11/05/20

ClauseBase creates Launch - a leasing model for document automation

Belgian Legal Tech company ClauseBase, which provides advanced legal document drafting software, has developed a unique pricing model for organisations that want to start exploring the benefits of document automation. 

The typical problem with document automation is that it requires an upfront investment by the lawyers using it. ClauseBase wants to help organisations experience the opportunities presented by document automation with the lowest threshold ever.

To that end, ClauseBase has created its Launch model. It is a first-ever pricing model for document automation with no upfront costs, where users simply pay for each document they create with the help of ClauseBase’s software.

ClauseBase Co-Founder, Senne Mennes, had the following to say on the new model.

The usual way in which document automation projects are approached is roughly as follows: the client sends a document it wants to automate, the provider automates it at an hourly rate or fixed fee and the client receives back a questionnaire they can use to quickly generate documents. 

The problem is that the client pays upfront for the entire automation service, without knowing in advance whether the service will be used frequently. This upfront cost presents a barrier, so that some organisations never try automation and never see the benefits it can provide. 

With our “Launch” model, we want to completely remove that barrier. Instead of paying upfront for the automation service provided by ClauseBase, users only pay a small fee each time they use the software to create a document. This fee is calculated on the basis of the internal cost of the traditional way of working — i.e.: the time spent on manual, inefficient drafting.”

Robbert Jacobs, ClauseBase’s country manager for the Belgian market, gives the following example: “Take a legal document that is drafted 50 times a year and which takes 2-3 hours to draft under the traditional workflow. For in-house counsel, this document will bear an internal cost of around 160 EUR; under the Launch model, we will charge an all-in price of only 77 EUR. For law firms with an hourly rate of 200 EUR, the internal cost of drafting this document would be around 300 EUR; ClauseBase’s Launch pricing would be only 125 EUR. These savings — typically between 50% and 80% — quickly add up.

The Launch model is therefore similar to leasing because instead of buying the automation outright, the client simply pays for it in increments. However, the client still owns the intellectual property of a document, so the analogy is not perfect. 

This new model factors into a larger strategy of getting organisations comfortable enough with basic automation so that they end up wanting to explore more opportunities. To that end, we are also launching a free subscription to our more powerful document assembly mode for Legal Tech enthusiasts. Moreover, we are also launching a community to help users who just start out using ClauseBase to discover the possibilities.”

For more information, take a look at ClauseBase’s pricing page on their website.

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