#contractmanagementsystems

[razorsign]

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[thomas-carol]

Freight and Truck Rate Contract Management Services company USA

Vee Technologies, a Freight and Truck Rate Contract Management company in the USA, helps you to minimize costs through accurate management of contract information and bills.

Email : contact@veetechnologies.com

Visit : https://bit.ly/3Ix5s9T

[contraxaware]

How to Manage Your Contract Pipeline with Remote Access

Making the shift to remote contract management is a big step for your business. It’s one that many businesses have had to make quickly in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Properly managing your contract pipeline is critical to keeping your business flowing smoothly during this period. You want to make sure your contracts move smoothly down the contract pipeline with remote access features. A smarter contract management system can help, often without the in-person touches that usually help your business manage those tasks. To manage your contract pipeline with remote access, try some of these important steps. 

1. Make sure all employees have the right access.

When you're in the office, things are simpler. An employee who doesn't have access to the right contract documentation can simply walk down the hallway and find someone who does. Unfortunately, when your employees are working remotely, they might not have access to others who can get them into those documents. As you prepare your contract pipeline for remote access, make sure your employees have the right access. Make sure logins are current, that all employees know their passwords, and that they can access contract data remotely. This is also a great time to remove old logins for employees who have left the company.

2. Create contract processes that include automated checks and reminders.

When working remotely, it's important to include automated reminders for your employees. This can help ensure that they take care of all of their obligations with regards to your contracts in a timely, effective manner. Your employees are out of their familiar element. They’re away from the office and struggling to adapt to new and changing circumstances. Make sure your contract management software offers the reminders they need: Reminders That Action Needs to Be Taken on a Contract Has a contract been allowed to sit too long in a particular queue or at a particular stage of the approval process? Make sure you issue a reminder that will let your employees know that action needs to be taken.  Contract Scoring  Automatic contract scoring can help you identify any potential challenges with a contract before it moves further through the approval process. Remote work can mean longer approval times and fewer connections between members of your team. This can make it easier for potential errors to fall through the cracks. With automated contract scoring, on the other hand, you'll be able to more easily identify any potential challenges with the contract before they become more serious.  Renewal Reminders  Do you have contracts coming up for renewal during this period of remote work? Make sure employees get reminders well ahead of time so that they can begin negotiations. This can ensure they will have time to take into account current events and how they may impact future contracts with a given partner. 

3. Automatically move your contracts on to the next phase in the contract cycle.

Once a specific stage of the contract process has been completed, it needs to move on. Set up your contract management system to automatically send the contract on to the next stage in the process. You may, for example, need to move it straight from the sales team to approval. Alternatively, a smart system can move it through the stages of approval. Make sure it automatically moves to the next person who needs to see it. Then your team can accomplish their tasks remotely and easily. 

4. Make sure you have a remote signature option in place. 

Connect your contract management software with a remote signature platform. This will allow both your team and your contractual partners to sign your contracts without having to be in the same place. These e-signatures are just as binding as physical signatures on a document. But they don't require team members to leave the safety of their homes or expose themselves to potential infections. A contract pipeline with remote access to e-signature options will also ensure that the signed version of the contract is stored online, where your team can easily access it.

5. Institute virtual contract compliance monitoring.

Contract compliance — both with external regulations and with the terms of the contract — is incredibly important to your business. You want your contractual partners to know that you will continue to meet your obligations even during a difficult period. Make sure you have virtual contract monitoring in place that will allow you to keep up with how well your employees are complying with the terms of the contract. You should also monitor whether vendors are keeping up with the terms of your current contracts and whether you need to make changes to any of your contracts based on the current situation.  Shifting to a contract pipeline with remote access features can offer unique challenges. With these strategies, however, you can move your contract smoothly down the pipeline and ensure that your business has everything it needs to continue to thrive and meet its obligations during this time. See how ContraxAware can help by scheduling a 1:1 demo. Read the full article

[ruthj123]

The College of Contract Management offers a Professional Practice in FIDIC Contracts to provide you with all the essential knowledge about the types of contracts and their contents through their online courses. You’ll be taught by an industry expert lecturer who will be on hand to help you with any queries.

[contraxaware]

How to Revise Your Contract Approval Processes for Business During COVID-19

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, many businesses are making critical changes to their operations. These allow them to continue to provide services to their customers and keep their employees working throughout social distancing measures. Your business may need to take a hard look at many aspects of how you manage your employees and your clients. This includes how you manage your contracts throughout the crisis and creating virtual office processes. One important element that you may need to change? Your contract approval processes. 

