Contract management is the process of capturing commercial terms, integrating them into enterprise systems and ensuring that they are properly enforced. This process helps businesses reduce risk, save money and improve efficiency.
A contract management workflow is essential for modern organizations. But many companies struggle with outdated processes and inefficient tools that slow down their route to revenue.
Automated Processes
Managing contracts is an integral part of any business. However, it is often overlooked and can be a time consuming process. The lack of a clear method leads to compliance issues, inefficiencies and lost revenue opportunities. Contract management software can reduce the workload and improve efficiency by automating the end-to-end process.
A CLM system can automatically alert contract teams of key dates, reminders, and approval requirements. This eliminates human forgetfulness, misunderstandings, and other common errors. It also reduces the length of reviews and approval processes by limiting the number of people required to read and review each contract.
Contract management tools also provide easy to use templates and pre-approved clauses to prevent the use of nonstandard risky language that could lead to costly mistakes. These systems also enable users to easily search for contracts to find answers to any questions they may have. As a result, these tools significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to locate contracts. This is especially helpful when trying to locate contracts in a large company with several global locations. Contracts are stored in a central digital repository where they can be easily accessed by stakeholders at any time.
Automated Reporting
Contracts go through many rounds of drafts and legal reviews before being awarded or signed. Best-of-breed CLM solutions allow business users to create contracts in self-service mode within line-of-business systems, automating and streamlining the process.
Once a contract is in place, there’s still work to be done as parties comply with obligations and track performance and service levels. The ability to gather, filter and analyze contract data is important for both monitoring progress and optimizing processes.
With all contracts available in one location, teams can answer queries about where a contract is on its journey. This reduces off-platform communications and improves transparency, especially when working on a large number of contracts. It also helps teams to avoid costly mistakes caused by human error, such as saving over a document or accidentally signing a contract.
Automated Approvals
Contracting delays impact the entire enterprise, stalling revenue generation and valuable partnerships. When contracts are managed by manual processes or outdated technology, it is easy for key responsibilities to slip through the cracks.
Automating the contract process helps organizations reduce these risks and regain control of critical business functions. A Contract Lifecycle Management CLM system improves visibility and streamlines processes, resulting in cost savings, enhanced productivity and streamlined workflows.
Contract lifecycle management systems offer centralized, unified repository of contracts and associated documents that is accessible anywhere. This allows for a better search and retrieval of contract data to support risk management, compliance and optimization. Effectively retrieving and analyzing this data enables you to identify opportunities for improvement that can be quickly implemented. This reduces the risk of non-compliance penalties and costly litigation. It also allows for faster onboarding and a more seamless transition to new business solutions and services.
Automated Review Schedules
Contracts have a huge impact on the entire business from sales, to pricing, shipping, and channel management. Contract lifecycle management can help reduce risk and increase profitability by automating processes and reducing time to sign, review, and amend contracts.
Contract management software can improve collaboration with commercial teams, legal and procurement departments by enabling them to easily access and collaborate on contracts. It can also simplify the process of tracking changes and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
It can also provide the flexibility for businesses to conduct contract audits on a regular basis or in response to specific events. This is made possible by incorporating contract compliance management, reporting and analytics features into the CLM solution.
It can also keep contract managers ahead of their game by providing them with automated key date and task alerts, contract compliance and obligation status reports and user-friendly dashboards. By implementing this technology, companies can be sure they are always delivering the best possible service to their customers. It can even allow businesses to streamline their entire contracting process by integrating with e-signature solutions.
Automated Stored Documents
Contract management is a multi-faceted task that requires the attention of multiple teams and employees. With an automated Contract Lifecycle Management system, employees can reallocate time previously spent on mundane tasks to more meaningful work.
With a centralized repository and automation, contracts are stored digitally, eliminating the need for physical files and storage and decreasing the risk of lost or misplaced documents. Centralized storage also facilitates document retrieval, speeding up contract processing and revenue recognition.
Lastly, the ability to automatically track and record key dates minimizes the risk of missed deadlines or contractual obligations. Contract automation can also help keep team members on track by sending out reminders and alerts for reviews, approvals, or renewals.
By automating contract processes and facilitating collaboration, CLM can reduce business risks, optimize efficiency, foster compliance, and maximize visibility and insights. As a result, the return on investment from automated contract management goes beyond cost savings and benefits like reduced errors and improved productivity. Schedule a demo with Icertis to learn more about how our award-winning contract management platform can help your organization achieve the full potential of your contracts.