Category: Contract Lifecycle Management

In previous posts last year, we spoke about features you should be looking for in a premier contract management solution. We’d like to keep the momentum going on this topic by discussing some very common, and major problems that the best contract management solutions can solve for you.

Before we get to the problems, we’d like to make something clear: contracting is more complex than ever before, and this unfortunate trend is expected to continue. One reason is that standard, “universal” contracts are a thing of the past now as clients are demanding more personalized contracts. What’s needed is a simple and reliable process for getting new contracts into the system, approving those contracts and then managing and storing them. Business, legal, and even financial contract approvers should have access to one central location to collaborate and approve contracts as they move through the contract lifecycle process. Now, let’s have a look at the problems.

Problem #1: The contract management process is unnecessarily complex.

This is the 21^st century and we need to press “delete” on this problem. The top contract management solutions allow you to easily collaborate with reviewers and departments directly. Email updates may be sent to contracts through an assigned unique email address, and email notifications will be configured for multiple events, including new contract requests, comments, tasks, updates and documents. The best solutions simplify the submission, review, approval and management of contracts in one easy-to-use tool. Team members should never have to search their inbox or hard drive for the latest version or keep an Excel spreadsheet to manage their contracts. And if your CM solution is part of a broader, more comprehensive enterprise legal management system, so much the better.

Problem #2: A decentralized and confusing repository.

A complete, centralized contract repository allows users to organize lifecycle information such as participants, documents, milestones, negotiations, status reports, key dates and provisions. Systematic categorization, clarity, versioning and easy storage of documents are some key benefits of such a repository. A single source for all sales collateral and other customer-facing content is a key element of the best CM solutions, as well as contract lifecycle management solutions.

Problem #3: The lack of visibility.

Centralizing your contracts allows visibility throughout their lifecycle. You can see a document’s history, including all previous versions and can create reports based on any data field in a personalized dashboard. Part of what exacerbates the speed vs. control dilemma for legal is a general lack of visibility into contract terms, obligations and value. If you can’t see it, you can’t control it. This becomes a major pain point because agreements outline the terms of the value exchanged. If you can’t ensure you are getting the right value for your deals, money is slipping through your company’s fingers.

Problem #4: Inflexible workflow.

The best solutions allow workflow to be configured relative to a contract type or matched to your unique business needs. It’s important to have a mechanism for managing changes over time. You need to be up-to-speed on renewal dates, pricing changes, emerging legal requirements and other events that will require you to speak to your customer/vendor specifically about your contractual relationship. Your ability to manage the contract, particularly changes over time and the renewal process, will have a direct impact on your customer retention rate.

Problem #5: Weak reporting and analytics.

Why would this even still be a problem today? A powerful, straightforward dashboard allows stakeholders to quickly view and analyze the department’s progress on contracts and certain bottlenecks that may appear. Powerful business analytics and reporting engines are additional hallmarks of the best solutions and are crucial in helping team members with their reporting, configuring notifications and other tasks.

These are the main problems we’ve noted over the years, but the list could go on and on. Choosing a provider that is always on top of their game is a sure-fire way to rest assured your money is well spent. By the way, it’s quite possible to purchase a contract administration solution, and also a separate contract review and approval solution. Better still, if you choose to use a contract lifecycle management solution, you’ll have the best of both worlds: a convenient combination of contract administration and contract review and approval all in one package.

Contracts directly impact your ability to meet sales goals and execute on corporate initiatives. But managing the lifecycle of a contract — from review to approval to execution to renewal — involves a lot of departments, and those departments often don’t have access to the same systems. Businesses that implement a transparent contract management process compress their time to revenue, mitigate risks by having fewer contractual exceptions, and increase customer satisfaction.

A contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution gives you complete control and visibility of your contracts, from review to approval to execution to renewal. The best CLM solutions simplify the submission, review, approval and management of contracts in one easy to use tool. No longer will your team members have to search their inbox or hard drive for the latest version or keep an Excel spreadsheet to manage their contracts.

