Contracts are the lifeblood of commerce, but managing them is complex. Effective contract management processes depend on collaboration and communication between teams.
Avokaado’s cloud centralized contract repository makes it easier for teams to locate contracts. This reduces the time teams waste searching for templates or re-keying contract data. The end result is more reliable contracts that help your business run faster.
Save Time and Money
Contracts are a vital part of the business world, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to manage. Without proper contracts, companies can run into compliance issues and lose money. Contract Lifecycle Management software streamlines the entire process of drafting, reviewing, and executing contracts to save businesses time and money.
Traditionally, contract approval was a lengthy, complicated process that involved the legal team sending documents around and getting them signed, often via email. This was a waste of time and resources for legal teams that could be better spent negotiating deals, finding opportunities, and reducing risk. Contract lifecycle management tools automate the process and provide a central document repository for all contract documents, making them easier to review and approve.
A CLM solution also makes it easier to identify contract terms that need to be changed or negotiated. This can help reduce the time it takes to complete a contract and ensure that all relevant parties have access to the most current version. It also decreases the likelihood of misinterpretation and misunderstanding, saving both time and money.
For most businesses, the last thing they want is to give a customer an out of date contract. This can damage their trust in the company and lead to a variety of problems. Having a CLM system in place will ensure that all contracts are up to date and accurate which is essential for maintaining an ethical business.
Streamlined Processes
Many businesses routinely handle a high volume of contracts, such as employee and independent contractor agreements, vendor contracts, and non-disclosure agreements. If these contracts are not managed well, they can result in missed deadlines and signatures, which may cost the company money or snag them in legal trouble. They also pose a logistical challenge because they have to be filed, organized, and easily accessible in case they need to be edited or referenced.
For this reason, contract management systems are now more important than ever before. They help to eliminate the errors and delays caused by poor contracting processes and keep business on track to meet their goals.
The first generation of CLM tools focused on the contract in-flight phase, monitoring contracts as they were being negotiated or signed and integrating with other tools like cloud storage solutions and eSignature tools. However, these tools didn’t take into account the way lawyers and companies actually assemble, review, and finalize their contracts.
The best-of-breed contract management systems offer a more holistic view of the process. They provide workflows that automatically orient contracts to specific contract stages, such as submitting them for legal review before they are sent to financial systems to be executed. These workflows also ensure that the correct stakeholders are involved at the right time, eliminating bottlenecks and minimizing cycle times.
Increased Collaboration
Contracts are a key part of any business relationship and can impact every aspect of your company, from negotiating and signing to compliance and renewal. However, many businesses struggle to effectively manage contracts with inefficient processes and tools that are often siloed within departments.
CLM software addresses these challenges by bringing all the steps of managing contracts into one platform. Historically, the contract process has involved moving documents back and forth between tools for drafting, review, signature, storage, and tracking—resulting in unnecessary friction and risk. Contract management systems like Icertis and Apttus reduce this friction with a single unified workspace.
Moreover, a good Contract Lifecycle Management system will help your organization have more reliable contracts by providing the ability to track milestone dates and other important parameters. It will also allow you to automatically send reminders for upcoming or overdue tasks and milestones to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Additionally, contract management systems will provide the ability to store contracts in a secure repository that can be accessed at any time—regardless of where the files are stored (physically or digitally). This ensures that you have access to your contract data, even if one of your employees leaves the company or gets fired. This capability is particularly important for regulatory compliance, where having a complete and accurate history of your contract activity can be critical.
Improved Reporting
Contracts are the atomic units of commerce, but they’re also complicated legal documents that often involve multiple drafts and multiple reviews and signatures as they move from one person or team to another. In addition, they need to be stored, shared, and archived. As a result, many organizations struggle with a fragmented Contract Lifecycle Management process, using a combination of tools for each step of the contract lifecycle: drafting in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat, sharing via email or an eSignature tool, storage and tracking in Excel spreadsheets.
CLM software brings these tools together into a unified workspace that improves collaboration, efficiency, and data security. It reduces friction caused by moving contracts back and forth between different systems, and it increases transparency across the organization.
The best-of-breed solutions also support no-touch contract creation from within line-of-business systems like CRM or sourcing, and can auto-build contracts in bulk based on defined business rules. This significantly shortens cycle times, saves operating expenses, and enables faster time to revenue.
With automated alerts and notifications, it’s easy to keep up with key contract deadlines and terms. A good CLM system can also help you avoid risks by ensuring that all your i’s are dotted and your t’s are crossed before a contract goes live, and that only the right people have access to each contract.