5 Factors To Check If A CLM Solution Fits Your Organization

Today we are going to discuss the top 5 factors you should check to understand if a proposed CLM solution fits your organization or not. At Dock, we have served businesses from different industries, dimensions, and multiple geographical regions. From our experience collaborating and communicating with businesses around the globe regarding their contract management insights, we learned that there are a few critical factors that need to be considered with priority for achieving the best results.

If you are looking to start using a CLM solution, the first thing is to determine whether your organization is ready to implement such a solution. If your sales team works in an industry like technology or healthcare and has a complex sales process, then it could be worth considering investing in a CLM solution. Even if you have fewer complex processes or only have a few types of products that need to be sold at any given time, getting a CLM software solution for your organization helps optimize the business operations for sure.

Let’s start decoding the details.

Size of your organization

The size of your organization will determine the number and type of CLM solutions you should consider. Dock 365’s CLM software can fit businesses with very small contract management teams to enterprises with over 1000 employees. As it is a cloud-based CMS powered by Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, geographical location, time, and security are not a concern. Let us list out a few more factors/aspects that can be inspected closely to make the right decision.

Employees: How many people work for you? Are they located in one location or spread out across multiple locations? If so, how much travel is required to get them to and from their respective sites?

Contracts: How many contracts do you have with vendors and other customers that require tracking data such as revenue by country, product category, vendor name, etc. Do these contracts span over multiple years or are they more short-term based on need (such as 3-to-6-month periods)?

Vendors: What types of products/services do vendors provide that require tracking information about purchase volume by region/country/language, etc. Does it make sense for each vendor's business model to fit into one system, versus having separate systems for each type?

Ask these questions to yourself after checking the figures and facts related to your organization. A SaaS CMS will be ideal for modern businesses which require the flexibility to work from anywhere, anytime.

How complex is your sales process

The complexity of your sales process is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a CLM solution. Businesses with a complex sales process can get a guaranteed productivity boost by implementing CLM software. Whereas others with simple or short sales processes can also choose a CLM that is scalable and flexible. This makes them future-ready and helps them to spend their resources and time on priority tasks right away.

The Sales Process

You'll want to think about how many sales stages there are, what channels you use for lead generation, and how many people are involved in each stage. As an example: If it takes four steps from lead generation through closing a deal at a customer site, then that's four steps worth checking on before deciding whether your organization should invest in a CRM system like Dynamics 365.

The number of products/services offered by your company also impacts this decision because sometimes having multiple products requires more complex processes than just one singular item. If your company already owns an advanced CRM system like Dynamics 365, you need a powerful CLM solution like the one Dock 365 is offering. We are also providing a Dynamics 365 integration into our CMS, thus doubling the overall value.

Permission levels and departmental access

Here are some questions you need to find answers to determine whether the proposed CLM solution can handle your business demands and challenges.

• How many people need access to the system?
• What are the roles of the people who will use the system?
• What are the roles of the people who will manage the system?
• How do you manage contract permissions and document access in your organization?
• Is there a process for adding new users, removing them from groups, or changing their role in a group?

Dock 365’s contract management software comes with an advanced settings dashboard that allows you to control and manage all permissions and access-related concerns.

Obligations and legal compliance risks

Here are some critical aspects you should consider seeing how the CLM software handles the obligations and legal compliance risks in managing contracts. The following 3 areas are very important.

• Legal requirements
• Contract risk management
• Data governance and privacy issues

These three factors are closely related, so they should be considered together when evaluating your current contract management solution's ability to meet the needs of your organization. In general, legal compliance risks relate to meeting contractual obligations as well as specific types of data governance requirements or privacy considerations.

Do you have Microsoft 365 Subscription

If you have a Microsoft 365 Subscription, then you can implement the CLM software cost-effectively. However, if you do not have a Microsoft 365 subscription, we recommend that you purchase both the CLM software and the Microsoft 365 subscription together at once.

Microsoft 365 Subscription gives you access to a bundle of tools and platforms designed for business use. The best solution for you is a product that prioritizes these features. You must consider these factors when looking for a CLM solution.

Conclusion

To make your decision, it’s important to consider all the factors we explained above. We hope this list will help you narrow down the options you have in finding a CLM solution that fits your organization!

As we have considered all these aspects while designing our contract management solution, we would recommend you to take a free demo of our CMS to see if that is something you are searching for. We are sure you will be impressed. Book your demo below!