7 Tips For Better Contract Management

Seven easy ways to improve any contract management program.

Managing hundreds and thousands of contracts can be a difficult task. Contract lifecycle management best practices like these 7 tips we have put together can help eliminate bottlenecks and increase, as well as recognize, revenue.

Create and Use Templates

ompanies should create and use templates that are used throughout the organization. Utilizing contract templates will help ensure concise and consistent formatting on each of the company’s contracts. Above format, templates for contracts will also standardize language regarding various parts of the contract such as terms and clauses. This increases professionalism and integrity across the enterprise.

Centralize in a Single Location

Keeping contracts in a single location allows for an organization to stay streamlined and on top of their existing and previous contracts. When contractual documents are all in one place, they also become more easily searchable and can be referenced quickly and easily.

Foster Collaboration

This tip for managing contracts goes hand-in-hand with the previous one. When contracts are in a single central repository and are easy to find, any number of collaborators are able to locate the document and make the required edits or comments. Another way to foster collaboration is to get contract adjustments outside of email. Email is a collaboration killer. It is difficult to find the latest version of a contract, let alone collaborate on approval and review. Contract management software is great way to manage the drafting and review process.

Automate Reminder Notifications

One of the many great things about advanced technology is being able to setup automated reminders related to specific tasks. This is no different when it comes to contract lifecycle management. Reminders should be automatic and set up at each critical stage of a contract. These reminders can be related to certain approval tasks or correspond with important deadlines such as contract renewal and expiration dates.

Leverage Current Tools

Many organizations already have tools at their fingertips that can help them take control of contract lifecycle management. Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint online is one of those tools. Look for software and apps that integrate with your existing technology. Not only will this take the contract process to the next level, but it will also make it easier for users through the organization to learn and understand.

Stay Audit Ready Always

Another downfall of managing contracts via email is the lack of audit preparedness it provides. Whether or not an organization anticipates an audit, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve and log contract-related operations. The best way to do this is to create an audit trail or invest in a contract management software that provides an audit trail. The step-by-step documented history of each and every contract will streamline the audit process should it occur.

Value Insight

If there is not a dashboard or monitoring tool in your contract management process, it becomes difficult to know the current status, updates or action history on any given contractual document. It is important for an organization to not only value insight but invest in it as well. To do so is to provide the organization with a contract lifecycle management tool that provide a contracts administrator with insightful data at every given stage.

Contract management software can help organizations implement these best practices quickly and easily. Learn more about ConvergePoint complete Contract Lifecycle Management Software and schedule a demo now.