#contractmanagementprocess

[razorsign]

𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗥𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗿𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻!

Discover how a leading Indian paints company transformed its contract management from chaos to control with RazorSign’s automated solutions.

👉 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘄!

[contraxaware]

How to Set Up Automatic Contract Reminders for Managers

When your team is working remotely, your managers may face more challenges than usual monitoring contract statuses. By setting up automatic contract reminders for managers, however, you can provide your team with complete insight. This is an essential element of your WFH plan for approving and managing contracts. Let them see your contract statuses and keep them informed about the steps that need to be taken next. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Involve managers early in the process.

Often, managers need early insights into the contract management cycle. Your normal process might not bring your contract managers in until further down the cycle. However, this method may cause difficulty for your management team, especially when they're working remotely and not in the office communicating with one another. Your contract management system doesn't just have to provide automatic contract reminders for managers when it's time for them to take action on a contract. You may also want to institute notifications that a new contract has been created and allow contract managers to look over the terms of the contract. 

2. Work with the management team to see when they are most likely to step in. 

Take a look at the places where your management team usually needs to look over contracts. Many of those steps may not normally take place within your contract management system. In fact, your managers may typically simply step into an office or work directly with a team to clear up questions. When you make the transition to remote work, however, your management team may need those vital reminders and notifications to recognize that they're needed. Set up your contract management system so that it automatically provides those triggers and notifications. Set up the same automatic contract reminders for managers in other teams and key personnel in other departments, too.

3. Provide a notification and trigger the correct action each time the contract moves to a new stage.

Your contract managers may normally simply assume that contracts are moving smoothly through their normal stages. But when you make the transition to remote work, your contract management system may need to take care of many of those important reminders. This might include:  Triggering contract scoring automatically.  Contract scoring can help you get a better idea of where your contracts have the potential to pose a danger to your business. Automatic contract scoring will ensure that you do not miss potential risks along the way. Send a notification of those scores to managers so they can make recommendations as needed.  Letting managers know when contracts are approved.  An automatic notification as contracts move through the approval stage can allow the management team to get started on other projects. Automatic contract reminders for managers can also trigger the managerial workflow to take care of other tasks needed to get started on the work for a specific client.  Triggering emails for clients and vendors whose contracts are nearing renewal.  You don't want to miss out on renewing a contract, especially during this difficult period. Failing to renew a contract with a vendor or subcontractor can cause your work to slow down, while failing to renew a client contract may mean that you don't have work at a necessary time. Instead, trigger emails and other reminders that will help you get started on those key contracts.  Offering managers reminders and information when the contract process stalls.  Sometimes, your contracts may sit in a specific stage of the approval process longer than anticipated. Set your contract management system to trigger reminders that will allow your management team greater insights into why the contract has stalled. Automatic contract reminders for managers can also prompt them on what they may need to do to help get things moving again.

4. Offer reminders about each next step in the process.

man working from home to catch deadline of his new project Your management team may know each step in the contract process, from completing those initial templates to ultimately renewing your contracts. Other members of the team, however, may not have the same insights into those processes. Set up your contract management system to offer vital reminders, both to the management team and to the other team members working with those contracts. Consider: When do employees need to loop in a manager?How should employees handle questions about contract negotiations, phrasing, or terms?What is the next step in the contract process? Does it needs to move to a new stage of the approval process, or do you need to do a compliance check on a contract? Who needs to be notified? Including these reminders in the system doesn’t just ensure that your management team has a solid idea of what's going on with each contract. It also provides your employees with the insights they need to accomplish their daily work tasks remotely. Automatic contract reminders for managers streamline those processes and help salespeople connect with your customers, vendors, and subcontractors. 

5. Offer reminders to your management team about contract terms, industry requirements, and compliance needs.

The best managers have a solid understanding of how your business operates. They may also, however, rely on your other employees to provide them with vital insights and knowledge concerning specific processes or requirements. Make sure that your contract management software includes reminders about those vital facts when needed.  Making the transition to remote work may mean rethinking some of the processes you use on a regular basis. By setting your contract management software up correctly, however, you can provide your entire team with the information they need and allow your managers to follow each contract through the process. Sign up for a one-on-one demo to see how you can customize your company’s workflows. Read the full article

[contraxaware]

Prepare an Action Plan for Handling Your Current Vendor Contracts During COVID-19 When the Office Is Empty

Your office is empty due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. You may have no idea when your workers will return to the office. In some cases, what your business will look like when they return may be completely different. At the same time, you may have a substantial number of vendors with whom you already have contracts, waiting to deliver their products and services to your business. As you’re creating your paperless contract approval system and COVID-19 action plan, make time to consider your vendors. Do you have an action plan in place to handle them?

