Regardless of what type of organisation you work in, or its size, you may be involved in the contract management process, whether manual or automated. In recent times, the latter is becoming more commonplace due to the vast range of advantages such a solution can bring to a business. So, if you’re still doing things the old fashioned way in terms of your contract management, read on to discover why you should make the switch to contract management software.
Why Contract Management Software is Better than Manual Processes
Keeps Data Centralised. Storing contracts in a filing cabinet is the old school way of organising contracts. The new method uses cloud storage which is accessible from anywhere. Finding and monitoring contracts becomes much easier as a result.
Errors Reduced. Up to 10% of contracts go missing per year within an organisation. Considering most large companies deal with between 20,000 and 40,000 contracts during this time, this can be a significant number. The outcome can be penalties and missed opportunities. But it doesn’t need to be this way by using contract lifecycle software to store and retrieve contracts easily.
Signing Becomes Easier. Various third parties can sign documents remotely at the same time, saving time and making the contracting process more efficient. No matter where everyone is based, the days of posting or e-mailing contracts are well and truly over.
Better Collaboration. In the past, it was not very easy for several parties to collaborate on the same contract due to the paper-based nature of it. Now thanks to contract management software, everyone can achieve this in real-time across multiple departments.
More Effective Version Control. Contracts used to be faxed, e-mailed or posted for redlining, resulting in the creation of multiple versions. Now, contracts are editable online, so you always know you’re editing the current and up to date version. Older documents are also available for auditing.
Efficiently Track Changes. Contract lifecycle software tracks all edits, changes and conversations made to contracts. This has massive benefits to the auditing process because transaction history is viewable between all members of the team or third parties.
Feature Packed Analytics. The advanced analytics functionality of most contract management software platforms means contracts can be kept a close eye on in terms of lifecycle length, document signatures, upcoming deadlines and overall document status.
Integrate with Software. Some types of contract management software can integrate with third-party applications like DropBox, Salesforce or Google Drive. Some contract management software packages even contain powerful API’s that can connect with virtually any software.
Robust Risk Management. Contract lifecycle software allows entire teams to collaborate, meaning the ability to identify risk becomes much stronger. Impending deadlines or lack of compliance is highly visible when using CLM, which helps improve revenue problems.Â
Improved Revenue. Contracts tend to be more profitable if more people are working on them. This is because negotiations become stronger for things relating to rebate, pricing and discount for goods and services.
Standardised Language. Businesses still using manual contracting processes can suffer from issues such as using the wrong type of language or using incorrect pricing. Contract management software eliminates problems like these because everything is stored in ‘the cloud’ so is unified across the entire business. Because everything remains standardised, the risk becomes much lower.
Better Compliance. Companies still managing thousands of contracts the old-fashioned way are merely creating much extra work for themselves. One major problem, however, is the more mediocre tracking of terms, and the risk they’re not appropriately met. Thankfully CLM makes this easy through the ability to set deadline reminders, searching of contracts and information being available at a glance.
For more information please see https://www.symfact.com