How Do The Best CLM Tools Benefit Modern Businesses?

In this era of overwhelming technology, businesses heavily rely on automation to simplify their routine tasks. Whatever the need, there is a modern solution, from tracking leads to monitoring payments. No wonder organizations are turning to CLM tools to augment the contract lifecycle. Contract management software enables the legal team to increase productivity without compromising efficiency or accuracy.  

They can employ contract automation to generate, review, share, approve, and execute agreements from a single platform. But the rewards of the best CLM tools are not just for the legal department. Every business operation, whether sales, procurement, or finance, hinges on contracts. Hence, legal contract management software will benefit the whole organization. Keep reading to find out how.  

Why do businesses require Contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools? 

Organizations must rapidly produce effective and compliant contracts to maintain smooth daily operations. And CLM tools are the only way for scaling firms to meet the expectations of their expanding target markets. Contract management software allows the legal department to employ workflows to manage the end-to-end contracting process. 

With CLM tools, they can oversee hundreds of contractual agreements within a centralized system, efficiently balancing speed, and quality. Digital contracting solutions speed up each stage of the contract lifecycle management process. Paper contracts and email chains are no longer necessary for businesses to negotiate deals. Also, the best CLM tools offer the benefits of contract risk management. Thus, automating contract management means greater efficiency and returns at less risk.   

What are the best CLM tools offered by Dock 365 contract management software? 

Built on Microsoft 365, Dock contract management software provides diverse capabilities to handle legal agreements. SharePoint contract management makes it easier for organizations to handle umpteen contracts in an individual location. Apart from safe and hassle-free storage, the best CLM tools offered by Dock 365 contract management system include: 
 

• Contract templates & Clause library  

Contract management systems enable the legal department to set up a digital archive of pre-approved templates. Therefore, users can just pick any of the prewritten and vetted templates to start the contract lifecycle within minutes. It is especially helpful for businesses dealing with low-risk agreements like NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements), employee contracts, sales agreements, and so on. Organizations can also store sought-after terms and stipulations in the digital clause library for easy retrieval during contract generation.  

• Digital repositories 

Another popular contract lifecycle management tool is digital repositories. SharePoint contract management empowers organizations to securely store all their executed contracts and legal documents in a centralized location. Thus, users can anytime, anywhere access contractual agreements without a long hassle. It saves a lot of time and money for organizations to have all the relevant contracts in an easily accessible platform.  

• Contract redlining  

Manual contract management means long and convoluted contract negotiation processes. Businesses with numerous stakeholders and approvers cannot afford to depend upon back-and-forth emails to negotiate agreements. They need quick and error-free results. The most efficient technique to achieve that is the CLM tools offered by contract management software for online negotiations. Contract redlining enables users to edit, share, discuss, comment, and negotiate contracts within a single document. Thus, stakeholders can easily keep track of all the changes and suggestions made by the parties concerned.  

• Customizable workflows 

When multiple parties are involved in the contract lifecycle, it is hard to keep track of them all. Fortunately, contract management solutions offer customizable contract workflows to handle the demands and needs of individual businesses. Depending upon the size and nature of the organization, users can set up automated workflows to chart the path of contracting processes like reviews, approval, and execution. It is a stress-free way for organizations to ensure that the contractual agreement gets to the right person at the right time. With user-based permissions, only authorized parties will have access to specific dashboards and databases. Thus, enterprises can avoid contract data leakage and overload. Also, there’s definite accountability and responsibility in contract lifecycle management.  

• E-signature solutions 

Contract management systems come with secure electronic signature options to facilitate the entire contract lifecycle within a single platform. Once the digital contracts are approved, organizations can get them straight to the counterparties within the CLM software to get signed and executed. There is no need for a hard copy, as e-signatures apps like Sertifi, Adobe Sign, and DocuSign are legally binding. It accelerates the contract lifecycle and empowers the organization to close deals faster. With bulk actions, multiple-language support, and export functions available with electronic signatures, executing business agreements is easier than ever before.  

