However, many companies today place little emphasis on contract lifecycle management optimization, and instead opt for subpar contracting systems or manual methods to oversee their contracts.
The key here is that a poor contract lifecycle management process is more expensive than you may think. Properly investing in contract lifecycle management (CLM) software can cut costs in numerous ways and can improve the contracting experience for your internal teams and for other relevant stakeholders. As your contract volume goes up and as your business scales, you’ll want to ensure you have a dedicated CLM software solution in place. Considering all the stages that a contract goes through and the amount of people who review and edit a single contract, it’s clear that managing contract lifecycles can be an expensive process – so invest wisely in a CLM solution that can help.
Content:-
- Build Efficiency in Your Contract Management Processes
- Reduce Contract Lifecycle Times
- Proactively Manage Autorenewals
- Boost Visibility
- Save Time
- Reduce the Cost of Security
- Cut Costs With Digital Contract Storage
- Efficient Contract Tracking
- Access Contract Insights Instantly
- Develop Accurate Reports
Now, let’s discuss several reasons why contract lifecycle management software can reduce costs.
1. Build Efficiency in Your Contract Management Processes
With contract automation, you can reduce the time of contract lifecycles. Contract automation makes your contracts accessible to the right people at the right times throughout your company’s departments. This ensures that correct actions are taken in a timely manner so that contracts can move through their lifecycles without unnecessary delays. You can cut down on time spent locating your contracts by having a centralized repository with advanced search and filtering functions. Storing your contracts in a cloud-secure repository means you no longer have to keep your contracts in a physical storage space.
2. Reduce Contract Lifecycle Times
From contract authoring to contract expiration and renewals, contract lifecycle management software streamlines every stage. This means that you can decrease the lifespan of your contracts, allowing you to create and execute more contracts and develop more relationships with vendors and clients. With faster contract lifecycles, you can continue to optimize your business’s efficiency and drive results.
Ultimately, the speed of your contract lifecycles depends upon the collaboration and communication of your various departments when working on a given contract. With contract automation and customizable workflows, you can create an environment for seamless contract management so that reviews, approvals, negotiations, and signing can be conducted easily, leading to fast turnarounds. Dock also offers integrations with DocuSign, Adobe Sign, Sertifi, Microsoft Teams, and other integrations and apps to simplify these processes.
3. Proactively Manage Autorenewals
With automated alerts and reminders, you’ll be sure to never miss and automatically renewed contract or expiration date ever again. In this way, you can avoid accidentally renewing contracts that are unfavorable for your business. CLM allows you to integrate all of your key dates in an interactive and filterable calendar so you can select certain people in your organization to be reminded of key dates and obligations. In a manual contract management system, you can easily miss important dates and it can be tricky to stay on top of your autorenewals. Agreements that auto renew that might be considered unfavorable for your company can cost thousands, so be sure to configure automated alerts so all of your departments can be aware ahead of time of these dates.
4. Boost Visibility
Increased contract visibility means better risk management, collaboration, and communication. All of these factors lead to saved time and money. When your company’s various departments oversee contracts separately, you’ll often see miscommunications and confusion arise. With CLM software, you can keep all communications stored in a single source of truth where all collaborative efforts and document versions are kept. In addition, you can easily view the performance, location, and status of your contracts with CLM software. Version tracking is also simplified, as various versioning and redlining tools are available along with the most recent iteration of your documents so that everyone can be working on the right document.
5. Save Time
We all know the old adage, “time is money.” Contract lifecycle management will certainly save you time in generally every stage that a contract goes through during its lifecycle. Imagine the time it takes to prepare a contract to send it in the mail for a signature (and then receive it once signed). In this example, receiving a signed and executed contract could take days or even weeks. However, CLM software often comes equipped with electronic signature integrations that make signing easy. You can now receive secure, authenticated signed contracts within minutes.
6. Reduce the Cost of Security
Configure permissions-based accessibility rules within your CLM software so that only authorized employees can view, edit, and send contracts. Keep your contracts safe with the best contract lifecycle management software so you don’t have to worry about the financial burden that comes with security breaches and subpar security software. Now you can have full confidence in the protection of your sensitive data and you can allocate more of your resources towards strategic contract initiatives.
7. Cut Costs With Digital Contract Storage
Your cloud-based, centralized repository offers a safe and organized place to store unlimited contracts. Save time when locating exact contracts and clauses with advanced filter features so you don’t spend time rummaging through shared drives and filing cabinets. In addition, your co-workers can also access the proper version of contract draft so you can all collaborate on the right version at any time.
8. Efficient Contract Tracking
Successful contract lifecycle management comes from the ability to efficiently track and monitor all important dates and deadlines within your process. By tracking your contracts and assessing key dates and notating them within your contract repository, your departments stay proactive so that contracts can be properly overseen. In this way, you can make well-informed decisions in terms of contract termination, negotiation, and renewal.
9. Access Contract Insights Instantly
Your contract lifecycle management software comes equipped with a user-friendly, proactive dashboard that keeps all key insights in single view. Oversee deadlines, the status and location of contracts, and contract performance on this unique feature. With instant access to whatever you need, you can save time and money and get your agreements moving forward faster.
10. Develop Accurate Reports
Detailed reporting is one of the main advantages provided by contract lifecycle management software. The ability to run reports on your contract data can help you manage financial information and easily identify which contracts are set to expire in 30-, 60-, and 90-day intervals so your teams can stay ahead. In addition, reporting can help you pinpoint areas of strength and weakness so you can leverage resources appropriately and devote efforts where they are needed most.
Conclusion
Managing contract lifecycles can be very expensive, so we're here to inform you on all the different reasons why investing in the best contract lifecycle management software can seriously help your company cut down on costs for the long haul. Making the initial investment in contract lifecycle management software is well-worth it, and Dock offers an affordable and user-friendly approach to contract management that leverages your existing Microsoft 365 infrastructure. If you're in the market for a dedicated contract lifecycle management software solution, reach out and we would love to assist you with a complimentary demo of our solution.
Learn more about our Dock 365 Contract Management System here.
Learn more about Contract Lifecyle Management (CLM) Software here.
For more information, we welcome you to schedule a free demo with us today.