Which features should you be looking for when considering various CLM solutions?

Five Must-Have Features of a Cutting-Edge Contract Lifecycle Management Solution

1. Central Repository – A central location for all contract drafts, notes and communication is a must-have for a robust CLM system.
2. Unified Intake Process – A simple intake form unifies the process and ensures the same process is followed each and every time. Depending on the drop down fields that are selected (i.e. contract value amount, location, etc.), workflow can be assigned to the appropriate team member or attorney for review.
3. E-sign Capabilities – Users can electronically sign contracts and manage them in one easy-to-use tool.
4. Usability – A tool is only good if your legal and business users “actually” use it. Having a user-friendly interface gives your team the information they need quickly and requires almost no training.
5. Notifications – A comprehensive contract management system sends proactive alerts as the contract progresses through its lifecycle. This is critical as it can be configured to send alerts to all team members involved.

In the not-so-distant past, CLM may have been a major headache for everyone involved. On the bright side, the times have changed, and so should you. Start checking out the finest CLM solutions – the ones that will have your team thanking you for making their lives easier.

Traditional “all-in-one” contract management software solutions can be astonishingly expensive, cumbersome, and don’t always work well in legal departments. User experience can be sub-par, and such a system is hard to change when it needs to support a new business initiative. Contract management should be visible to many areas of an organization, and that data should be both easy to find and logically stored. Legal needs to be able to work together with procurement, sales and others to function at full capacity. Additionally, the contract review process needs structure to avoid miscommunication and missed opportunities. Is your organization lacking in one of these areas?

What is needed are contract management solutions that are logically focused on particular aspects of contract management, such as contract lifecycle management, contract administration, or contract review and approval. In other words, you need a solution that is focused on yourparticular contract management needs. The best in breed of these solutions also allow you to expand the system as needed.

So what are six premium features that you should look for in a state-of-the-art, focused contract management solution? We’ve put together a quick-start list to help you move forward:

1. Quick Development Time

The best solutions are built to fill specific needs with great efficiency. It is easy to create, modify and deploy focused solutions with robust workflow, transaction management and reporting capabilities. These tools can be developed in as little as 30 minutes. They can be built as a business needs them, preventing costly delays. By building a new solution only when there is a need for it, the company saves money that would otherwise be wasted on solutions that just don’t work.

2. Rapid Deployment

While traditional contract management software has a lengthy deployment process that may take many months to complete, look for solutions that can be built and deployed in a few short weeks. The time to value provided by these solutions is unmatched, allowing greater agility by providing more immediate feedback.

3. Central repository

The ability to establish a searchable repository of all contracts, clauses and associated business information is critical. A single source for all sales collateral and other customer-facing content will make it easier for team members to find documents.

4. Usability

A simple, lightweight tool that only gives you the information you need and requires almost no training. It is intuitive and easy for anybody to use. Everyone will know exactly where contracts are in the process, who completed the last revision, what the next step is, etc. An iterative review process lets team members collaborate in a shared workspace.

5. Notifications

Notices can be easily configured to ensure compliance with notice provisions. The tool alerts the right people when required notices (e.g. price changes, renewal, or termination notices) are due, and ensures the highest level of visibility so you can manage to the most favorable terms.

6. Configurability

Modifications to the system can be made quickly without assistance from IT. By assessing the problem and building outward, organizations will not have to compromise existing initiatives to find value-building opportunities.

No matter the nature of your contract management problem, now is the time to be innovative. By assessing the problem and building outward, you won’t have to compromise existing initiatives to rescue your bottom line. If you already have a traditional contract management system in place, you can deploy focused solutions to fill the process and collaboration gaps. By implementing such cutting-edge solutions, an organization will free procurement, legal and sales to focus on adding value to the organization, as opposed to administrative tasks.