With fast workflow expectations and strict industry regulations, legal teams have turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to increase productivity and gain higher security.

When asked about their technology needs, legal departments ranked AI solutions last, according to an HBR Law Department survey. Considering in-house counsel handles many routine tasks that automation could assist with, it's possible these teams are hesitant to adopt AI solutions due to challenges they'll have to overcome with implementation. But for legal teams, adopting tech like AI isn't optional; it's a necessity to meet evolving business demands. To successfully integrate AI, here's what legal teams should consider:

1. Start small and establish a plan. To avoid disrupting workflows and overwhelming employees with new processes, identify a small, time-intensive area to automate that allows your team to become more comfortable with the technology and directly see the end benefit, like contract approvals. According to a recent report by SpringCM, 59 percent of businesses report that legal is the primary department involved in contracts, so automating the contract management process eliminates the time workers spend routing documents and approvals. Identifying routine, day-to-day tasks like this is the optimal place to start with AI and sets the groundwork for when the business is ready to scale.

Once you've selected an internal process to automate, set up an implementation plan with measurable goals and a flexible timeline. The goals should articulate what you're trying to achieve, so include detailed criteria to help evaluate the success of the project and justify the investment. To keep your goals on track, create a timeline that leaves room for adjustments in case certain stages get held up during implementation.

2. Consult the experts. For legal departments, deploying automated solutions may demand expertise outside of the in-house IT team. Therefore, legal departments should begin their AI initiatives by determining if they have the appropriate in-house talent that can develop and sustain the solutions on their own. If not, find an experienced partner with a history of successful deployment to help guide the implementation process and train employees who will manage the technology. Although it's an initial investment, the right partner will save costs in the long-term by delivering faster results, as opposed to existing teams who have to learn as they go.

3. Break down communication barriers. With the array of AI tools available to businesses, departments across an organization have something to gain when new technology is brought in. However, if the structure of the organization silos your lines of communication with other teams, the intended solutions could create more problems for the entire business. To break down those barriers, legal executives need to regularly meet with other department heads to collaborate on a timeline, discuss challenges their teams face and compare how the solutions meet business objectives.

In addition to coordinating with upper management across the organization, legal executives need to communicate with all levels of employees on their team at each stage of implementation. Changing systems without educating workers about the new technology's value and how it will improve their day-to-day work induces fear and resistance to adopting the solutions. Open communication with employees who handle routing, and other manual processes that are easy to automate, also helps determine the success of the project because they work the closest with the tools.

Although most legal departments understand the value AI brings them, many of them don't know how to approach the hurdles involved with adopting the technology. By taking the process step-by-step, leaning on partners and keeping employees in the loop, legal teams can use AI to reach optimal performance and spend their time working on higher-level projects.

Rebecca Yoder is Global Partners Solutions Director at SpringCM, a DocuSign company, where she focuses on client solutions, industry impact and market development. Prior to SpringCM, Rebecca worked for Accenture for over 20 years as a member of the Legal organization. There, she was responsible for technology deployed to Accenture's Legal Professionals, as well as technology solutions deployed across the Accenture enterprise on behalf of Legal.