Step One: Determine What You Need from Your Vendor Contracts During COVID-19

You may have vastly different needs from your vendors as your business navigates the current public health crisis. Also, your needs may change again once the economy starts to reopen and your business starts to resume normal services. Sit down (virtually!) with your team and discuss your continuing needs. Consider: What are your actual vendor needs now, in the current situation?  You may have some increased needs due to changing circumstances. For example, if you use an outsourced IT provider, you may need to increase your current services due to increased remote workers, who may need more assistance navigating the technologies they use each day. You may also note an increased need for cybersecurity, or you may find that you need to improve your contract management solutions to make those contracts more easily accessible for your remote workers.  Other needs may have decreased. You might not, for example, need your cleaning team to come in as often when there is no one actually in the office. You might also need fewer products or services, depending on what your customers' needs look like during this time.  What will your vendor needs look like as the situation resolves?  Don't just consider your immediate, short-term needs! You should also consider what you will need as you return to the normal flow of work. Many businesses anticipate a significant uptick in business as things start to reopen, especially those in the entertainment industry. If you have supplies delivered regularly, you may want to go ahead and accept those regular deliveries to help you plan ahead for after the crisis resolves.  Work with teams across your business to allow you to assess your needs both during and after the crisis fully. You may be able to shift some of your services to allow you to fully utilize your existing vendor contracts during COVID-19 with few alterations. However, you may need to increase some services for the duration of the crisis. Also, you want to be sure that you have an adequate assessment of what your business really needs. 

Step Two: Contact Your Vendors About Your Vendor Contracts During COVID-19

Once you have a solid understanding of what your business needs to weather the crisis, get in touch with your vendors. You know what you need, but that does not necessarily mean that you know what your vendors are offering. Ask: How Your Vendors Are Handling COVID-19 Your vendors may have to shut down completely, or they may have changed offerings due to the impact of coronavirus on their business. They might have the capacity to deliver the higher level of service you need due to remote work, or they might not be able to deliver the items you need.  What Changes Your Vendors Are Making to Their Routines Not only do you want to know how your vendors are handling COVID-19 — including whether they're staying open or have also made the shift to remote work — you may also need to know what changes they're making to their routines to accommodate the pandemic and keep both their employees and their customers, in many cases including your end users, as safe as possible. Consider: How delivery options may have changed.What precautions the vendor is taking regarding in-person services.How the vendor is keeping their facility clean and as germ-free as possible.What the vendor will do if someone working in the facility shows signs of illness or becomes infected.  Create an agreement with your vendor based on the current circumstances. Take a look at your current contracts and alter them as needed. In some cases, you and the vendor may be able to reach a mutually beneficial arrangement. For example, if your vendor has ceased production on an item you do not currently need as a response to the crisis, you may simply extend the terms of your contract or set yourself up for a later delivery. If your vendor is not able to offer services during the pandemic, you may need to suspend your services. In some cases, you may need to choose another provider to help you continue to do business. Make sure you sign changes to those contracts and make them part of your contract repository.  Managing your vendor contracts during COVID-19 and when the office is empty can pose a unique challenge. Many people were completely unprepared for the potential ramifications of a situation like the coronavirus pandemic, leaving them struggling to catch up with the flow of business as they make the shift to remote work or deal with limitations associated with those circumstances. By preparing an action plan to deal with your vendor contracts, however, you can help ensure that your business has what it needs, both now and when the crisis comes to an end. Try ContraxAware today to keep track of your vendor contracts and any changing terms.  Read the full article

[contraxaware]

How to Transfer to a Completely Paperless Contract Approval System for Remote Workers

