Build or buy legal GenAI? Lessons from Bupa and beyond at the CLOC APAC Summit 2024

“If you see a strategic outcome that you can pull off with GenAI, dig into it, then deliver it.” – Claire Nuske, Head of Legal Operations, Bupa.

Last week’s CLOC APAC Summit in Sydney saw Josef Co-founder and CEO Tom Dreyfus take the stage with Claire Nuske, Head of Legal Operations at Bupa, and Matt Duncan, who leads Legal Operations at the Australian Retirement Trust. At our exclusive Solution Lab, they tackled the biggest question in legal GenAI today: build or buy?

Claire shared insights into how her team at Bupa, a global health insurance giant, has leveraged Josef Q to launch a suite of GenAI-powered policy and handbook tools across Legal, People, and Marketing. 

Matt, ex-QIC and co-chair of CLOC’s Australian chapter, shared a range of strategic and practical tips for those exploring their GenAI options too. 

We were thrilled to have such legal ops heavyweights with us and to reconnect with the APAC community once again! Here’s a quick look at what the trio had to say.

What does it mean to build or buy?

Tom set the stage for the discussion: “The question of build or buy is one that helps you work out how to get the best generative AI tools for your team. It’s not a question that has a right or a wrong answer.” 

The choice between building in-house or buying a vendor solution depends on various factors, including budget, expertise, and specific needs.

Build, buy, or “bend”?

The decision isn’t always clear-cut. Spoiler alert: there’s also the option of combining the two! 

Tom explained, “Most people that we talk to at Josef are doing a mix of both. They’re looking at ways they can build in-house, but they’re also looking at ways they can buy the best-in-class solutions for particular problems that they have.” 

This hybrid “bend” approach allows teams to leverage the strengths of both available routes, combining the benefits of in-house solutions with the efficiency and sophistication of off-the-shelf options.

Why Bupa “bought” Josef Q

Claire shared her team’s rationale: “We looked at control. We wanted to keep everything within the legal team rather than leaning on IT, so that way we could be as fast as we could be.” 

She added, “We wanted to be able to control the data, the updates, and the implementation too. If our solution was going to be really high-tech, we wouldn’t have been able to make it work. We needed a solution that we could easily train our people on, which in itself is a really good incentive for lawyers. They love up-skilling!”

What Bupa has achieved

Claire explained, “Within Legal Operations, we’ve digitised and circulated policy and handbook tools across our Legal, Marketing and People teams.” 

She continued, “We’ve also looked further afield and digitised some of our enterprise bargaining agreements for our Workplace Relations team, a legal professional privilege (LPP) guide (which is a hot topic right now), and more.”

Claire noted, “Answering repetitive questions is so inefficient and a waste of time. Our teams have got much more exciting things to do in their daily lives, and things that we prefer they didn’t do. We’re seeing these tools make a difference for them now, and the accuracy rates are really high, beyond 90%, which is excellent.”

The question of cost

Tom raised the issue of cost and flexibility: “Cost plays both ways. For some people, cost means just using what resourcing is available internally. For others, it means going with someone external who can deliver solutions quickly and efficiently.” 

Matt added, “There’s the cost of the software and there’s also the cost of implementation from within your own organisation. Remember that it’s going to be a reality for everyone so be sure to factor in the ongoing commitment within your team including who’s going to administer and manage change over time.” 

Claire stressed the importance of aligning any prospective tech implementation with current business strategy: “At Bupa this year, we have global legal outcomes whereby 90% of our lawyers have to be using GenAI. This made bidding an easy win for me as I could get buy-in from my Group Legal who could then support our GenAI projects even more.” 

“For anyone looking around, I’d say look to see if there’s a strategic outcome that you can pull off with GenAI, dig into it, then deliver it.”

Claire and Matt’s advice? Learn through play

“You only learn by playing and by doing,” Matt said. “Get to know your basic problems and then bring in people to start playing around with tech that’ll help you solve them.” 

“Think about how you’re going to maintain your tools and what role your SMEs (subject matter experts) will play in validating your tools and their influence.”

Claire added, “Start small and just start. Don’t give up! Don’t worry about the potential difficulties implementing change… you just need to start!”

Learn more

The American Arbitration Association built an in-house solution to start, but after testing it against one built on Josef Q in an illustrious bake-off, the AAA team decided to go with the latter!

Learn why the American Arbitration Association chose Josef Q for legal GenAI.