The Importance of Streamlining Your Contract Approval Processes

Now, more than ever, you need your contact approval processes to move as smoothly as possible. You do not want contracts to get "stuck" while you wait for a specific individual to approve them. Also, you don’t want important clients, vendors, or subcontractors to fall through the cracks while your business makes that critical transition to remote work. Consider these important reasons to streamline your contract approval process: 1. Your clients need fast answers and reassurance.  Many of your clients, during this time, need a fast answer to any questions they have — including questions about the contracts they have pending with your business. You may need to make fast alterations to your contracts to ensure that they meet new industry mandates or requirements, including allowing your customers and vendors alike to maintain social distancing guidelines.  2. Remote-working employees can cause your contract approval processes to take longer.  Remote employees may not all be at their desks as a contract moves to the next stage in the approval process. Many employees are working from home with kids, spouses, pets, and other challenges that prevent them from accomplishing their business days according to their usual responsibilities. As a result, a complex contract approval process may take even longer to execute than normal.  3. Your employees need streamlined processes now as never before.  Because many of your employees are juggling other responsibilities, including caring for children or elderly loved ones, alongside their usual job responsibilities, they need a streamlined contract approval process that will prevent unnecessary work added to their days. 

Revising Your Contract Approval Processes

To revise your contract approval process, consider these important elements.  1. Eliminate unnecessary steps in your contract approval processes.  As your business makes the shift to remote work, take a look at your contract approval process. Eliminate any unnecessary steps or stages. While you still want to include each team that needs to approve a contract before it's signed, you may find that you need fewer steps in your contract process than you originally thought.  2. Automate the process in your enterprise contract management system.  Use your contract management software to clearly lay out each step of the contract approval process. Have the system automatically take the contract through each stage of the approval process as the one before it is completed. This can make it easier for remote employees to know what to do next, especially with complex contracts or those that are different from the normal way you do business.  3. Set your system to send out reminders.  Many employees are juggling other responsibilities alongside their usual work tasks. So they may need reminders to take care of common tasks. This includes taking care of contract approvals. Set your contract management system to send out a reminder if a contract has waited too long for approval. Also, set closer reminders for contracts that have tight deadlines or that need to move to the next phase of the approval process quickly.  4. Make sure you have a cloud-based contract management system in place.  Ensure that contracts have made it through every stage of the approval process by having a completely cloud-based system. This is especially necessary if, for example, you have more than one person at a time looking at a contract. This is something that might occur more frequently while employees are working remotely. Their schedules may not look the same as they would in the office.  5. Use contract management software that allows for collaboration.  Your legal contract management system should allow for collaboration between multiple individuals and departments as your contract moves through the approval process. You need to be able to easily see the latest version of each contract, as well as its history. Also, you need to be able to work on it at the same time, even from remote locations. You may choose to revisit contract terms during a meeting, for example. Alternatively, you may need to collaborate to determine what supplies you need from a specific vendor during this time. Make sure your contract management system allows for collaboration as well as individual approvals. As your business deals with the COVID-19 crisis, don't let your contracts fall through the cracks! Instead, take the steps necessary to revise your contract approval process. You'll be able to keep your business running more smoothly. Also, you can make sure that contracts still get approved on time, which can provide immense peace of mind for your customers. See how a 7-day free trial with ContraxAware can help you revamp your process.  Read the full article

[contraxaware]

How to Track Contract Amendments

Contract amendments can make it incredibly difficult to keep up with all the changing terms of your business deals and contracts. Unfortunately, missing out on those amendments — especially those made late in the contract negotiation phase — is all too common for many businesses. Tracking these amendments is a crucial element of managing a complete database of contract records. Depending on what you miss, it could cost your business a substantial amount of money. Not, however, when you use your contract management software to track your contract amendments and remind you of any changes you've made throughout the life cycle of a particular client. With smart contract management software, you can organize all the collective contracts, amendments, and documents related to your relationship with a business or client, keeping everything in order for your business. 

