Legal Issues in Digital Transformation Projects

A Cloud Services Agreement is a contract particularly governing the provision of SaaS, IaaS or PaaS offerings. Essential components are provisions governing access to the service as well as a highly standardized incidents handling procedure, oftenly along with availably commitments part of a so-called Service Level Agreement or “SLA”.

A Data Protection Agreement or “DPA” is a contract governing the processing of personal data of so-called data processors such as service providers on behalf of so-called data controllers such as clients of the mentioned service providers. These DPA are required under the GDPR and include the rights and obligations of the parties in regards to such personal data processing. This is, for example, the data processing required to offer SaaS (storing input data or handling support tickets).

A Contract Lifecycle Management or “CLM” solution is a type of software (oftenly offered as SaaS) that manages the lifecycle of a contract from initiation through execution, compliance, and renewal. Implementing a CLM solution can standardize and streamline administrative tasks, reduce risk, improve compliance, and provide a centralized view of all contracts.

Legal Operations or "Legal Ops" is a multi-disciplinary function in a corporate legal department that improves the delivery of legal services to the rest of the company. It's often seen as the intersection of business administration, technology, and legal procedures. Legal Operations is a relatively new but rapidly growing field.

The rise of Legal Ops reflects the increasing expectation that legal departments will operate in a business-like manner, aligning legal goals with business strategies and delivering legal services as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.