• Automated reminders 

Contract lifecycle management does not end with all the parties signing the business agreement. Even after execution, organizations must closely monitor significant milestones and deadlines like contract renewals, termination, and payments. When enterprises have countless contracts to deal with, post-contract management becomes a tiresome process. Here’s where CLM tools come in handy. The whole idea of contract management solutions is to ease up routine tasks. With automated reminders, organizations can keep an eye on the entire contract lifecycle of any number of agreements. Thus, thanks to the contract management solution, the relevant parties will receive timely notifications so that organizations do not have to endure legal and financial risks due to missed deadlines.  

• Obligation tracking 

To get the maximum value out of every business agreement, enterprises must keep track of all the significant terms and conditions outlined in it. Failing to adhere to clauses can lead to legal and financial repercussions for the organization. Also, it can sour customer and vendor relationships beyond repair. That is why businesses need to pay special attention to consequential stipulations in contractual agreements. One of the major CLM tools is the tracking function, it enables users to identify and set up automated alerts for specific obligations. Thus, contract management software helps organizations to ensure all the terms stated in the contract are being fulfilled by all the parties.  

• OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and AI capabilities  

For years, legal contract management software has been utilizing AI and OCR functions to streamline the contracting process. Artificial Intelligence enables organizations to efficiently track contract data, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), and other performance metrics. AI contract management software empowers the legal department to effectively pull data and run actionable reports on business agreements. Further, the OCR function transforms any file or document into easily searchable and retrievable data. With this CLM tool, once a legal document is digitized, users can quickly sift through huge volumes of files and information to find relevant data. OCR and AI empower organizations to utilize the abundant mine of actionable intelligence available in business agreements.  
 

How do the best CLM tools help the sales, procurement, and finance departments? 

From simplifying contract generation to monitoring milestones, there is a lot that CLM tools have to offer the legal department. But an accelerated and optimized contract lifecycle just does not end with making the job easier for the legal counsel. Here’s how contract lifecycle management tools can help the sales, procurement, and finance departments. 

• Access to contract data 

CLM tools offer sales, finance, and procurement departments a centralized location to access contract data. They can utilize executed contracts and metadata to optimize their individual processes. For example, salespeople can derive actionable intelligence from business agreements to enhance their bargaining power. Similarly, through contract management software, the finance team can get real-time contract data to better track the flow of expenses and payments. 

• Self-serve contracts 

Businesses can benefit greatly if the legal staff is relieved of the responsibility of managing the whole contract lifecycle. Other departments can utilize CLM tools to self-serve contracts within the contract management platform. The pre-approved templates and clause libraries can ensure the competency and legality of business agreements. Moreover, the legal can stay on top of the contract lifecycle to establish contract compliance and performance. And the sales and vendor departments can churn out agreements to close deals in no time.  

• Oversee contract lifecycle 

Enterprises dealing with high-value and high-risks contracts cannot afford to lose track of a single deadline or obligation. That is why the legal department needs all the help it can get to monitor business contracts. Integrating contract management software with Salesforce or Dynamics CRM (Customer Relationship Management) enables the sales and vendor teams to contribute to contract management without stepping on legal toes. They can monitor the entire contract lifecycle using the CLM tools from within the CRM platform. 

• Improve customer and vendor journey 

Incorporating the sales and vendor departments in contract management can lead to efficient procurement and sales processes. They can utilize access to the contract lifecycle to identify and rectify bottlenecks, so the agreements get to the final stage faster. Moreover, the ability to quickly retrieve contract data while engaging with customers and suppliers. CLM tools ensure that all parties have a seamless journey without unnecessary delays.  

In conclusion 

As we have already discussed, the wide range of CLM tools offered by contract management solutions enhances the entire contracting process. The legal can accelerate contract creation, negotiation, execution, and management from a centralized platform. But the use of contract lifecycle management tools goes beyond the scope of the legal department. Sales, vendor, and finance teams also benefit from automated workflows and reminders. Moreover, searchable contract databases mean a better journey for customers and vendors.  

Book a live demo today to optimize your entire business operation with automated contract management.