A completely paperless contract approval system offers incredible advantages for your business. It's even more advantageous in the middle of a situation like the COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses must make a fast transition to remote work so they can provide a high quality of service to their customers. By transferring to a paperless contract approval system for remote workers, you: Make it easier for your employees to access vital information.  Remote employees don't have the luxury of walking down the hall to go through a paper file. Instead, they need to be able to access that information from home. They also need to be able to move quickly, without waiting for paper documentation, to make it easier for them to complete vital work tasks.  Streamline contract approval processes.  Using paper contract approvals for remote workers can substantially slow down your contract approval process. This will make it harder for you to get the documents your customers, vendors, and subcontractors need in their hands. You might have to physically mail papers back and forth or deal with the need to print and scan documents. With a paperless system, on the other hand, each member of the team can instantly access needed information.  Prevent potential roadblocks due to shelter-in-place orders.  Shelter-in-place orders mean that you can't sit down with a client, vendor, or subcontractor to get your documents signed. You can, however, send those documents via the internet. You can move them through your contract approval process without ever having to come into contact with other people.  Enable easier collaboration between remote workers.  Dealing with paper contracts can make it difficult for remote workers to collaborate with one another on contracts, terms, and implementation. You may not be sure that everyone is dealing with the same document. You might have to scramble to make sure everyone has a copy of the relevant documentation. With remote, paperless contract approval and management, on the other hand, all your employees can easily access the documents they need.  Many businesses already have a solid contract management system in place. But it’s one that, at best, requires a few adjustments to make it possible for them to make the shift to remote, paperless contract management. Others, however, may find themselves starting from scratch as they make the shift to remote work for their employees. Follow these steps to make the transition to a paperless contract approval system for your business and your remote workers. 

1. Use a cloud storage solution for your contracts and related documents.

Cloud storage offers several clear advantages for a remote team. If you've been using a physical storage system or storing your contracts on a local network, it can pose many challenges when most of the team shifts to a remote environment. Using cloud-based contract management software, on the other hand, will: Allow all employees to easily access all the information they need to accomplish their business tasks.  Sales teams need to be able to access sales templates and other information about those contracts. Implementation teams also need ready access to information about deliverables and contact information. Despite roadblocks like shelter-in-place orders, your employees need to be able to access that information on the go.  Maintain awareness of the current version of each contract.  Thanks to cloud storage, you can keep up with all versions of each contract within your contract management system. This includes making it easy for all employees to access the current version of those documents quickly.  Allow multiple employees to work on the same document without the need to save multiple copies.  Cloud contract management solutions substantially improve collaboration in a remote environment. 

2. Create clear policies governing remote access for your paperless contract approval system.

You may need to create new policies to govern remote access to your contracts and other related documents — including how contracts will move through the approval process during this time. Remote contract approval processes may look very different from the physical approvals your employees handled in the past, as may your process for creating new contracts or implementing current ones. Your policies should include: Who can access specific contracts or specific processes.  Your sales team, for example, might need to access new sales templates to allow them to create those new contracts effectively. But your legal team may not need to create contract templates directly. In the rush to go remote, you may not properly assign permissions within your contract management software. As soon as possible, go back and check those permissions to ensure that team members do not have access to secure information they shouldn't be able to see.  How you'll handle electronic signatures.  Electronic signatures carry just as much weight as physical signatures, but you still need to manage and control those documents. What does your e-signature policy currently look like? Does it need to change as you make the shift to remote work, especially in response to an emergency situation?  What processes you'll put in place to allow management to monitor contract approval.  You may need to put more effort into monitoring contract approval processes and ensuring that your contracts are approved in a timely manner. Throughout a crisis that mandates a shift to remote work, you want your contractual partners to know that your business is still operating as efficiently as possible. That includes ensuring that you do not fall behind on contract approvals. Clearly set forth policies governing how you will handle monitoring those contracts to ensure that you don't miss anything important along the way. 

