation.

When Bain Capital Credit began working with Ontra, the firm had already established a playbook for negotiating its NDAs. Ontra integrated the firm’s existing preferences directly into Contract Automation, smoothing the transition to automation.

“Ontra has helped me do a portion of my job much better, more efficiently. The dedicated Ontra attorneys are qualified and know our playbook and intentions. I am grateful because I have the bandwidth to do other things,” stated Adriana.

In addition, Ontra customized Contract Automation to work seamlessly with the firm’s existing procedures and workflows. For instance, Bain Capital Credit’s policy states that the longest turnaround time for an NDA is 24 hours. Regardless of the deal team’s location, the firm’s dedicated Ontra legal network professionals worldwide have consistently delivered NDAs within the prescribed timeframe.

“Our Ontra-provided attorneys have been long-term partners. One has been with us since the beginning — about eight years now. When new attorneys join our team, our established counsel provides training to ensure a seamless transition. The work gets done and I don’t have to think about it,” said Adriana.

Ontra’s prompt service ensures an uninterrupted NDA workflow for Bain Capital Credit

To meet pressing deadlines, the team at Bain Capital Credit needed a way to rapidly notify and train everyone at the company. In response, Ontra developed a process to accelerate onboarding, enabling people to get up to speed quickly.

“The onboarding process with Ontra was smooth. They took what we had and built what we needed. When it was time to onboard the rest of the company, Ontra built all of that for us. The process was seamless,” noted Adriana.

Since then, the Ontra team has been exceptionally responsive and dedicated to keeping the team working efficiently. When issues arise, Adriana only has to notify Ontra’s dedicated customer success manager, who addresses the matter immediately and assigns the most qualified person to the task.

Ontra’s solution — AI-powered technology with a dedicated legal network — has been vital to Bain Capital Credit’s NDA operations. Instead of consuming her workday with NDAs, Adriana can now manage them as they are completed in the background, allowing her to focus on higher-value activities.

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