Aug 05, 2025 | AI and product innovation

Looking for the absolute cutting edge of corporate AI use cases and examples of AI-driven business transformation? Have you tried the legal or accounting departments?  

Throughout history, widespread corporate technology adoption has always come from the places that could make the best business cases for investment. The first computers were used in banking and finance. The internet hit its stride in the marketing and sales departments. And now, AI-led transformation is coming from the world of professional services, where legal, tax, accounting, compliance, global trade, human resources and other enabling functions are pioneering some of the most exciting use cases for technology.  

Transforming Complex Corporate Workflows 

As a case in point, consider the recent launches of Thomson Reuters CoCounsel Legal, CoCounsel Tax, and AI-enhanced Legal Tracker, which are setting the stage for enterprise AI transformation. Unlike point solutions and other standalone AI tools that help to automate specific tasks, these new platforms are the first of their kind to create fully integrated enterprise AI platforms that break down legacy silos and connect disparate data to deliver more collaborative, strategic insights. 

The newest of these solutions, CoCounsel Legal, is the industry’s first agentic AI platform that makes it possible to integrate AI seamlessly across legal research, document analysis, and drafting tasks. That’s such a game-changer because it removes one of the biggest barriers to widespread AI adoption: fragmented, clunky workflows.

The fact is, corporate legal teams are busier than ever, and many are struggling to keep pace with the crush of demand being placed on their teams. The same can be said for corporate tax, compliance, global trade, human resources, and other enabling functions that are being tasked with doing more with less every day. They simply don’t have time to toggle in-and-out of different tools, conducting research on one platform, drafting on another, and then cross-referencing everything to make sure they trust the results. They need tools they can trust, and they need those disparate workflows to be connected in a single place. 

Embedded, Connected, and Intelligent 

To date, seamless connectivity has been the missing link keeping many corporate AI initiatives stuck in first gear. Consider recent research from S&P Global, which found that corporate AI project failure rates have risen to 42%, this year, with nearly half (46%) of those projects being abandoned between proof of concept and broad adoption. What that shows us is AI needs to do more than just produce results in isolation—it only really drives value when it is connected, or embedded, into the larger workflow. 

This phenomenon also helps to explain why corporate enabling functions like legal, tax, and others are emerging as the ideal proving ground for a truly enterprise approach to AI adoption. The very nature of this data-intensive, knowledge-driven type of work is rooted in consuming large amounts of structured and unstructured information, spotting anomalies and connections, and interpreting and reporting results—all of which are areas where AI can deliver enormous benefits.  

By combining those analytic and data processing strengths with authoritative case law and tax policy information that’s been curated and vetted by attorneys and CPAs—and connecting it all in a seamless workflow that supports multiple different functions—Thomson Reuters is creating the template for what successful enterprise AI integration looks like. Perhaps more importantly, though, we’re making it possible for our clients to address some of their biggest pain points. In addition to CoCounsel Legal, our recently launched CoCounsel Tax is giving corporate tax teams expert-level analysis, comprehensive research, and end-to-end workflow automation, and our AI-enhanced Legal Tracker is helping legal, compliance, and finance teams automate routine tasks, streamline invoice review, and provide instant, data-driven insights to optimize legal spend and operations.  

Transforming the Enterprise from the Inside-Out 

Together, these solutions are helping to transform corporate workflows from the inside out. By focusing our resources on some of the most complex, process-driven functions of the modern corporation, and delivering solutions that solve real problems, we’re creating the playbook for successful enterprise AI adoption.  

Not everyone would have expected legal, tax, or other corporate enabling functions to be the standard bearers for AI-driven innovation, but few parts of the modern business ecosystem are in greater need of an AI-assisted boost, and few are in better position to truly transform their day-to-day operations with embedded, connected, and intelligent solutions. For our part at Thomson Reuters, we look forward to continuing to push the envelope and give these teams the resources they need to chart the course for the future of professional work.

Learn more about Legal Guided Workflows here: