Contract management software

What is contract management software?

Contract management software provides a unified platform for creating, editing, tracking and renewing contracts throughout their lifecycle. Contract management software combines many functions into one system and offers myriad benefits, such as a centralized contract repository so employees can easily find the information they need, templates and other automations to reduce manual, repetitive tasks, and analytical reporting capabilities that help analyze and optimize future contracts.

Most companies place a high value on contracts when drafting an agreement, but tend to forget about them once they are signed. However, the lifecycle of a contract goes far beyond its signing. The contract should serve as a compass of sorts throughout the life of the agreement. It serves as a guide to ensure that each party meets the expectations of the contract.

However, as a contract moves from one department to the next during the contract lifecycle, many critical aspects of the contract process can get lost in the handoff. Contract management software helps keep the contract accessible and relevant at all times to ensure contract clauses are met.

Simplify the contract lifecycle with contract management software.

Contracts themselves can be quite complicated. This makes it all the more important that the contract management process is simple and effective. Contract management begins with the creation of a formal contract, continues with the signing of the contract, and lasts until the end date of the agreement. When the contract is renewed, it all starts over again.

Each part of the contract lifecycle is manual, tedious and difficult to keep track of. Contract management software can help streamline and keep track of each stage of the process.

In the pre-contract signing phase, contract management software can reduce the time spent drafting your contract. By creating templates for commonly used contract clauses, such as service level agreements and NDAs, you no longer have to manually write or review these sections. You can even automate many aspects of contract creation by linking specific clauses to specific workflows. In addition, contract management software streamlines collaboration between the departments in your organization that contribute to your contract.

During the contract editing phase, contract management software simplifies version management so that all parties can access the same cloud-based contract and make changes and comments instead of emailing multiple files back and forth. This ensures that all parties are working on the contract and gets to an acceptable contract for both parties faster. Electronic signatures eliminate the need to mail contracts or print them out to be signed.

In the post-contract phase, contract management software uses contract data as a basis to monitor contract milestones and notify the right people when approvals are needed or a renewal date is coming up. With system-wide alerts, contract management software keeps track of important dates and obligations.

Finally, in the renewal phase, the contract management software assists in finalizing a renewed contract. Automatic alerts and reminders keep you informed of upcoming end dates. Version tracking and audit trails show how the contract has changed from renewal to renewal. Detailed value and risk analysis helps accurately assess the potential of a renewal.

Who does contract management software help?

At their core, contracts serve as a formalized handshake between two parties. Contracts serve as the basis for almost all business relationships, whether with customers, employees, suppliers or others.

Purchasing

Purchasing teams work to find, establish, and build new relationships with vendors and suppliers, negotiating contract terms along the way. In this process, contract management software accelerates and simplifies contract creation by enabling cloud-based reviews, compliance analysis, and clause templates.

Contract management software gives procurement better insight into the effectiveness of a contract, allowing these teams to better assess whether the business relationship furthers the company’s overall goals.

Legal Departments

Legal departments usually have the most to do with contracts of any department in a company. Contract management software helps mitigate risk and ensure compliance by making it easy to bring a contract into the platform and quickly find potential problem clauses. Contract management software can analyze all contracts in the organization to generate risk analysis reports, track compliance and more.

Legal teams also gain access to a library of pre-approved clauses and other tools that streamline the document creation and submission process.

HR departments

With contract management software, HR teams can simplify the painstaking process of hiring and onboarding new employees by centrally managing HR documents such as employment contracts, NDAs, terminations, etc. Contract management software helps HR teams organize company documents and provide appropriate access to a range of documents.

Finance departments

Finance departments deal with so much data that it can be difficult to filter out meaningful information. Contract management software makes it easy to locate all contract data and identify underperformers. With contract management software, you can create addendum agreements and terminations in real time while ensuring that all parties are working with the most current version of the contract.

What are the benefits of contract management software?

1. Increased speed

By using contract management software for your contract creation, you don’t have to start from scratch every time you create a contract. When you streamline your contracts, you can automatically update your terms and clauses throughout the system instead of manually editing them.

2. Better collaboration

With contract management software, employees can collaboratively make changes to a single contract in real time. This ensures that everyone is working with the same version of the contract, and there are more opportunities to fine-tune the details.

3. Easy sharing

With contract management software, location no longer matters. Employee:s can access your contract through a link and edit the document. E-signatures and other features are not only easy to use, but also allow you to approve contracts from any location.

4. Improved search function

Within the contract management software, contracts are text searchable, simplifying research and allowing you to navigate through a large amount of data with precision.

5. First-class security

In today’s world, data is mostly sensitive information. Contract management software protects your contracts through digital encryption and other security protocols.

6. Cloud-based storage

Even digital versions of contracts can be lost if they are stored on a simple hard drive. By using a cloud-based storage, contracts can be accessed from anywhere.

7. Scalability

Success should not be a burden. Contract management software can meet the speed and efficiency requirements that come with the evolution of a growing business. As a company grows, contracts and their associated processes evolve as well.

8. Global reach

With the ability to process and approve contracts in real time, you expand the reach of your business and create connections with suppliers and vendors around the world. Signing a service contract with a supplier or customer on the other side of the globe is no more difficult than with a vendor across town.

9. An endless contract repository

Over the years, you will deal with many hundreds or thousands of contracts. Contract management software stores and organizes all contracts so that they are accessible at any time with just a few clicks.

Summary

Contracts are much more than just a signed piece of paper. Contract management software is a great way to unlock the power of contract data, make meaningful business decisions and achieve cost savings across your organization. The right solution will give you an overall view of all your contracts, help you identify potential risks, and allow you to evaluate the overall performance of your suppliers.