Step One: Highlight Changes Made During Each Stage of the Negotiation Process

When you put together a new contract, whether for a repeat client or vendor or a brand new one, you may go through several stages of negotiation before you reach the final agreement between you and your contractual and partner. Depending on the stages at which those changes are made, you may need to leave specific notifications or highlight specific changes made to the contract to make it easier to keep up with all of those important details. Try: Specifically noting any changes made to your contracts during each negotiation round.  Use your contract management software to make note of the changes. This step should help link changes back to previous versions of the contract.  Highlighting changes made during the redline stage so that you can always refer back to them easily. These changes may be made immediately before contract approval. If you don't highlight them, the person approving the contract may skip right over the top of them, not realizing exactly what changes have been made.  Using your contract scoring effectively.  Contract scoring can help identify potential risks at any stage of the contract's life cycle. You can also flag new risks so that you don't miss a change that could cause increased, excessive difficulty for your business. During this stage, make sure the changes don’t lower the parent contract’s overall score.

Step Two: Make Use of Version Control (and Keep Track of Past Versions and Contracts)

When you make multiple changes to a contract, or when you work with a single contractual partner for a long time, you can end up with a long contract history that can be incredibly difficult to manage. Luckily, smart contract management software offers a number of advantages in this situation. It can: Keep up with all versions of your contracts and contract amendments. This makes it easy to go back to previous versions of the contract. You can even track who made changes and know who approved specific changes to the contract.  Make it easy to search through past versions of the contract.  If you need to find a specific clause or element of a contract, you can utilize a simple search to deliver that information to the people who need it.  Share information, if needed.  Does your contractual partner need to see a past version of a contract? You can easily share it and make it available — and show them when changes were implemented.  Keep all versions of a contract — or changing contracts with a client or business partner — stored together.  You'll be able to track that business relationship and easily find past versions of contracts as needed. Also, they will all be together in the system, rather than being stored by a system that may make them difficult to trace. Make sure everyone is looking at the latest version of a contract.  Smart contract management software can automatically notify users if they attempt to access an old version of a contract. It can also send them straight to the latest version when they're ready to access information about a client. 

Step Three: Set Up Triggers, Tasks, and Alerts As Needed

Smart contract management software doesn't just make it easy to keep up with and organize your contracts. It also offers reminders that can make it easier for you to keep your contracts managed effectively. Set up alerts, triggers, and tasks in the system that occur automatically. This may include: Alerting the individuals who need to know about new contract amendments.  This may be particularly important if, for example, you craft and sign a contract amendment shortly after the initial contract. In this case, the person heading the project will need to know as soon as possible about any changes made to the project or relationship with the company. Offering reminders about upcoming deadlines and due dates.  When you have a deadline approaching, your contract management software can issue a reminder. This includes making sure every member of the team is aware of the latest deadlines or requirements.  Setting up alerts related to contract amendments, when needed.  Sometimes, you may need to deliver a specific alert related to a contract amendment. This is a reminder about something that has changed about the usual or past terms of a specific contract. With alerts, you can prevent the members of your team from missing those reminders. That prevents amendments from falling through the cracks.  Contract amendments are an important way to make sure that your business is delivering exactly what your contractual partners expect. But that means you have to keep track of them. With smart contract management software, you can make it easier than ever to keep track of all of your contract changes.  Schedule a 1:1 demo to learn how ContraxAware can help you during every step of managing your contract amendments and contract negotiations process. Read the full article

[contraxaware]

Why You Need Complete Insight Into Your Subcontractor Agreements

Your subcontractors — no matter the industry, from construction to event management — are an incredibly important part of the business you complete every day. Often, your clients will judge your business on the quality of work your subcontractors produce. Not only that, if you fail to properly manage your subcontractor agreements, you could end up with poor quality, high prices, or an agreement that just doesn't benefit your business the way you had hoped. Organizing your subcontractor agreements is a crucial aspect of managing all of your business’s contractual relationships. There are several key reasons why you must keep clear records surrounding your subcontractor agreements. 

1. You must have a clearly established payment arrangement.

Some subcontractors will take advantage of an ambiguous payment arrangement to overcharge you, whether that means raising the price of materials or increasing the time spent on a project to gain extra payment for the labor they put forth. Others may simply charge you the going rate for their business or include prices that are much higher than their competitors. Putting together clear subcontractor agreements, on the other hand, removes that ambiguity. Your agreement should clearly establish the work that will be completed by the subcontractor, the materials they will be expected to supply, and the payment they will receive for their efforts. You may also include bonus payments or overhead in the agreement. You can also establish penalties that the subcontractor will incur if they fail to deliver the work you expected.  

