A Guide to Implementing Contract Management Software

Contract Management Software Defined

Contract management software is software that is designed for the management, storage, and tracking of contracts. Additionally, this software helps contract managers and business owners during every step of a contract’s lifecycle, from contract creation all the way to renewal and expiry dates.

Contracts themselves are rather simple, but the process of managing them through their lifecycles certainly isn’t easy. Contracts are legally binding documents that involve multiple parties with specific obligations and rights pertaining to the agreement.

Digital contract management is the way forward, especially given automation capabilities and several security benefits. Many of today’s industry leaders have made the transition to digital contract management software solutions so they can maximize results and manage contracts as efficiently as possible.

The Importance of Contract Management

Without an effective contract management system, you will unnecessarily increase risk potential and waste lots of time. By systematizing your contract management processes, you improve organizational performance which impacts business-to-client relationships. An effective contract management system means less risk, less human error, more deadlines achieved, more savings, and more results.

20 Advantages of Contract Management Software For Your Business

Give your company the competitive edge by leveraging all the features of our Dock 365 Contract Management Software.

Here are 20 advantages of implementing our software solution:

1. Ensure organization
2. Improve client acquisition, retention, and satisfaction
3. Increase time-efficiency
4. Contract template library
5. Clause library
6. Effectively manage high contract volumes
7. Reduction in human error
8. Utilize real-time updates
9. Improve accuracy and speed of contract renewals, approvals, and proposals
10. Automate workflows and tasks
11. Sort documents and contracts in a centralized repository
12. Improve contract collaboration
13. Employ the custom filtered search function
14. Create more accurate reports
15. Conduct detailed data analysis
16. Contract archiving and tracking
17. Microsoft 365 and SharePoint integrations
18. Sertifi ESignature integration
19. Increased security
20. Single Sign-On (SSO) feature

A Deep Dive into the Benefits of Contract Management Software

To maintain excellent performance in your contract management process, using contract management software can help in the creation, storage, and management of high-volumes of complex contracts.

Let’s discuss the many benefits of adopting a contract management software solution:

• Increased speed of contract lifecycles: With preapproved contract template and clause libraries, you can design contracts with client data that auto populates into appropriate fields. Building contracts has never been quicker or simpler. With templates, you can create specific types of contracts at a larger scale. Automated contract lifecycle workflows also make negotiations and contract signing fast and easy, allowing for speedy turnarounds and effective communication during these stages.
• Effective collaboration and communication: From the very beginning of a contract’s lifecycle, whether its contract building/creation or the contract request and intake step, you can receive all the information you need from your client in an organized, centralized way. Contract management software has version tracking features that show live changes to documents, so you can be fully aware of real-time iterations of every document.
• Simplicity in searching for contracts and clauses: Within a cloud-based, centralized contract repository, you can conduct customizable filtered searches to find every little detail. Want to save a specific filter you used to find a certain type of contract? With our contract management solution, you can do just that. Filtered searches allow you to save incredible amounts of time when compared to the tradition, manual search process of the past.
• Highly secure: Contract management software is far more secure than traditional paper-based contract management. With specifications like data encryption and features like permissions-based accessibility, contract management software can help keep all of your business’s data and client’s information protected. By simply switching over to digital contract management, you mitigate risk potential.
• Backup and restore data: With a SharePoint-based contract management system, you can backup and restore data at any time. Backup, recover, and restore important contracts, documents, and other data in SharePoint Backup and SharePoint Restore, where all of your data is readily available.
• Scalable: Is business booming but you’re needing a solution to keep up with demands? Use contract management software so that you don’t encounter any bottlenecks. Contract management software is the key to scaling your business – maximize the volume of contracts your business can take on and build, and don’t stress about the headaches that come from ineffective contract management.
• Optimize contract storage: With a high-volume of contracts that your company consistently manages, having a centralized and cloud-based contract repository is a must so that everything stays organized.

Why Contract Management Software is Ideal For Teams

Human resources, legal, sales, finance, and procurement teams are some of the most common types of teams that utilize contract management software to reach objectives and increase efficiency.

Human resources teams

Human resources teams typically build a great quantity of contracts, especially when considering new hires within larger organizations. The human resource department uses contract management software to create contracts (most commonly from preapproved contract templates).

Legal teams

A company’s legal team will oversee a significant amount of contract management processes. The legal team uses contract management software for building and managing contracts.

Sales teams

The best benefit of a contract management software system to a sales team is the ability to create contracts instantly and then close a deal. The speed and efficiency provided by contract management software is like no other, so sales teams leverage this software for the speed and for the integrations included to make other contract-based actions simpler and faster.

Finance teams

A company’s finance team uses contract management software to boost visibility and transparency. With the software, finance can manage billing pertaining to contracts.

Procurement teams

Lastly, the majority of companies have a procurement team that processes vendor and supplier goods and services. With contract management software, procurement can oversee terms provided by vendors and suppliers and manage renewal dates.

6 Common Challenges When Implementing Contract Management Software

Unsatisfactory implementation of contract management software is sadly all too common. Keep tabs on these 6 implementation challenges so your business is well-prepared to utilize all the incredible capabilities that contract management software has to offer.

Challenge 1: Taking the implementation stage too fast

Challenge 2: Misunderstanding by the business user of modern-day contract management

Challenge 3: Automating individualized contracts rather than repeatable, formularized contracts

Challenge 4: Failure by the implementation specialist to plan for continued help and change management

Challenge 5: Ineffective communication between the implementation specialist and the business owner

Challenge 6: Failure to end the refining process of system implementation

Keeping these six challenges in mind can prepare you in your implementation strategy of contract management software. Understanding these challenges can also help you know what to expect from the implementation specialist during this stage. By having a solution-focused effort between the business user and the implementation specialist, you can ensure success when you undergo the transition to managing contracts in an electronic repository with your contract management software. 

Conclusion

Contract management software can be customized for your business’s unique needs, key objectives, and scalability potential. By using the most optimal contract management software equipped with SharePoint and Microsoft Office 365 integrations, you can take your contract management process to the next level.

SharePoint can greatly enhance your contract management system. SharePoint can amplify the functions of your contract management solution with its various features that will increase collaboration, productivity, efficiency, and results in real-time. For secure, accessible, and efficient contract management, we highly recommend adding SharePoint to your business’s system.

We welcome you to leverage all the benefits that our Dock 365 Contract Management System has to offer. Maximize results, increase collaboration, boost productivity, and improve return on investment in your business with our SharePoint-based Contract Management System.