Electronic Contract Management System: A Click Away To Design The Contract
Managing contracts is a tedious and time-consuming process, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Manually managing contracts can lead to inefficient workflows and lost documents. If you are currently facing a tough time with contract management processes in your organization, ECMS can provide a way out.
Electronic Contract Management System could help you design and manage contracts efficiently with only a few clicks. Also, it saves your valuable time and increases productivity. With this digital contract management system, you can get rid of the hassle of manual contract creation, management, and storage.
In this article, we are going to explore what Electronic contract management systems are and how you can use them for better workflows in the firm.
What Are Electronic Contract Management Systems?
An electronic management system helps streamline the contract management process. It lets you create, manage, store, and organize contracts electronically. By using ECMS, you can automate workflows, reduce errors, ensure compliance, and eliminate inefficiencies associated with manual contract management.
How Do Electronic Contract Management Systems Work?
An ECMS Electronic Contract Management System works by automating the contract creation and management process. The documents are stored in a digital repository, and you can track as well as manage contracts throughout their lifecycle, from drafting and negotiating to renewal.
Moreover, ECMS’s in-built features, like contract templates, version control, e-signatures, etc., make contract management easy and efficient for your business.
Importance of ECMS in Today’s Digital World
The electronic contract management system has become an integral part of today’s digitized organizations. According to a study, 60% of contract breaches are due to poor contract management systems in place.
In addition, about 80% of organizations have reported facing contract management issues at some point. These include issues with document version control, contract approval delays, and missed deadlines.
ECMS offers a comprehensive solution to all these issues by streamlining and automating these tasks. With ECMS, companies can automate contract creation, streamline approval workflows, and centralize contract storage, resulting in significant time and cost savings.
The ECMS market is expected to grow by leaps and bounds, which is driven by the need for organizations to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
The Toolkit of Electronic Contract Management System
The toolkit of the electronic contract management system ECMS includes features that facilitate the contract creation and management process. Here is what you can find in the toolkit to aid you in your workflow.
1. Contract creation and drafting tools
Contract creation and drafting tools are key components of ECMS. They provide templates, pre-approved clauses, and more features like collaborative editing and real-time commenting to enable the creation of legally binding contracts quickly.
Utilizing these tools to form contracts ensures all organizational contracts follow legal and regulatory requirements. This will save your organization time and cost.
2. Pre-made templates and clause libraries
ECMS features a range of contract tools, e.g., contract templates and clause libraries for writing a contract. It provides a pre-written contractual language in the templates that can be customized to fit the requirements of a particular agreement. By using clause libraries, you can ensure consistency in all your contracts and reduce the risk of omissions and errors.
3. E-signature and approval workflows
E-signatures and approval workflows let users obtain digital signatures and approvals from all stakeholders involved in the agreement, such as legal teams, clients, partners, etc. It simplifies the process of obtaining signatures and approvals, reduces the need for physical documents, and speeds up contract turnaround times.
4. Contract tracking and reporting
With this tool, organizations can track the progress of contracts throughout the lifecycle, from creation to expiration. It provides valuable data and insights to improve contract management processes.
You can use this feature to view the status of contracts in real time, set up alerts and notifications for key milestones, generate reports, and analyze contract data to identify trends and potential areas for improvement.
5. Integration with other systems and applications
The integration feature of ECMS allows organizations to link with other systems and applications within the company, such as HR platforms, accounting software, CRM, etc. By integrating with other systems, ECMS can provide more comprehensive and accurate reports on contract data, helping organizations to make better decisions.
Significance of Customizing Electronic Contract Management Systems
Customizing ECMS lets you tailor the system to your organization’s unique needs. This will ensure that the digital system works in a way that best suits the contract management processes and workflows of that particular organization.
ECMS customization can improve efficiency and accuracy, reduce errors, as well as save time and resources. In addition, customization also ensures that all contracts of a particular organization are consistent and follow the regulatory requirements. You can work with different clients and still maintain compliance and consistency in contracts.
Benefits of Using an Electronic Contract Management System
Increased Efficiency – ECMS streamlines the contract management process, reducing the time and effort required to draft, review, and approve contracts. This can increase organizational efficiency and productivity.
Enhanced Collaboration – With an ECMS, team members can collaborate on contract creation and approvals, allowing faster and more effective communication.
Improved Contract Compliance – ECMS ensures that all contracts comply with legal and regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of non-compliance and potential legal issues.
Enhanced Security – ECMS provides a secure, centralized location for storing contracts, reducing the risk of loss, theft, or unauthorized access.
Better Contract Visibility – With an ECMS, all contracts are stored in a centralized database, allowing for easier tracking and reporting on contract status and obligations.
Better decision-making – By using the data analytics and insights from ECMS, organizations can make data-driven decisions and optimize contract processes.
Final Thoughts
Electronic Contract Management System can revolutionize the way you design, manage, and store contracts for your organization. ECMS is rapidly becoming a necessity for businesses of all sizes due to its ability to simplify the complex contract management process.
Features like contract creation and drafting, e-signature, and integrating systems make ECMS a comprehensive solution for managing contracts in today’s digital world. Hence, businesses should adopt ECMS if they want to simplify their workflows and increase efficiency.