2. Your company needs adequate liability protection.

Subcontractors and independent contractors are only human, and they can make mistakes like anyone else. Not only that, you don't have the chance to individually interview or evaluate every member of your subcontractor's team the way you can your own. What happens when the subcontractor makes an error? Your agreement with that subcontractor can accomplish several things, legally speaking. It can: Indicate who bore responsibility for completing a particular piece of work.  This can make it easier to establish who caused an error — and which company bears responsibility for fixing it. Establish penalties for subcontractors who fail to uphold their end of the contract or agreement. You hired a subcontractor to take care of a specific task, but they failed to finish it in time for the rest of the project. Your subcontractor agreement might not prevent you from needing to scramble to fix things, but it can establish what the subcontractor will need to do to make it right.  Help establish legal liability for anything that goes very wrong in the project.  If something does go badly wrong, legally speaking, you want to establish that the subcontractor, and not you, is legally liable. 

3. Subcontractor agreements can help establish security obligations.

Many businesses work with confidential material or in secure areas on a regular basis. Your subcontractors must adhere to the same security standards and guidelines that you do, and your agreement can help set that out. It may detail: What certifications or tiers of access must the subcontractor hold in order to work on a specific project? Both government contracts and strict private customer contracts, for example, may require substantial certifications or secure access tiers of specific employees. Also, they may require certain security clearances from each employee, including subcontractors, who enters the site.  What security regulations must the subcontractor adhere to?  In a medical care setting, for example, subcontractors may have to adhere to HIPAA regulations in addition to normal security. There may also be specific security requirements for some secure work sites or locations.  What are the penalties for failing to adhere to security regulations? Who bears liability if a breach occurs — and what will you do about it?  The subcontractor's lack of security could reflect negatively on your business. So it's critical to set out how you will handle potential breaches ahead of time. 

4. Complete insight into your subcontractor agreements can give you more warning as renewal dates approach. 

When renewal dates approach, you need time to look at your contracts, assess them, and determine whether they meet your current needs. You may need to make changes to those agreements or alter the way you approach specific aspects of the contract. If you have to make those changes at the last minute, you may need to rush a contract approval through. In some cases, that may mean accepting less-than-favorable terms. Your subcontractors are valuable parts of your business interactions. They help meet the requirements that satisfy your clients and meet their needs. Also, they help establish your reputation with your clients. With clear management of those agreements, you can ensure that your subcontractors create a positive reputation for your business. You can also take action or find a new provider when they don't. Contact us to learn more about our contract management solutions for better contract records management. Also, you can try out our software with a 7-day free trial.  Read the full article

[contraxaware]

How to Keep Track of Changing Terms During Contract Negotiations

The redline stage of the contract negotiations process — when you're still making and tracking changes to your contracts as you work with your client — is one of the most vital stages when it comes to keeping track of changing terms. Your contract may go through multiple incarnations as you work to determine the best approach for both you and the other party. Whether you're dealing with a vendor or a client, tracking the entire of your business relationship matters (and we have a guide for managing the contractual history here). This process is crucial to reaching a contractual agreement that fulfills everyone’s needs. But it can also pose a number of difficulties when it comes to tracking both past and future versions of the contract. Read these tips to organize your current processes.

1. Utilize version control.

The ContraxAware platform utilizes version control to make it easy to track the latest changes and alterations to a given contract. It can also help you keep up with the current version. Version control offers several advantages during contract negotiations: You can easily locate, at a glance, the current version of the contract.You can see past versions of the contract easily. This can make it easier to revert back to previous terms or negotiate with the other party.You can see who made changes to each version of the contract. Strong history records make it easier to track what you have changed and what the other party has changed. You can also see who within your organization has made specific changes to the contract. Version control doesn’t just make it easier to keep up with all the changing terms of a contract. It can also streamline the approval process. Version control makes it easier for everyone to see who made alterations and when they were made. 

2. Take advantage of extensive cloud storage. 

Having adequate storage for your contract management system is critical to tracking and managing all the changing versions of a contract. When you're dealing with inadequate storage, you may delete old versions of contracts in an effort to clean things up. But you shouldn’t have to reduce the footprint of each individual contract.  Unfortunately, this practice makes it incredibly difficult to keep up with past versions of the contract. This can prove problematic if a change is made that either you or the other party doesn't remember. It’s also problematic if you need to go back and review the other versions of a contract for any reason. With extensive cloud storage, on the other hand, you don't have to worry about storage space. You can keep up with every version of your contracts. It doesn’t matter how many incarnations the contract goes through before being signed by both parties.  Cloud-based contract management software makes it easy to keep up with every amendment made in a contract before it's approval. Also, it can allow you to track past contracts with specific vendors or clients easily. You can track: How costs have changed over time.What alterations you've made to your contracts.How your relationship with that entity has changed since previous contract negotiations. 

