Keys for the digital transformation of a legal area: The case of Telefónica Argentina

In the framework of the last Legal Forum of the year, a meeting organized by Alster Legal supported by Microsoft, we had the privilege of having the participation of Juan Manuel Haddad, Legal Manager of Telefónica Argentina, who led the project of digitization of the legal department of the Telefónica Group.

At the meeting, Haddad made an exhibition, about his experience in implementing technology in the processes of the legal area, deepening what were the main errors and challenges that led to the change. Among them, he stressed that the process, initiated in 2009 with the digitization of legal trades and the construction of databases, was not exempt from errors, the main point being the lack of alignment of the company's management to the transformation project.

Once the business culture was aligned, the logic used to define where to implement the digital transformation tools for Haddad was very simple, "if it is a repetitive and boring work, it is a work that can be efficient by using automation tools." The legal area of Telefónica Argentina concentrates 60% of its management in judicial offices, 34% to conflicts with customers and 7% to documentation.

Thus, the first development was carried out in conjunction with the Enacom (Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones en Argentina) here the legal area of Telefónica proposed to the institution joint work links in order to receive immediately through a platform the claims. This not only shortened the steps for conflict resolution, but also obtained the data, which was collected and worked to build databases that would allow them to implement digital actions easily.

A similar but even more effective experience occurred with the creation of a portal where the courts throughout Argentina could manage not only the judicial offices, but also to extract vital information and immediately, for example, for cases of kidnapping, the tool had a great impact on the role of the company and its social responsibility policies.

For Juan Manuel Haddad, the keys to generate this type of transformation are two. The first one is in the data construction to enable digital transformation processes and the second in the leadership and strategy to generate a change of mind in a legal department and with him, the involvement of the whole company.

Communications | Alster