Innovation, digital contracting, and DEI: Bernadette Bulacan on her role as Chief Evangelist and what it means for supply chains
Let’s start with an introduction to you and your role. Can you give us an overview of your career history and how you came to be in your current position?
In my current role as the Chief Evangelist at Icertis, a recognized leader in contract intelligence, I focus on sharing best practices for contracting with legal and commercial teams at some of the world’s largest enterprises, while championing the adoption of innovative technologies like AI to transform contract management.
My journey has been an exciting blend of legal expertise, technology, and leadership. Early in my career, I was part of the team that founded Serengeti Tracker, an e-billing and matter management solution, and served many leadership roles including Assistant General Counsel. After its acquisition by Thomson Reuters, I took on global leadership roles within Thomson Reuters and later at QuantAI, an intellectual property AI analytics start-up.
Beyond my corporate roles, I’ve had the privilege of advising start-ups and emerging technology companies, fueling my passion for driving digital transformation and innovation.
I’m deeply honored to have been recognized for my contributions, including being named a 2021 Fellow of World Commerce and Contracting, and one of the 2020 Women of LegalTech by the American Bar Association.
What does an average day in the life of a Chief Evangelist look like?
I spend my time partnering with stakeholders across the business to advocate for the strategic outcomes that legal, finance, and procurement teams can realize with contract intelligence. For example, I join our sales team in meetings with prospective customers to drill down into their challenges and pinpoint how our platform solves them; collaborate with our product teams to support the development of compelling and innovative technologies; lead our customer facing professionals to deliver educational content and build relationships with the businesses we support; and frequently speak at events as a thought leader on the future of contracts and AI in the enterprise.
Can you describe Icertis’ involvement with the supply chain industry?
Global commerce is comprised of relationships between customers and suppliers, each embodied in a contract that starts at the negotiation table. Contracts are the building blocks of supply chains and global markets, but they are also one of the most powerful – and too often undervalued – tools that companies have at their disposal to reduce costs and ensure compliance while building more resilient supplier networks.
Through our AI-powered platform, Icertis connects contract data across the enterprise to create a single source of truth for hundreds, if not thousands, of supplier relationships. Today’s supply chains are increasingly complex, highly regulated, and ever-changing. Contract intelligence in the cornerstone to a resilient supply chain; giving decision-makers the visibility they need to optimize supplier spending, pinpoint areas of risk, and identify vulnerabilities where supplier diversification might be needed to maintain business continuity.
How does contract intelligence differ from contract management and what are its benefits?
Traditional contract management is like storing contracts in a digital filing cabinet. Contract intelligence goes one step further to surface actionable insights using purpose-built AI and contract data that reflects every business transaction to ensure that what’s agreed to is realized in the real world. By identifying and capturing savings in supplier contracts and enabling businesses to optimize agreements with customers, studies show that contract intelligence can remove revenue leakage, saving companies nearly nine percent of their bottom line. It also transforms the end-to-end contract lifecycle to make a measurable impact on margins and profitability.
Can you provide any case studies or examples of how Icertis’ products and solutions have impacted the way organizations approach global supply chains?
One global pharmaceutical company – currently no. 42 on the Fortune 500 list – saved $70 million annually by enforcing commercial terms with Icertis for more than 250,000 supplier contracts in 17 languages.
Mercedes-Benz manages its entire roster of 500,000 suppliers on the Icertis platform to optimize contract processes and gain visibility into potential risks. The company reduced its contract cycle time by 83 percent with contract intelligence, moving from an average of six weeks to one.
What are your experiences of being a woman in the industry and your thoughts on DEI?
In my experience, diversity of thought and views creates more resilient business relationships and adds to any company’s competitive advantage. I’ve been privileged to witness tremendous progress in both the legal and technology industries over the course of my career. However, we still have a long journey ahead, particularly as many DEI programs fall under increased scrutiny. The underlying principles for DEI initiatives remain critical because they foster innovation and creativity, creating cultures that employees want to be a part of because they feel there is real opportunity for growth.
Attracting more women and minorities is about practicing what you preach when it comes to DEI. This includes implementing targeted recruitment programs, cultivating mentorship initiatives, and creating clear pathways to leadership. Our approach at Icertis is to focus not just on DEI metrics, but on creating meaningful opportunities for every employee to shine. This approach allows us to develop a deeper and more engaged talent pool, enhancing competitiveness by fostering diversity across our workforce.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing global supply chains in 2025, and how do you think technology and digitization can help to address these issues?
In today’s world, supply chain disruptions have become a looming threat; the only constant is change itself. It’s no longer a question of if, but rather when an unanticipated delay or upheaval will happen. Coupled with new global trade policies and regulations, there is no shortage of challenges for supply chains in 2025.
Critical business functions like procurement, finance, and legal will benefit from embracing new technologies, like AI-driven contracting, to optimize supplier relationships in today’s macro-economic landscape. By adopting the right AI tools and forward-thinking approaches, organizations can avoid the financial strain that often accompanies shifts in supplier relationships.
For instance, by harnessing the power of AI, businesses can effectively mitigate potential revenue losses and implement precautionary measures such as price adjustment clauses in response to economic triggers like inflation or tariffs. In an ever-changing world, actionable data like identifying trusted suppliers in alternative jurisdictions and quickly entering into a contract with them to make your supply chain more resilient is critical. AI-powered contracting is an indispensable part of modern supply chain management, equipping businesses with the agility to not only address immediate challenges but also build greater resilience for future uncertainties.
How will the incoming US administration impact global trade regulations, and what impact will this have on localized versus globalized supply chains?
Decisions made by the new US administration will drive supply chains to become more agile and localized as companies respond to potential tariffs, new trade agreements, or regulatory changes in 2025. This shift away from globalization will likely require legal departments to negotiate and restructure innumerable contracts across jurisdictions. New contractual relationships will also require language and structure to provide a level of flexibility unseen before, enabling businesses to traverse and navigate this complexity. AI will be critical to do this at speed and scale.
As legal departments and contracting professionals become inundated with rethinking the terms of their enterprise’s supplier and customer relationships, AI will play a pivotal role in ensuring that commercial outcomes around revenue, savings, and risk are not compromised.
How can flexible contracts help companies build resilience?
Modern supply chains consist of hundreds of suppliers across a range of geographies, making it increasingly difficult to gain end-to-end visibility. Achieving transparency requires contract intelligence so businesses can pinpoint potential gaps to inform new supplier relationships, while also capturing insights into supplier performance, financial risk, and adherence to compliance standards.
Flexibility in contracting, enabled by contract intelligence platforms like Icertis, also helps global organizations adapt to changing conditions like economic disruptions, regulatory shifts, or unexpected resource challenges by providing the control and agility necessary to adjust without causing costly business delays.
What trends do you believe will define the future of supply chain management? How is Icertis planning to capitalize on these trends as they arise?
2025 will undoubtedly lead to new regulations and policy changes that alter the fundamentals for commercial relationships and the way businesses engage with suppliers.
Many long-term business agreements, particularly those in complex supply chains, are predicated on a global framework with established logistical, taxation, and tariff structures. The complexity of global contracts will require legal departments to review the vast breadth of their enterprise’s supplier relationships to understand their organization’s dependency on international partners and strategically determine any necessary changes or terminations in response to regulations or market conditions.
A recent Icertis-sponsored study found that reducing risk and diversifying the supplier base, managing supply chain disruptions and volatility, and addressing inflationary pressures and cost increases are among the top five challenges anticipated in 2025 as businesses adjust to the new geopolitical climate. Contract intelligence is pivotal to addressing these challenges and more.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
The urgency to adopt AI and data-driven strategies in supply chain management is more pressing than ever. 90 percent of procurement leaders have considered or are already using AI agents in their operations, according to our research, as this pressure builds. Companies slow to invest in AI risk falling behind, especially as economic shifts and new regulatory pressures emerge.
That’s why at Icertis, we recognize the need for a robust open platform that enables our customers to integrate with the latest AI advancements. The Icertis platform is designed to enable a multi-model approach that layers best-in-class AI on top of Icertis technology to solve real business challenges, positioning companies to maximize the value in contracts as they navigate macro-economic shifts and create more resilient supply chains.