3. Create an effective amendment process. 

What happens when one party has already signed the contract, but the other hasn't — and wants to make a last-minute change to the contract? Just like your business needs an approval process that allows essential members of the company to see the contract before it's approved, you need an effective amendment process that will allow you to handle last-minute amendments to the contract. This may include the following revisions to your contract negotiations process. Allow some minor changes without the contract needing to go all the way through the approval process again.  You can allow drop-down menu changes to control modifications. Alternatively, utilize your contract scoring system to help determine what changes you can agree to. This gives you the flexibility to accept last-minute changes without risking your business.  Trigger an alert for the individual who must review and sign the final contract.  Last-minute contract amendments may require faster approval than the original contract. Not only that, if there's a specific individual in your company who must sign off on a final contract, they may believe that they've already signed off on the contract. This slows down the process of contract negotiations. Make sure that your changes trigger an alert to ensure that the contract gets approved quickly.  Highlight the latest changes and amendments to the contract, especially when it has to go back through the approval process.  Checking amendments to a contract can be more difficult than ensuring that the initial contract meets the business's needs. Use your contract management software to highlight the changes made to your contracts. This calls attention to exactly the areas where it needs to be. Many of your contracts go through numerous changes before you and the other party finally sign them. With these strategies, however, you can more easily track those changes. More importantly, you can continue to create effective contracts that meet your business's needs. Also, our software makes it easier to ensure that, once you sign the contract, you keep up with the final terms.  Schedule a 1:1 demo to learn more about how ContraxAware can help you manage your contract negotiations. Read the full article

[contraxaware]

7 Flags, Alerts, and Triggers You Should Build for Government Contracts

Government contracts, more than any other type of contract, often bring with them a specific set of requirements and regulations. You want to ensure that you remain in compliance throughout the life of the contract and during any continuing obligations with that government entity. The flags, alerts, and triggers you set up with your contract management software can go a long way toward ensuring that you meet your legal and contractual obligations. As you organize your contract records in your enterprise contract management system, consider how it can help you build those alerts. 

1. Flag any compliance concerns as the contract moves through the approval process.

While the government isn't out to go through your contracts or examine your business with a fine-tooth comb, chances are, if you're working on a government contract, you need to ensure absolute compliance. This includes specific industry compliance as well as maintaining privacy, appropriate payment arrangements, and OSHA compliance at construction and job sites. If there are any features missing from your contract, the system should notify you immediately so that you can make those changes. 

2. Trigger an alert if the size of the contract needs to scale.

When the government contracts with your business, it has the right to change the size or scale of the contract while receiving the same services for the same reasonable price range. If the contract needs to scale or requires specific changes, it should trigger an alert in your system to let you know that the size has changed and what changes you need to make to meet your new contractual obligations. 

3. Flag any specific issues that are different on this contract.

Your business probably has several clear templates that you use when you put together your usual contracts. When you're working on a government contract, however, you may discover that the template needs to change. Make sure that your contract management system flags anything on government contracts that is different from the system you usually use. This will allow you to see at a glance what has changed on this contract. Also, it will ensure that you meet your actual contractual obligations, not what you include in a standard contract. 

4. Trigger reminders of due dates and deadlines.

While the government may move forward only slowly, that doesn't mean your business can afford to do the same. Trigger reminders of important due dates and deadlines in your system. Depending on those deadlines, you may want to trigger the reminders well ahead of the actual deadline. You can also add more reminders as you get closer to those deadlines. 

5. Trigger an alert if the contract sits for too long in your system, especially during the approval process.

Government contracts can pose some unique headaches. But they also offer unique advantages to your business — and you can't afford to miss out on them. Government work often pays fairly well. Also, you can count on the government to meet its contractual obligations in a way that you might not see from a standard small business or private partner. Not only that, government contracts often offer consistent business, which can help keep your company running smoothly. You don't want to wait too long to approve those contracts and chance missing out on the contract altogether. 

6. Alert the appropriate individuals when government contracts are up for renewal. 

Government contracts, in particular, should not wait until the last minute to be renewed. Sometimes, it takes longer to get approval from the client's end when you're dealing with the government. Other times, expired contracts may have different processes than contracts that simply need to be renewed. By triggering an alert well ahead of time, you can ensure that you'll get that contract renewed quickly and effectively. Then, business can continue unhindered. 

