Transforming Rights Management at Condé Nast: A Modern Approach with AWS AI Solutions

Co-Authors: Bob Boiko, Christopher Donnellan, and Sarat Tatavarthi, Condé Nast

Overview of Condé Nast’s Media Legacy and Rights Management Challenges

Leveraging AWS AI Services for Automated Contract Processing

Achievements: Remarkable Efficiency Gains and Enhanced Accuracy

Key Insights and Lessons Learned for Future Implementations

Conclusion: A New Era of Rights Management and Technical Innovation at Condé Nast

About the Authors: Expertise Behind the Transformation

Revolutionizing Contract Management at Condé Nast with AWS AI

This post is co-written with Bob Boiko, Christopher Donnellan, and Sarat Tatavarthi from Condé Nast.

For over a century, Condé Nast has been a beacon of influence in global media, shaping culture and conversation with its prestigious brands like Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, and Vanity Fair. As it evolved from a traditional publisher into a modern media powerhouse, Condé Nast now reaches an audience of 72 million print readers and 394 million digital consumers while boasting 454 million followers across social networks. However, as the media landscape evolved, so did the complexities of managing contracts and rights.

The Challenge: Navigating Complexity in Rights Management

To effectively manage its extensive portfolio of brands and global operations, Condé Nast faced significant challenges in handling an increasingly intricate web of contracts, rights, and licensing agreements. The traditional manual processes involved in reviewing contracts were not only time-consuming but also prone to human error, creating bottlenecks and leading to missed revenue opportunities.

The company needed a modern, efficient solution to automate contract processing while maintaining high standards of accuracy and regulatory alignment. This is where the collaboration with AWS came into focus.

Solution Overview: AI-Powered Contract Processing

Working closely with Condé Nast’s legal and technical teams, AWS developed an automated contract processing solution powered by AWS AI services. The solution employs advanced tools for parsing, comparison, and data visualization, designed to improve contract analysis while ensuring compliance with regulations.

Key components of the solution include:

• Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3): A scalable object storage service for incoming contracts and reference templates.

• Amazon OpenSearch Serverless: An on-demand configuration for efficient searching and data storage.

• Amazon Bedrock: A fully managed service providing access to high-performing foundation models, allowing Condé Nast to customize these models securely while integrating them into their data systems.

• AWS Step Functions: A visual workflow service that orchestrates processes and automates tasks to improve efficiency.

• Amazon SageMaker AI: A fully managed machine learning service for building, training, and deploying models quickly.

Workflow Steps

1. Contract Uploading: New contracts are uploaded to an S3 bucket, triggering an automated workflow via Amazon EventBridge.

2. Document Processing: Using Amazon SageMaker, contracts in PDF format are converted to digital text, factoring in handwritten notes and document formatting through Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet.

3. Metadata Extraction: The converted text undergoes a second processing job to extract predefined metadata fields, facilitated by Claude 3.7 Sonnet again.

4. Template Comparison: The system compares incoming contracts to existing templates, identifying similarities and key semantic differences.

5. Human Validation: A reviewer assesses the automated results, validating processed data before it’s loaded into Condé Nast’s rights and royalties system.

6. Further Analysis: Contracts without similar templates are clustered and prepared for further review.

This streamlined process not only significantly reduced contract analysis time from weeks to mere hours, but also empowered legal and rights management teams to focus on more complex matters.

Benefits and Results: A Transformative Shift

By leveraging AWS AI services, Condé Nast has achieved remarkable improvements in its rights management operations:

• Efficiency Gains: The time required for contract analysis has dramatically decreased, enabling faster content deployment and strategic response.

• Scalability: The system seamlessly handles workload spikes during high-volume periods, maintaining consistent processing times without additional human resources.

• Accuracy and Compliance: The AI-enhanced approach has improved the accuracy of rights management processes, reducing the risk of violations and legal issues.

• Empowerment through Knowledge: The system democratizes access to rights management expertise, allowing legal assistants to use their knowledge more effectively.

• Long-Term Value: Insights from the implementation process have paved the way for additional innovative solutions, such as translating complex rights language into clear, accessible information.

Lessons Learned: Key Insights for Future Implementation

The project yielded several valuable lessons for digital transformation initiatives:

1. Quality of Data Processing: The initial pipeline’s effectiveness is critical for successful metadata extraction and overall performance.

2. Human Oversight: Continuous human evaluation is essential for nuanced cases and for refining AI models over time.

3. Business-Centric Integration: Aligning technology with specific business objectives ensures a practical approach that delivers value.

4. Stakeholder Alignment: Involving all relevant teams from the project’s inception facilitates smoother adoption and compliance.

5. Incremental Implementation: A phased approach allows for real-world feedback, ensuring the solution’s robustness.

6. Diverse Reference Data: High-quality, representative historical contracts improve the system’s accuracy.

Conclusion: A Blueprint for the Future

Through this partnership with AWS, Condé Nast has successfully modernized its rights management workflow, establishing an efficient, scalable, and accurate system suited for the complexities of 21st-century media. This initiative serves as a model for traditional media companies seeking to incorporate AI technologies, demonstrating how operational challenges can be addressed while upholding the highest standards in rights management.

In redefining its approach to software development and resources, Condé Nast is now positioned for ongoing growth and innovation, illustrating the transformative potential of AI across various industries. By harnessing advanced technologies and promoting a collaborative, expertise-driven development model, Condé Nast is not just embracing change but leading it.

About the Authors

Bob Boiko, Christopher Donnellan, and Sarat Tatavarthi bring a wealth of experience from their respective fields, underscoring the depth of collaboration and expertise driving this revolutionary project at Condé Nast. Through their combined efforts, they are not only transforming rights management at Condé Nast but also setting a new standard for industry practices in the digital age.