In an era where efficiency is paramount, Vinaya Ganesan, the General Counsel for Europe at First Source Solutions, is revolutionizing the contracting process with her ‘more for less’ strategy. Over her illustrious career, Ganesan has closed deals worth over a billion dollars, not by cutting corners, but by strategically enhancing the value delivered through meticulous resource management.

Ganesan’s philosophy is simple yet profound: "Increasing value without compromising on quality is the point. You are actively looking for the pain points for the business and solving them.” This approach directly impacts contract management and the pivotal role of in-house legal teams in driving business outcomes.

Under constant pressure to expedite contracts, many legal departments succumb to prioritizing speed. Ganesan’s methodology presents a more balanced approach—streamlining the process without sacrificing the protective measures essential to the company. She advocates for addressing inefficiencies within the system, such as standardizing low-risk clauses that frequently delay negotiations, thus allowing the team to allocate their efforts towards more critical issues.

A key element of Ganesan’s strategy involves leveraging contract data to pinpoint and address delays effectively. This not only dispels the notion of legal departments as bottlenecks but also shifts the focus from blame to resolution. By identifying clauses that most often require negotiation and understanding the associated costs, legal teams can better allocate their resources, automating or templating less contentious issues.

Ganesan believes in embedding this cost-effective, value-driven mindset across her team, empowering even the junior members and paralegals to think in terms of value creation. This approach ensures that every interaction, including routine agreements like NDAs, reinforces the legal department's alignment with broader business objectives.

Moreover, Ganesan uses the insights gained from tracking contract KPIs to influence and educate other parts of the business. By sharing these metrics with executives and celebrating key improvements, she positions the legal team not just as gatekeepers, but as proactive drivers of business performance.

Ultimately, Vinaya Ganesan’s ‘more for less’ philosophy isn’t about merely reducing costs or speeding up legal processes—it’s about thoughtful, data-driven strategies that reduce friction, focus efforts where they are most needed, and enhance the credibility and influence of the legal department within the business landscape. This approach not only streamlines operations but also ensures sustainable value creation in contract management.