How Limagrain is transforming contract management across 53 countries

“Legal needs to be a business partner, not simply the guardian of the rules.”

This belief is what led Marie Duault, Legal Ops at Limagrain, to embark on the group’s legal digital transformation.

Limagrain, the world’s 4th-largest seed company and a cooperative with 9,500 employees across 53 countries, had already laid the foundations for centralized document management. But Marie and her team wanted to go much further than simply creating a contract repository: their ambition was to manage, secure and unlock the value of contract data on a global scale.

Before Gino: hitting a “glass ceiling”

“We had a contract repository, but it was a bit like having a library without an index: there was no easy way to know where contracts stood, who had approved what, or to access reliable data.”

Before Gino, the Legal team had to navigate between Word, Excel and countless email threads. Processes were entirely manual, traceability was almost non-existent, and the lack of automated workflows made every approval process long and cumbersome.

Marie recalls:

“We were wasting so much time chasing people, checking versions and looking for basic information. And in an international organization, every minute wasted is multiplied.”

The frustrations quickly added up:

• Unpredictable and often lengthy turnaround times
• Limited visibility into approval progress
• No simple way to answer strategic questions such as: “How many contracts are expiring this quarter?”

Why Limagrain chose Gino: usability, support and ambition

Limagrain first discovered Gino at a LegalTech event. Marie was immediately struck by the platform’s simplicity and intuitive user experience:

“What immediately stood out was how intuitive the platform is. When you’re rolling out a tool internationally, teams need to be able to adopt it naturally, wherever they are.”

But ease of use wasn’t the only deciding factor. Gino also offered:

• Smart contract generation through questionnaires
• Full contract lifecycle traceability
• Customizable workflows
• Hands-on support from the initial scoping phase onwards

“The Gino team doesn’t just deliver a tool. We genuinely felt we had partners who understood our challenges and could adapt to the complexity of our organization.”

A collaborative transformation built for consistency and performance

The transformation wasn’t designed in isolation. From the outset, Marie involved legal teams, business users, local managers and key stakeholders across the organization.

“The sponsorship of the Legal leadership team was essential. We made the message clear: this project is going to be the backbone of our contract management for years to come.”

The rollout was structured around several key stages:

• Co-designing the contract structure and taxonomy through working groups bringing together Legal and business teams
• Cleaning up and structuring the contract framework, including templates, contract families and clauses
• Providing targeted training tailored to local needs
• Appointing key users to act as ambassadors in each region

“That collective approach is what makes the project so powerful: we share our needs, build together and everyone becomes part of the transformation.”

Early results and new ways of working

Although the project is still being rolled out, the benefits are already tangible:

• Contract generation and approval times have been significantly reduced.
• Every stage of the contract lifecycle is tracked, recorded and documented.
• Legal teams have greater visibility, business users have more autonomy, and management finally has access to consolidated metrics.

“The real transformation is the way we work across teams. We now speak the same language, share best practices and are finally moving away from working in silos.”

How to make a CLM transformation truly successful

Marie emphasizes one point in particular:

“A CLM project isn’t just about software. It’s about building the foundations for shared contract governance. You need to plan ahead, involve the business units, define your processes properly and, above all, avoid rushing through the different stages.”

For Limagrain, the transformation is already moving into its next phase: finalizing international templates, integrating Gino with the group’s other tools, migrating legacy contracts and continuing to train teams.

With Gino, Limagrain is making contract management a driver of performance, collaboration and strategic decision-making. Legal is becoming a true partner in the group’s growth, wherever it operates.

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