3. Set up reminders and workflows in your paperless contract approval system.

As your company makes the shift to remote work, you also need to make the reminders and workflows your business uses every day virtually. You may already have clear workflows as your contracts move through their pipeline, but you might not have taken the time to clearly set out those workflows in a way that your employees can view at need. As you make the shift to remote work, make sure you put those reminders and workflows into the system. You might, for example, want to automatically move your contracts on to the next phase of the approval process. Alternatively, you might want to set up reminders that let employees know if a contract has spent too much time sitting in their queue. You may also want to consider: Contract Templates Contract templates can provide your sales team with more autonomy and enable them to create contracts that are more likely to be approved as they make their way through the paperless contract approval system. Your contract templates should set out standard terms and the potential terms your business might be willing to accept, including ranges for things like cost. Your contract management system can also put checks and balances in place that will prevent a contract from being created or approved that is outside the acceptable range for your business. Do you already have contract templates in your system? Are you making the shift to remote work in response to a disaster like the COVID-19 pandemic? If so, then you may want to revisit your contract templates to make sure they reflect the current needs of your business and your customers. You may, for example, want to include clauses that will designate how you'll handle potential future social distancing measures. Alternatively, you might want to change your payment terms in light of the current crisis.  Contract Scoring  Now, more than ever, you do not want to expose your business to unnecessary risk. You may want to implement a contract scoring system that identifies any potential dangers or risks to your business related to your business. Contract scoring can identify potential compliance risks. It can also identify excessively large orders or contracts that could damage your business if you cannot meet the terms. Check your contract scoring in the light of your shift to remote work. Then determine whether you need to make any changes to that system moving forward.  Contract Renewals Your existing customers, vendors, and subcontractors are every bit as important as the new ones. In many cases, they’re even more important. You don't want to let those contracts slip through the cracks, even if your work may have slowed down or your priorities may have shifted during this time. Make sure your workflows include early reminders about contract renewals to give you plenty of time to take care of those tasks. You may also want to consider what new information needs to be included in future renewals. 

4. Search out potential bottlenecks ahead of time.

Bottlenecks can slow down your contract approvals and implementations. The shift to remote work can create new bottlenecks in a system that previously flowed smoothly. Alternatively, it can emphasize bottlenecks in your existing system as it slows things down even further. Consider any potential issues that could slow down contract approval. Also, work out any issues that might prevent you from approving your contracts effectively.  Bottlenecks might include: Overworked employees with too much on their plate.  Some employees may struggle to keep up with their work when they're in the office. Making the move to remote work can present even more challenges — especially during situations like the current shelter-in-place order, which could mean that employees are working from home with spouses and children. Identify employees with too much on their plate and look for ways to alleviate those burdens to help get your contracts approved faster. Employees who do not understand how to use the paperless contract approval system.  As you make the shift to remote work, it's critical that all of your employees know how to use your contract management system effectively. Provide training as you move into a period of remote work. Also, check in with employees throughout that period to ensure that they know how to use your new paperless contract approval system effectively.  Reminders not getting sent at the right times.  Without reminders, employees may not even realize that they have a contract awaiting their approval. Make sure your contract management system includes the reminders your employees need to keep those contracts top of mind. With this preventative step, they won't slow down the contract approval process. 

5. Check the search and storage features in your paperless contract approval system.

Make remote work as easy on your employees as possible. They need to be able to search for information within your contract database easily. Your employees need to be able to easily access the information they need about your contracts. This is vital whether they're searching for a particular standard term or seeking more information about a specific client. A better system can help you: Institute a clear naming system.  Employees should find it easy to locate a specific contract within your database. A good, standardized nomenclature system will help. Make sure all your contracts are housed in a centralized repository.  If you have multiple businesses under the same parent company or your business has recently acquired a new company, you may need to take the time to centralize your contract management solutions. Migrating to a single contract repository will make it easier for your employees to locate those vital contracts. Check your search feature.  Make sure the search feature works efficiently. Conduct a few searches and making sure that it pulls up the right documents. If you notice problems with your search feature, contact your contract management software provider.  Making the shift to remote work can pose challenges, especially when it comes to instituting a paperless contract management system. With these strategies, however, you can ensure that your employees and your customers can continue doing business. This can help you continue operations during a crisis. It may also make it easier for you to manage remote employees. If you need a more robust paperless contract approval system and contract management software to make the switch, try ContraxAware free for seven days. Read the full article

[contraxaware]

Your Ultimate Guide to the Contract Management Process

Contract management: it's an incredibly important element of any business. You want to be sure that you keep up with your contract at every stage through the process. That doesn’t mean just the negotiation or ‘pre-signature’ stages, either. Contract management extends throughout the life of service terms and, hopefully, into the renewal term that follows. This ensures that you do not allow those vital customers to fall away. Also, it improves your ability to create effective contracts with low risk for your business.  By carefully considering each piece of the contract management process, you can:  Improve your interactions with your customers.Automate many of the pieces of your contract management cycleUltimately, streamline your efforts to make your business more successful. Start by learning more about each of the nine stages: The Request PhaseThe Draft PhaseThe Negotiation PhaseThe Approval PhaseExecutionCompleting Your ObligationsMaintaining ComplianceAuditingRenewal This chart is a useful reminder of how cyclical the process is — as well as how important it is to have procedures in place for each stage so the contract process moves smoothly.

