Nearly every company that manages large contracts has an automated system to manage them. No matter how large or small your company, there are signs that it is relying on ineffective contract management and you need to change to CLM tools.
What are CLM tools?
The digitization of business has led to a huge boom in contract lifecycle management tools over the past ten year. These tools are being used by companies to automate the contract management process, from beginning to ending.
The key stages of contract management are initiation, authoring and workflow. They also allow for negotiation, approval, execution, postexecution management, renewal, and negotiation. These solutions can improve consistency, save time, enhance the quality of your agreements and help you make informed decisions using data insights.
These are the 4 signs your team should have CLM tools
These are signs that your business must change to modern contract management.
- Contracts that are lost or not accessible
Did you know that 71% companies lose 10% of their contracts. You’re not the only one who is spending time looking through filing cabinets, searching your email inbox or searching through folders on your hard drive for your contracts documents is a sign you need a tool .
Inaccessibility to contracts not only is inconvenient, but also creates problems in the following areas.
Compliance
It’s almost impossible to keep track of all your contractual obligations without a central storage location.
Scalability
It is not sustainable to store documents in different locations when you have thousands of contracts. Searching manually for contracts reduces productivity and leads to decreased business growth.
Version control
You’ve spent hours searching for the right contract. How do you make sure you have the correct version? Redlining is inevitable in contract management cycles. If you don’t have access to the document, it could be that you are referring to an obsolete document.
- Revenue Leakage
Inadequate contract management can result in missed expiration dates being missed, accidentally renewed agreements, and missed opportunities to renegotiate a better rate. This can all lead to costly human mistakes. Additionally, revenue leakage is more common the more contracts your company handles each day.
Contracts are your company’s lifeline. Mismanaging them could be disastrous for your business.
- No Insight Into Your Contracts
Data insights are an essential component of adding value in your contract management process. You can’t see the inside of your contract repository and learn from your mistakes to improve future contracts.
When you don’t have access to your contracts, you’re effectively blindfolded. It’s possible to be locked in a contract that doesn’t work for your business, have compliance issues that aren’t necessary, or have bottlenecks during the contracting process.
- Low Contract Performance Metrics
You want your business agreements to be successful. You may be wondering why your contracts are not performing as expected.
Manual management can make it seem like you’re putting a lot of effort into your contracting process, only for your agreements to fail. A comprehensive contract management platform could make this process much simpler and more efficient.
CLM tools that work best for businesses
After you have decided that your company is ready to move to a technology-driven solution for contract management, it is time to choose a service provider.
Here is a list of the top contract management software tools.
DocuSign CLM
DocuSign allows users streamline contract lifecycles through the transformation of manual processes into automated digital. This allows for faster deal closures and increased compliance. It also results in more productive employees.
PandaDoc
PandaDoc seamlessly integrates to every major CRM company. This allows teams to create, track, approve, and send agreements without ever leaving their CRM platform. PandaDoc can be added to your CRM as an add-on. This will eliminate the need for multiple systems.
Icertis Contract Management
Icertis is a cloud-based contract management platform that is widely used. The platform’s intuitive and user-friendly interface allows companies transform their contracts into valuable assets. Icertis has powerful features that simplify every type of contract across their entire lifecycles and throughout the organization.
Agiloft CLM Suite
Agiloft offers fully customizable features to help you buy and sell side contracts. These include templates, clause libraries, flexible workflows and AI integration.
Parley Pro
Parley Pro, an all-in-one contract administration solution, streamlines your entire contract lifecycle. Parley Pro makes it easy to initiate contracts faster using pre-approved templates. It also facilitates productive collaboration, reduces human error, automates approvals, provides valuable insight into your repository, as well as reducing human error.
Implementing a CLM tool is the first step.
To improve your company’s contracting processes with modern CLM tools, you need to have a plan. A successful software rollout requires careful planning and an understanding of the impact on your company.
You and your team will be able to set goals for improving your contracting process once you have an established execution plan. This can be done by setting benchmarks and defining milestones for your CLM. Your company will reap the benefits of the software quickly and continue to benefit from the contracts it has created if you follow the correct rollout protocols.
