Ocado Group accelerates legal operations with Plexus

Ocado Group, the world’s largest dedicated online grocery retailer, delivers innovative operating solutions to more than 580,000 active customers worldwide. As the business rapidly expanded, productivity bottlenecks emerged in legal operations, particularly in triaging support requests and tracking contract approvals. Email “ping-pong” and opaque approval rules created friction between the business and Legal, consuming valuable time and limiting Ocado’s competitive edge.

Amy Brookbanks, Head of Legal Operations, recognised the urgent need for greater transparency and speed in Legal’s intake and contract approval processes: “The lack of transparency between Legal and the business (common in large organisations), and the email ping-pong required to gather facts was an enormous time sink.”

Before Plexus: lost time and bottlenecks

Prior to Plexus, Ocado’s Legal team relied on time-consuming, manual workflows to triage support requests and track contract status. The business was unclear which contracts required legal approval, resulting in frequent bottlenecks. Manual processes and fragmented communication meant lawyers spent excessive hours clarifying requests, updating status, and handling repetitive administrative work. Amy explained:

“Their business was also unclear on which contracts and documents required approval, and from which departments.” Frustration grew as business users and lawyers alike wasted energy navigating convoluted approval processes.

After Plexus: configured automation, clarity & engagement

Ocado implemented Plexus’ Matter Management module to triage support requests, categorising them by type, risk, and department for rapid routing to the right lawyer. Their bespoke Contract Review app enabled business users to answer tailored questions, receive relevant approval rules, and trigger automatic routing to the appropriate manager or legal counsel.

Amy’s team championed the platform launch internally. They briefed Legal in workshops, held “Launch Week” events, shared fact sheets, and produced demonstration videos, complete with banners and Plexus-themed cupcakes! The goal was clear: create a unified “one-stop shop” for Legal requests and approvals. Adoption soared as the system made it “easy for Ocado to get advice from the Legal team when they need it”.

Amy emphasised purpose:

“Projects with the sole aim of improving efficiency of the Legal team are destined to fail. Luckily for Ocado, the purpose of this project was to decrease cycle times for the business and improve productivity across the board.”

Key outcomes

• Speedier Legal Support: 3,597 business users now get faster, transparent responses.  No more email ping-pong or confusion about approval rules.

• Automated Approval Workflow: Bespoke routing accelerates contract reviews, powering the company’s commercial decision-making.

• Single Source of Truth: All contracts signed and stored in Plexus for full audit trails and transparency.

• Legal Productivity Lift: Lawyers spend less time on low-risk, repetitive, and admin work and more time for strategic partnership.

• Business Engagement: Internal roll-out included “Better, Faster, Smarter” branding, drop-in sessions, and video guides to embed platform success.

Lasting impact

Ocado’s partnership with Plexus delivers measurable efficiency gains and business-wide autonomy. Lawyers are freed from administrative churn to focus on strategic work; business users enjoy a seamless interface for legal requests and contract approvals. Ongoing support, regular adoption reviews, and continual feature updates ensure Ocado continues to realise the benefits of legal automation, setting the stage for enduring innovation and growth.

Amy Brookbanks summarised the transformation:

“Operationally, we meet fortnightly to track adoption metrics and provide support.  Strategically, we strive to ensure our customers realise the benefits of legal automation to meet their business objectives.”

For Ocado, Plexus is more than software—it’s the key to “Better, Faster, Smarter” contracting and legal operations organisation-wide.