Effective contract management is a critical component of your business infrastructure. Everything your sales and marketing people have promised can be undone with a simple clerical error. Even if the product or service exceeds customer expectations, the overall customer experience can be damaged by a misplaced document or a bungled contract renewal.
In the euphoria that follows the landing of a large contract, it can be easy to forget that the people handling the paperwork often having nothing to do with the utilization of the product or service you just sold them. Their job is to “dot the ‘i’s’ and cross the ‘t’s’,” and if that process doesn’t run smoothly, there may not be a renewal in your future.
A weak link in the contract management chain leaves your company at risk of liability for non-performance of contract obligations, as well as lost opportunities for future renewals and additional business with this customer. The problem lies in identifying any weak spots before they can do any damage:
Creation
Does the landing of a new contract initiate a detailed and clearly mapped process, or is it more a case of “all hands on deck”? Can you fast track or prioritize when needed, or do you just throw more people at the bigger contracts? Do you always know for certain where the latest version of the contract is in real time?
Management
Once the contract is approved and signed, where does it go? Who has access to it? Could an auditor request for the contract and all supporting documentation be handled easily or would that throw your department into crisis mode? If there’s a mid-contract dispute, could all relevant personnel be identified from the documentation?
Renewal
Are you able to plan for renewals or do you get surprised when the document lands in your inbox? Have you ever missed a renewal date and lost a contract or, worse still, missed an auto-renewal and got stick with an unprofitable contract for another year?
Our comprehensive Contract Management Software solution operates with two separate sites for contract creation and contract management. Using templates built on industry best practices, you can manage every element of contract workflow from creation to management and ongoing renewal. Secure access mitigates the risk of loss of version control, and the real-time dashboard provides up-to-the-minute status reports. If the contract has specific performance criteria, event-based alerts can also be set-up to automatically notify all relevant personnel if any performance failure is reported.
If you’re wondering if you have a weak link in your contract management chain, request a free, no-obligation demo and let us show you how to leverage the full potential of proactive contract management.