Contract management platform

What is a contract management platform?

Contracts are the currency of your business and govern the many different types of relationships an organization maintains. These include the relationships an organization has with its employees, customers, suppliers, partners - and really any entity it does business with. Contracts are legally binding documents between at least two parties that agree on the terms of the business relationship.

A contract management platform covers the entire lifecycle of a contract and seeks to manage them through the use of technology and automation. This lifecycle begins with the creation of the contract itself and continues through the negotiation and approval process. Once approved, the contract must be signed, stored and managed. This management includes renewals, terminations, deliverables, and fulfillment of a variety of obligations. As the complexity of contracts increases, so does the task of managing them appropriately.

Why is a contract management platform so important?

Poorly managed contract processes can lead to serious legal risks for organizations. Likewise, inefficient manual contracting wastes a lot of time and therefore money. Poor contract management leads to friction between teams, and a lack of speed can affect a company’s ability to close deals. Poor contract lifecycle management can cause key deadlines to be missed, which in turn can result in expensive renewal costs. A well-established contract management platform is the foundation to counteract these aforementioned issues.

What are the benefits of a contract management platform?

1. minimization of time loss Manually managing contracts is a slow and time-consuming process. It often involves face-to-face meetings, signing paper copies, sending documents back and forth, scanning and uploading them for sharing. Plus, you have to repeat the entire process every time you change the contract.

With the use of a contract management platform, there is no more waiting to create contracts quickly and from anywhere in the world as well as view them at any time.

2. maximize resource output An effective contract management platform allows your staff:in to move quickly through the contract process. Both the person requesting the contract and the people involved in approving and managing the contract save a tremendous amount of time. Instead of spending time searching for contracts, your staff can focus on what they do best - their respective tasks, whether or not they are involved in the contract management process.

3. faster revenue recognition Often, a tremendous amount of time is lost because internal departments are waiting for a contract to be created or approved. In a business focused on selling goods and services, this lost time leads to delays in closing deals, which can directly impact revenue. A contract management platform supports faster revenue recognition by using templates with standard wording as well as pre-approved alternative wording suggestions.

4. increased profits From a profit perspective, increases in sales and the ability to efficiently book revenue naturally lead to an increase in sales. By reducing or eliminating inefficient operations and focusing your resources on what they do best, your company naturally reduces expenses. Not only will your contracts be processed faster and at a lower cost with a contract management platform, but introducing efficiencies will also allow you to increase your workload without increasing headcount. Again, by using templates and pre-approved wording, what used to be passed off to legal staff or outside counsel can now be handled in-house, resulting in additional cost savings.

5. reduced risk In terms of risk, a contract management platform helps mitigate risk in several ways. First, by using templates and pre-approved wording, you reduce the risk that exists in your contracts. A contract management platform also enables your organization to closely monitor and manage the fulfillment of contractual obligations - both those you must fulfill to your customers and those your suppliers must fulfill to you. With broader legislation, security requirements and general compliance obligations, proactively managing these deliverables is critical to effective internal operations.

6. Improved customer and supplier relationships Last but not least, and falling under the umbrella of intangibles, a contract management platform improves relationships with both customers and suppliers - beyond simple cost savings and revenue increases. An efficient approach to contracting and proactive contract management communicates to your customers and suppliers that you are not only committed to your own internal success, but also to partnering with them.

Summary

A contract management platform is very helpful if you want to easily manage all your paperwork, contracts and agreements. It helps automate many contract-related tasks, saving time and money for businesses of all sizes. You can also access a variety of templates and have access to a wide range of different reports. A contract management platform is the foundation for managing legal risks, assessing issues, and ensuring that everything is handled at a very professional level.