IT, technology and AI

Effective management of IT and technology is crucial for most businesses, and it is only a matter of time before all companies start using AI in one or more areas. Rapid technological development creates both great opportunities for innovation and efficiency, but also significant challenges. To succeed in the use of IT, AI, and other technology, an approach is needed that balances legal, regulatory, and commercial risks.

At Advokatfirmaet Dehn, we have broad and extensive experience in assisting with all phases of IT, technology, and digitization projects, both on the supplier and customer side. We offer assistance with planning procurements and selecting contract templates, drafting contracts (with particular emphasis on the wording of appendices), contract negotiations, ongoing advice, drafting change orders (COs), discussions and renegotiations, and dispute resolution. We are committed to keeping up with technological developments and maintaining industry knowledge.

AI law or AI jurisprudence is a relatively new and rapidly developing area of law. At Dehn, we follow developments closely and have practical experience in selecting, implementing, and using AI solutions in our own business. Combined with solid expertise and extensive experience in business law, particularly IT law, privacy, and labor law, we offer comprehensive and relevant advice to companies that want to use AI in a safe and legal manner. We can assist in mapping, identifying requirements, documenting risk and impact assessments, designing guidelines and training, as well as assessing agreements, etc.

We have extensive knowledge of standard agreements with different liability and delivery models for both cloud deliveries and on-premise solutions. We have experience with SSA agreements and agreement templates from IKT Norge and Dataforeningen, and we also develop customized agreements and templates. We are particularly concerned that the chosen agreement template/standard should fit the project's goals, responsibility model, project management, and methodology (agile/scrum/waterfall or combinations). It is also important to consider early on the need for further cooperation between the customer and supplier(s), while ensuring that there is a feasible "exit" with transfer to a new supplier. We are also committed to viewing security and privacy as part of the agreement framework, and find that our expertise in privacy, data protection, and GDPR complements our assistance in this area.

We often participate as members of the client's procurement or sales team, but can also take on a more behind-the-scenes role as legal advisors. In addition, we offer to participate actively in projects to ensure that the chosen solution meets the requirements of relevant legislation on privacy, consumer protection, and intellectual property rights.

We have assisted in many different types of projects, both small and large. One type of project we have particularly extensive experience with is projects for the implementation of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems. ERP systems often aim to collect data from various business processes (such as finance and accounting, HR, production and sales, and purchasing) in a common database for better overview and efficiency. At the same time, a change process is often implemented at the customer's site. This is demanding and requires good cooperation between the customer and suppliers, which, in our experience, is often underestimated, with the result that the project is delayed and becomes more expensive than planned. In our experience, good dialogue and contractual clarifications before the start of the project increase the chances of success. The contract can then function as a management tool instead of lying in a drawer as a "surprise" when the project "goes off the rails."

We assist with:

• Procurement of IT solutions, AI, and other technology
• Implementation of solutions or software with development of customizations and integrations
• AI and privacy assessments, drafting of guidelines, training, and documentation
• Development of software/solutions
• Management, maintenance, and support
• Service Level Agreements (SLA)
• Operation and outsourcing
• Cloud services and Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Consulting agreements
• Subcontractor agreements and various cooperation agreements
• Digitization
• E-commerce and terms of use
• Data processing agreements
• Cookie solutions
• Privacy when implementing solutions
• Assistance with the purchase and sale of businesses where technology is central