Western Union, a multinational financial services company, was recognized by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for its successful value initiative and collaboration with Evisort (now Workday) and law firm Husch Blackwell.
Recognized for innovation.
In October, at the 2022 ACC Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Western Union was formally presented with the Value Champion Award, part of a prestigious award program that recognizes companies affecting change within the legal industry through creativity and value-based legal management skills. By partnering with Evisort [now Workday] and Husch Blackwell Director of Legal Operations Kevin Bielawski, Western Union cut costs, improved predictability, and achieved positive business outcomes.
In 2021, Western Union centralized and gained visibility into global supplier contracts while reducing spend on outsourced counsel by over 70%, and we’ve achieved even greater savings with Evisort (now Workday) in 2022.
Legal Counsel, Global Real Estate and Procurement.
A new approach to contract review.
The Western Union (WU) legal team knew a change was imperative to keep up with the speed of the functional areas and business units it supported. Specifically, the team set out to solve for gaps in the prior review process, such as lost time re-creating legal documents or language due to the lack of strong systems and processes to preserve such resources. That change came in the form of a multistakeholder CLM (contract lifecycle management) initiative that brought together members of WU’s legal and procurement teams, technology vendor Workday, and law firm Husch Blackwell. To address the above, WU Legal engaged Husch Blackwell to develop a library of contract templates, playbooks, and processes.
Building an AI “playbook” for contracts.
Legal also engaged Workday to implement a modern CLM platform with integration into the Western Union’s Workday platform. Workday Contract Lifecycle Management, powered by Evisort AI, allowed procurement to build a contract with the appropriate template and playbook to send to a vendor. Concurrently, WU has broken volume records on contracts reviewed by the company, all while reducing average contract execution time by 65%—not only saving time and money but also strengthening relationships with procurement and turning it into a competitive advantage. This approach allowed Western Union to increase its contract volume by 40% YoY.
Evisort (now Workday) is instrumental in our global procurement and legal operations at Western Union.”
Legal Counsel, Global Real Estate and Procurement.