Why You Need a Contract Management Software and Contract Tracking Software to Accelerate Your Business

To compete in today’s marketplace, knowledge of Contract Lifecycle Management software is a must. Clients expect the contract negotiation process to be accessible and transparent, and CLM systems exist to meet that demand. CLM also simplifies your business practices, optimizing efficiency, and organization.

What is CLM Software?

CLM software – is a system that manages and organizes your contracting processes from initiation to execution and beyond. Investing in a CLM system means utilizing technology to ensure that no part of the contracting process falls through the cracks – whether you are in the proposal phase, inactive negotiation, ready to sign, or need to review data in existing contracts. 

Attention to all stages of the process is reflected in the term “lifecycle” in the CLM name. This software will support your business through the entire lifecycle of your contracts, from conception to archiving. Moreover, CLM software is designed to support both small businesses and large corporations, and everything in between. 

Internal Teams and Organization Departments Involved in CLM

One of the biggest hurdles when it comes to contract lifecycle management is organizing your team and department properly. Nowadays, corporations are multitasked and heavily segregated — each division is involved in a highly on-point niche division. For structure and performance, this agency grants most businesses an optimized efficiency, since each precinct and part of their infrastructure has a set number of goals and is managed by experts.

Nonetheless, when it comes to group collaboration, like in a contract, it’s incredibly hard to maintain control — suddenly a meeting has dozens of department heads with their team members, each eagerly wanting to give their input. CLM software allows project managers to group all these internal teams and departments into one easy-to-control platform — efficiently coordinating interrelationship dynamics among the many heads that influence a contract’s inception.

Among those key departments, a CLM establishes optimized communication and performance between, Sales and sourcing departments; Legal teams and departments; HR departments; Management teams; Procurement teams. Each constructs in an orderly manner a contract and influencing its life cycle in a tailored made fashion.

Benefits of Contract Management Systems and Its Technology

More specifically, CLM systems centralize your business’s contract and contract processing data in one place that is easily accessible and searchable. You are able to navigate through data by searching for specific terms as well.

For instance, you could search for all the contracts signed during a certain time period, such as “April to October 2010,” or you could locate all contracts involving an individual, like “Anabel Rodriguez.” Additionally, you could use legal contract lifecycle management software to search by contract type or duration, or by any specific term (“residential”). 

The contract management system also makes creating and executing new contracts a simple, straightforward process – both for your client and your team. Through clear organization and templating, your business can expand on previous work done for existing contracts by duplicating texts and editing, as needed, for new clients.

The system also tracks the stage of all contracts, allowing you to see in an instant all contracts at any given phase, such as “All contracts in active negotiation” or “All contracts at execution phase,” etc.

In terms of accessibility, you control who on your team can see what information, and you can change these access rights at any time. Rather than repeatedly sharing information with different team members, everyone can access one secure, central location to view (as well as add and edit) necessary information. With all your documents accessible in a secured online space, the overall transparency of your organization will improve.

CLM system also enables you to effectively analyze efficiency and productivity through the ease of pulling reports. Evaluations of return on investment or overall expenses have never been easier. With all data in one place, you can say goodbye to the days of logging into multiple systems in order to measure milestones. In fact, users of contract management systems have found overall increases in productivity and efficiency directly correlating to the implementation of contract management technology solutions.

CLM system provides businesses with real-time data and analytics on their contracts, enabling them to make informed decisions, such as contract renegotiation, renewal, or termination. This increased visibility and control over contracts help businesses to optimize their contract portfolio and improve their bottom line.

Another benefit to consider is the added ease of managing compliance and regulatory requirements, be they external or internal to your company. Whether through the use of common templates, the oversight of timelines, the organization of contracts into categories, or countless other benefits, your data will be easier than ever to evaluate.

With contract lifecycle management software, you can ensure that your business is effectively handling its legal responsibilities.

Common CLM Difficulties Avoided with the Help of CLM Software

A CLM system allows you to avoid the common pitfalls and risks in contract management and a contract’s lifecycle. Contracts, due to various outside factors as well as internal landmines within any given organization, have become increasingly complex — and complex systems are inherently unstable and prone to entropy, one of the first rules of mathematics. The more involved and multiform a system becomes the more it’s apt to succumb to errors and complications. CLM software helps you avoid these difficulties by giving you an orderly and easy to comprehend interactive platform, one that allows you better appreciate the intricacies of your contract and better evaluate its performance. 

Amongst the many common errors that a contract lifecycle management software reduces to zero we can find:

• Missed timelines. 
• Missed steps in a contract’s life cycle.
• Not properly allocating staff workload or additional resources.
• No accurate audit trails.
• Team miscommunications.
• Rambling organizational rules.

A CLM software allows you to properly manage the one thing you can’t control, the human element — research has shown that most contracts crumble on account of human errors and accidents on a staff member’s part. Like they say: “mistakes have been made”, CLM allows you to put a clamp on these “mistakes”.

Accelerate with contract lifecycle management software today

Especially in the era of COVID-19, clients expect that contracting processes can be completed virtually, from conception to execution. An automated CLM system makes this a reality for your business.

You are able to communicate with your clients virtually in a completely digital space, and, of course, easily add other forms of communication to your plan as needed. Working with clients remotely is the way of the future, and ensuring you have a CLM system in place will assure that you can meet the requirements and expectations of the digital age.