Why Should You Have a Clear Contract Management Process?

Scalable processes are the only way to grow. If your contract management process is too manual, too clunky, or based entirely on one person’s knowledge of the system’s ins and outs, your company is vulnerable. These nine stages form the basis of every strong contract management process. You can customize each phase to best fit your business by creating process documents. This makes your business more capable of growth, more attractive to your investors, and more streamlined during day-to-day operations. You can also quickly modify a standardized contract management process in an emergency, such as if an executive is leaving the company...

1. The Request Phase

During the request phase, you're creating the basics of the contract. These are the details that you and your client need to include in order to create a successful business relationship. This phase of the contract is the first stage of the negotiation process and, in many cases, your first look at a client's specific needs. During the request phase, consider these key details: 1. What are you hoping to accomplish with the contract?  That is, what is your business's goal? As your business develops, you may also develop more detailed requirements of what you hope to accomplish with your contract. You can also decide what clauses need to be included moving forward.  2. What is the customer hoping to accomplish?  Typically, your customer wants to hire you to complete a specific job: either to put together a one-time effort or to ask for your services on a long-term basis. Make sure you understand your customer's goals during the request phase of the contract cycle. Then, you can create more effective contracts that better reflect customer needs. If your company has different product lines or recently acquired another company, you might even have multiple MSAs to choose from.  3. What expectations do you and your customer have for this process?  That is, do you have specific milestones that need to be met? Is it going to be your company’s paper or the customer’s? When during the process do you expect to be paid? Setting out your expectations clearly during the request phase and making sure you understand your client's expectations is important. Knowing both perspectives will make it easier to create a solid contract that benefits both parties.

2. The Draft Phase

During the draft phase, you'll put together the basic outline of the contract.  To make this easier, your contract management software should have standard contracts on hand. These include basic templates for the terms of service and outlines that express the expected services as a whole. If your customer has unique expectations and requirements, this is the time to include them. On the other hand, you may find that many customers are content with the standard terms of your contract and need little negotiation or discussion.  During the draft phase, you want to keep up with each version of the contract while clearly displaying which version you're currently using. While you might not begin negotiations during this period, you may need to make changes as you continue to communicate with your client. Make sure your contract management software or solution will allow you to easily store and refer back to previous incarnations of the contract if needed. This phase should focus on the statements of work, schedules, and other variables of the deliverables.

3. The Negotiation Phase

The negotiation phase is one of the most important phases of the contract cycle. It's critical that you empower your negotiators to ensure that they have the right tools on hand to meet their objectives — and that they have all the information they need to negotiate on behalf of the company. Ideally, you want your negotiators to be able to create contracts that will move quickly through your company's contract approval process without manual intervention. The more you standardize the process and the negotiation countermoves your team can make, the more independently (and quickly) they can act.  Consider these automations and easy process improvements: 1. Keep a standard contract on hand.  Many of your clients won't need to make many — or, in some cases, any — modifications to your standard contracts. If you have a standard contract on hand and available to your contract negotiators during that process, you can often make the negotiation and requesting phase easier. In fact, start your “negotiation” by having the salesperson send the document for signature with the order form. 2. Make sure your negotiators know which points are not up for negotiation.  There are some areas of your contract that are hard and fast: the details that you're not willing to give on. Make sure your negotiators know what those are. Then, they won’t accidentally make promises that the company can't keep. 3. Create a document with a list of the concessions you’re willing to make.  Design a list that includes the places you're willing to negotiate and what your standard range is. Start by reading our quick guide to the process so you can send out the document within the week. Making this list readily available to your negotiators gives them the power to act with confidence. They don't have to display it to the clients — and, in fact, they shouldn't. But they should always have an idea of what your range looks like so that they can meet it effectively.  4. Work milestones into the contract.  Make sure you understand what your clients' milestones are, and include them as part of the early stages of the contract. Start this step during the draft process so that when the time comes to create the contract, you can easily piece it together. 

4. The Approval Phase

During the approval phase, your business (and your client's business) have a chance to look over the contract and decide whether to approve it. Some businesses have multiple steps to the approval process. Your company may require the contract to pass through multiple hands before you can let clients know that it has been approved. Keep these things in mind during the approval phase of your contract cycle: 1. Streamline the approval phase as much as possible.  In this case, many hands do not make light work! The more hands your contract has to move through before approval, the longer it takes — and the greater the likelihood the client will grow frustrated with the process. Instead, try to streamline your contract approval: remove unnecessary steps, automate what you can, and keep client needs in mind.  2. Set deadlines.  It's all too easy for contracts to fall through the cracks during the approval process. Set clear deadlines so that each member of the team knows what they need to accomplish and when in order to meet both your goals and your client's. If you’re using an automated contract management tool, you can set a clock that starts whenever the document moves from one tier of approval to the next. 3. Keep track of who has the contract throughout the entire approval process.  You should be able to easily track each contract through the approval process. Ideally, you should set your contract management software to issue notifications if something goes wrong. This can include if the contract does not continue to move through the approval process or if it's taken too long to get the contract set in place. Tracking the owners of different processes doesn’t just let you keep an eye on moving documents; it lets you adjust the process whenever people move in and out of the company. Spend a little time strengthening your approval phase by reading what steps you should take so in-progress contracts don’t fall through the cracks. 

5. Execution

Once you've approved the contract, it's time to execute it! First and foremost, both parties must sign the contract. Only once the contract has been signed can you begin work on the client's job.  Depending on your contract and your business, there may also be other steps that need to be taken during the contract execution phase: connecting with other partners or finding a supplier for specific materials, for example. In some cases, you may need to obtain signatures for more than one party before you can begin working on the contract.  Use your contract management software to highlight anything that needs to take place during the execution stage of the contract. This software may also be used to note when those items have been taken care of, allowing you to track the contract's execution more effectively. 

6. Completing Your Obligations

You've approved and executed the contract. Now, you must complete your obligations to your customers — and your customers will complete their obligations, including payment, to you. During this stage of the contract lifecycle, it's important to consider how your interactions with your customers play out.  Are you meeting your customer's expectations?  As you meet your obligations, consider these key factors: 1. Are you meeting the customer's needs?  During the obligation phase of the contract lifecycle, you have the chance to show your customers why they hired you — and why they should hire you again in the future. Keep in mind that the best customers last for far more than one contract lifecycle. They have a much higher lifetime value if they return to your business for their future industry needs.  2. Is the customer meeting their end of the contract?  A customer who, for example, fails to pay their invoices on time could prove detrimental to your company overall. If a large customer isn’t paying, that can quickly interfere with your business's cash flow. If a customer routinely fails to meet their end of the contract, it may change the way you bargain with them in the future. You may need to create steeper penalties for late payment, take smaller jobs at a time, or choose not to work with the customer in the future. 3. Does the contract effectively meet your company's needs?  You probably have an effective contract scoring system that helps determine the risk associated with your contracts early in the process. Still, risks can show up unexpectedly or seemingly little negotiation points can fall through the cracks. Use the obligation phase to carefully monitor how your current contracts are meeting your company's needs. If you’re not sure how to start measuring these impacts, read our guide about identifying and evaluating KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, for your business contracts.

7. Maintaining Compliance

In addition to meeting your customers' needs, your business must maintain certain minimum compliance standards. In many cases, those compliance standards are built into your contracts from the beginning. Other times, you may need to revisit them as you move through the obligation phase of the contract. Customers should never ask you to step outside of industry compliance standards. They may, however, require you to go above and beyond those standards. It’s increasingly important to offer better security, for example.  You must also be sure, as you're meeting your obligations, that you comply with every area of the contract. Your contract management software may include the option to pull out that important information, ensuring that you are not falling short of any of your obligations or failing to meet industry compliance standards. Start automating the process and make potential violations more transparent by reading our quick guide.

8. Auditing

After you have met your obligations, you will want to look back over your contract to ensure that everything went according to plan. Regular contract auditing shouldn't be something that occurs only at the end of the year or if you suspect that there's a problem. Instead, you should include contract auditing as a regular part of your contract lifestyle. Implement these internal audit initiatives so your contracts — and your contract repository — stay healthy all year long. Evaluate: 1. Did the customer get exactly what they asked for?  Did you deliver the product the customer requested in a timely and effective manner? If you deliver the value the customer expected, the customer is more likely to pay on time and renew the contract. 2. Did you issue the right charges to the customer?  Pay careful attention to any invoices sent to your customers. Failing to invoice a customer properly could cause cash flow issues for your business, but accidentally sending a too-high invoice could cause even more problems. During your audit, make sure that the customer was charged the right amount at the right time.  3. What could you do better in the future?  This is a great time to look over your contract and ensure that it performed, in execution, the way you imagined during the drafting and approval phase. What looks great on paper may not always work as well in reality — so during the auditing phase, take a hard look at what worked for your company and what didn't so that you can make changes to your contract in the future. 

9. Renewal

The renewal phase allows you to reconnect with your customers, inviting them to join with you for future business transactions. Your contract management software is vital during this period! It should: 1. Flag customers as they come up for renewal. Ideally, you want to see that customers are about to come up for renewal well in advance, rather than seeing a notification pop up just as a customer's contract expires. You want plenty of time to look over the contract before discussing renewal options with the customer. Design a plan to help your renewals teamwork backward from every renewal date so you never lose a customer due to lag time. 2. Offer a clear risk assessment score.  While the contract might not have posed an issue for your business this time around, it might pose issues in the future. Take a close look at those risk scores before renewing the contract, and take the time to reduce risk where possible. 3. Highlight any problems noted with past contracts.  This is a great time to look over anything that came up during the audit so that you can create better, stronger contracts in the future.  Your contract lifecycle is an ongoing process. Ideally, you want to move customers smoothly through the process, from the earliest drafts of the contract laid out during the request phase to the renewal — and the right contract management software can make that happen. Contact us today to learn more about how our solutions can help or sign up for a free trial to give your contract management plan the foundation it needs. Read the full article

[contraxaware]

3 Practices for Optimizing Your Contract Management Process

Your contract management process affects everything from your supply chain to your customer service. The more efficient every part of the contract management process is, the more profitable your business will be. Here are three ways you can further optimize your systems.

1. Create Written, Formal Handover Practices

When something falls through the cracks in your contract management process, it can be disastrous. The only way to prevent this from happening is to make sure there are no cracks. You need to create a formal handover process that is written down. The best handover practices involve a formal handover meeting where everyone who had a part in drafting and negotiating the contract is in the room with everyone who will have a role in executing the agreement. When the contract management team has a written handover plan to follow, it eliminates all the guesswork. The team will always know who is responsible for the execution of each part of the contract. By making standard operating procedures for the contract handover process, you ensure that there will never be any surprise contract compliance issues. 

2. Standardize Your Agreements

How consistent is your language across all of your agreements? How consistent are the timelines? The more variation there is in your contracts, the more effort and expense goes into managing them. You should audit your contracts for consistency in language, terms, and timelines. Inconsistent language and terms for customers and vendors in the same position increases your litigation risk. You want all of your contracts to have the same language to describe the same basic terms. This is sometimes known as the contract boilerplate. The boilerplate may sound boring, but this language is critical to protecting your organization in the event of a dispute. It’s hard enough to stay on top of all the agreements that are expiring or auto-renewing. But, when every contract is for a different length of time, it makes it almost impossible to predict the contract management workflow and to streamline the contract lifecycle. If all vendor contracts need to be renewed every two years or all new customer contracts are for one year, it is easier to set follow-up dates. You are less likely to miss key deadlines in the contract lifecycle when you know the exact lifecycle length for each contract.

3. Create Cross-Department Teams

Your contract management team are experts in contract language, enforcement, and consequences. But your contract management team likely lacks operational, sales, and customer service expertise. Creating cross-department teams that meet every month, or even every quarter, will improve your contract management efficiency. Having regular contact with the people who are responsible for executing the different stages of the contract during its lifecycle will help avoid compliance issues. It will also help ensure that the sales team isn’t over-promising when meeting with potential clients. Setting up cross-department teams also improves communications. It prevents critical customer knowledge from being siloed from the rest of the company. This practice also makes it easier to solve problems quickly and in a way that most benefits the customer and the company. It can feel like having a fully-optimized contract management process is a moving target. There is always something new to deal with. But, if you take these three steps, you will encounter fewer surprises. These three steps will improve your contract management workflow and benefit the rest of the company. Read the full article

[contraxaware]

How Contract Management Software Helps Your Customers

In the best-run companies, nothing is undertaken unless it will ultimately benefit the customer. Contract management often operates in a separate realm from the parts of the organization that are more directly customer-facing like sales and customer service. But, having a more efficient contract management process directly benefits your customers. When your organization is using the right contract management software, your customer will enjoy a better experience with your entire organization.

Faster Contract Approvals

One of the most frustrating bottlenecks from the customer’s perspective is the length of time it takes for a contract to be approved. Contract management software speeds up the contract approval process with the use of smart document management and automated alerts. Everyone who needs to sign off on a contract gets an alert the moment the agreement is ready for review. The document can be pulled up in the contract management software in just a few clicks. There is no need to transport physical appears to different departments. Software eliminates lost paperwork. Contract management software also makes it easy for the sales team to monitor the progress of the approval process. This allows them to give accurate updates to the customer.

Better Follow-Up

Contract management software improves communication within your organization and between your organization and the client. Automated alerts notify your team before a critical deadline passes. It allows your organization to be proactive in the management of the contract instead of reactive. Stronger communication and follow-up practices give the customer more confidence in your ability to execute the agreement.

Increased Productivity

Contract management software allows your contract management team to spend more time managing contracts instead of chasing down physical contracts or crucial information. The software is like a combination of a digital filing cabinet and an efficient virtual assistant. Automation, powerful search functionality, intuitive analytics, and cloud-based storage makes it easy for everyone in the company to have the information they need when they need it. Everyone can get more work done in less time.

Fewer Compliance Issues

If there are no cracks, nothing can fall between them. Contract management eliminates many common contract management mistakes. The software allows the contract management team to have more direct contact with the team responsible for executing on the contract. Deadlines never go by unnoticed because the automated alerts signal the contract manager to follow-up long before the deadline is reached. This results in fewer compliance penalties and happier customers.

More Efficient Renewals

The last thing your customer wants is an interruption in your delivery. Inefficient contract renewals can wreak havoc on your customer’s supply chain and can crimp your cash flow. Contract management software makes it easy to manage contract renewals. The system will generate alerts to review contracts set to auto-renew before the current contract expires. It will also generate alerts for contracts that have no renewal date. Your team will never be surprised by an expiring or a renewing contract. Customers will appreciate your proactive approach to the management of the deal. Contract management software isn’t just a way to make your contract management department more efficient. It’s also one of the best ways to improve the service you deliver to your customers. Read the full article

[contraxaware]

3 Practices for Optimizing Your Contract Management Process

Your contract management process affects everything from your supply chain to your customer service. The more efficient every part of the contract management process is, the more profitable your business will be. Here are three ways you can further optimize your systems.

1. Create Written, Formal Handover Practices

When something falls through the cracks in your contract management process, it can be disastrous. The only way to prevent this from happening is to make sure there are no cracks. You need to create a formal handover process that is written down. The best handover practices involve a formal handover meeting where everyone who had a part in drafting and negotiating the contract is in the room with everyone who will have a role in executing the agreement. When the contract management team has a written handover plan to follow, it eliminates all the guesswork. The team will always know who is responsible for the execution of each part of the contract. By making standard operating procedures for the contract handover process, you ensure that there will never be any surprise contract compliance issues. 

2. Standardize Your Agreements

How consistent is your language across all of your agreements? How consistent are the timelines? The more variation there is in your contracts, the more effort and expense goes into managing them. You should audit your contracts for consistency in language, terms, and timelines. Inconsistent language and terms for customers and vendors in the same position increases your litigation risk. You want all of your contracts to have the same language to describe the same basic terms. This is sometimes known as the contract boilerplate. The boilerplate may sound boring, but this language is critical to protecting your organization in the event of a dispute. It’s hard enough to stay on top of all the agreements that are expiring or auto-renewing. But, when every contract is for a different length of time, it makes it almost impossible to predict the contract management workflow and to streamline the contract lifecycle. If all vendor contracts need to be renewed every two years or all new customer contracts are for one year, it is easier to set follow-up dates. You are less likely to miss key deadlines in the contract lifecycle when you know the exact lifecycle length for each contract.

3. Create Cross-Department Teams

Your contract management team are experts in contract language, enforcement, and consequences. But your contract management team likely lacks operational, sales, and customer service expertise. Creating cross-department teams that meet every month, or even every quarter, will improve your contract management efficiency. Having regular contact with the people who are responsible for executing the different stages of the contract during its lifecycle will help avoid compliance issues. It will also help ensure that the sales team isn’t over-promising when meeting with potential clients. Setting up cross-department teams also improves communications. It prevents critical customer knowledge from being siloed from the rest of the company. This practice also makes it easier to solve problems quickly and in a way that most benefits the customer and the company. It can feel like having a fully-optimized contract management process is a moving target. There is always something new to deal with. But, if you take these three steps, you will encounter fewer surprises. These three steps will improve your contract management workflow and benefit the rest of the company. Read the full article