Background

ECS is a leading transport and logistics operator founded in 1995. Initially starting with a small team of eight, the company has grown to employ 650 people, with offices across Belgium, Italy, France, Holland, the UK, and Ireland. Managing 350,000 loads annually and generating a turnover of €550 million, ECS handles extensive documentation, including contracts, supplier agreements, bank documents, and insurance policies.

With a requirement to screen between 200 and 250 contracts per year—some spanning up to 60 pages—the process was proving to be highly time-consuming. Reviewing a single contract could take up to eight hours, placing an increasing burden not only on the legal department but also on other teams, including quality assurance, sales, and finance. As ECS continued to expand, it became clear that a more efficient document management solution was needed to keep up with the growing workload.

Opportunity

The primary challenge was the sheer volume of documents that required thorough screening. As contracts and legal agreements grew in complexity, manual review processes led to inefficiencies, delays, and an increased risk of errors. The need for a solution became evident, particularly for the legal department, which was struggling to keep pace with the growing documentation demands.

ECS sought a tool that would not only assist the legal department but also enhance document screening capabilities across other departments. The ideal solution would need to streamline contract review, improve efficiency, ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and reduce the likelihood of errors in contract interpretation.

Solution

ECS partnered with LEGALFLY to automate and enhance document screening processes. Initially implemented for the legal department, the system quickly proved its value, leading to an expansion across multiple business units.

Key benefits of implementing LEGALFLY included:

1. Increased capacity without increasing team size - the legal team were able to support the company’s continued growth without adding new members to the team, ultimately benefitting the bottom line.
2. Efficiency gains – The tool enabled a 50% reduction in time spent on document analysis. Finance and administrative teams, for example, could now process large volumes of documents in bulk, rather than reviewing them individually.
3. Enhanced Legal Analysis – LEGALFLY provided jurisdiction-specific legal references, regulatory citations, and clause redrafting capabilities, ensuring contracts complied with relevant laws.
4. Improved Accuracy & Risk Reduction – The automation reduced the potential for human error, ensuring that legal agreements were thoroughly analyzed with minimal risk of oversight.

The impact on ECS’s business was substantial. With the same team, the company was able to handle a larger workload efficiently, making operations smoother and reducing bottlenecks in contract processing. LEGALFLY’s implementation not only transformed legal document review but also optimised workflows in finance, sales, and quality assurance.

By leveraging AI-driven document analysis, ECS successfully improved productivity, reduced manual workload, and strengthened compliance, positioning the company for continued growth and operational excellence.