Who approved this contract? Where is the request sitting? Why does it need another review?
These are basic questions, but when procurement runs through emails, spreadsheets, and people’s heads, answering them takes more work than it should.
At the SIG Global Executive Summit in Chicago, Stephan Hutter, Orrick’s Head of Vendor Management & Procurement and Lead Contracts Counsel, shared how Orrick brought more structure and visibility to its procurement process.
For me, that is the lesson worth taking from Orrick’s story. There is plenty of pressure to bring AI into procurement; but before deciding what to automate, understand how the work gets done and what needs to change.
Procurement has become the frontline of risk management.
Stephan Hutter Head of Vendor Management & Procurement and Lead Contracts Counsel, Orrick
Start with the Map
Before selecting technology, Orrick mapped its entire procurement process. The team identified unnecessary steps, opportunities to run reviews in parallel, and points where requests routinely stalled. That process map became the blueprint for implementation.
Many organizations skip this step and expect new software to clean up the process for them. In practice, software makes an existing process run faster, including the parts that do not work.
Make It Easy and People Will Use It
Simplicity turned out to be one of the biggest drivers of adoption. Employees no longer go back and forth over email to get a request started. A guided intake asks only the questions that apply to their situation. A simple request takes a few minutes to submit, and a more complex one usually takes 10 to 15 minutes.
Employees can also see exactly where their request sits in the review process. Stephan compared it to a pizza tracker. People no longer have to wonder whether procurement lost their request, because they can see whether it is waiting on security, privacy, technology, or another reviewer. That visibility also changed how the rest of the organization viewed procurement.
Governance Was the Goal
Speed mattered, but Orrick’s primary objective was governance. “Procurement is now the front line of risk management and AI,” Stephan said. “We’ve been asked to be both the front end of everything and the bulwark on the back end to make sure nothing gets through.”
The team now has a documented approval trail that it uses to answer client questions about supplier oversight, privacy reviews, and contract controls. Approvals that used to sit in individual inboxes are now recorded in one place and can be audited.
Legal and procurement leaders will recognize this business case. Cost savings are simple to measure. Reduced risk is harder to put a number on, which makes it easy to undervalue.
What Comes Next
Orrick continues to build on this foundation with additional workflows for privacy reviews and broader risk management initiatives. The aim is a connected process that procurement, legal, security, and business teams can all work from throughout the supplier lifecycle.
Orrick’s experience is a useful reminder for anyone planning an AI rollout in procurement. AI works best on top of a process that is already documented and governed. Without that foundation, automation tends to speed up the same delays and gaps that were there before. Focal Point’s AI Procurement Platform is designed to support that foundation, using AI to guide intake and route reviews while keeping a full audit trail behind every decision. Stephan’s advice still comes first: map the process, then bring in the technology.