7. Issue a reminder about access permissions on government contracts.

In some cases, government contracts may require a higher degree of security and confidentiality. That may mean that you need to tightly control who can access those contracts. That control should be even more stringent when it comes to who has permission to make changes to the contracts themselves. Make sure that your software issues a reminder about overall security when dealing with government contracts. This includes locking down those contracts and the information related to them. With the right security measures, no one who does not have permission can access them. At the same time, you can still permit access to the people who need to be able to see those contracts or get to them easily. Your contract management software can provide easier contract management solutions for all your contracts. When it comes to government contracts, however, management and security are particularly important. With these alerts and reminders, you can make sure that you don't miss any of the important details of your government contracts. This proactive maintenance can help you keep this valuable source of business. Schedule a 1:1 demo to learn more about how ContraxAware can help you manage your government contracts. Read the full article

[contraxaware]

How to Organize Complete Contract Records in Your Contract System

Even the most straightforward business can have a complex contract system that requires detailed, in-depth management. Your clients, your vendors, and your subcontractors may all have their own unique contractual requirements. This includes complex structures that you may need to keep up with and manage in your interactions with those individuals, too. Not only that, you may deal with ever-changing contract records due to amendments, term renewals, and regulatory changes.  Luckily, your contract management software can help. With an effective contract management system, you can more easily: Keep up with all of your contractual obligations.Retain your relationships with vendors, clients, and subcontractors.Ensure that your contracts are organized in an effective manner that makes them easily accessible to everyone. 

Step One: Set Up Your Business's Internal Organization System

Many large businesses have their own complex internal organizational structure. During mergers and acquisitions, or if you have multiple subsidiary companies within your business's structure, you may further complicate those internal organizational arrangements. Are you setting up your contract management system for the first time or struggling to manage your current contracts due to a lack of organization? Start by tying your contractual organization structure logically to your business's internal organization system. If, for example, you have a parent-child business setup — a larger company purchasing a small one or several smaller ones, for example — you may want to set up an organization system that sets up a distinct hierarchy between the businesses. If you have multiple subsidiaries, you may want to set the parent company over the top of them. Then, organize your subsidiaries, and their contracts, below it.  ContraxAware allows you to create a contract records organization system that fits your business's unique needs. Depending on the number of subsidiaries you have or the number of contracts you deal with on a regular basis, you may need a more complex system. Alternatively, in some cases, you may have a relatively simple and straightforward system. Ideally, you should be able to easily access the contracts for a single subsidiary or single area of your business.

Step Two: Set Up Your Internal Security

Once you've established your organizational structure, you need to make sure that your internal security system is managed appropriately. ContraxAware doesn’t just offer a secure cloud platform. It also offers the ability to manage user permissions throughout your company. This includes: Setting up who is able to access specific areas of the contract.  Your sales team may need to be able to create new contracts. But only specific individuals or departments within your organization need to have permission to approve contracts on behalf of the company. Create more granular tiers of access to protect your data integrity. Controlling who is able to access specific contract records.  Does your company have multiple subsidiary companies? If so, employees of one subsidiary may never need to access contracts belonging to another. You may also want to consider the security necessary to protect your clients. For example, you may have specific contracts that should not be shared with anyone in the company who does not work on those contracts directly.  Determining what processes each type of contract must move through before approval.  You may need to designate more steps for a complex contract than for a simpler, more straightforward one. Different subsidiaries might also require different national or industry-based approval processes.  Controlling what templates can be used by each subsidiary.  Each subsidiary may have the capacity to function within a specific geographic area or to provide specific services for your clients. The parent company may have the capacity to construct a contract that includes services by multiple child companies. But the individual subsidiaries may lack the capacity to access anything but their specific contract templates.

Step Three: Establish an Effective Naming and Labeling System

Thanks to the ContraxAware version control system, you can easily access the latest version of each contract. You can do so without having to make sure you're adhering to a complex numeric or naming system. You can also easily view each set of modifications made to a given contract. This includes everything from amendments in the middle of the approval process to changes made as your relationship with a client, vendor, or subcontractor grows across numerous contract renewals.  To utilize your contract management system effectively, however, you do need a naming and labeling system that is easy to understand and track. You may also want to use different labels for different types of contracts. For example, a vendor contract may look very different from a client contract. Even a subcontractor contract may have a different setup. Barring secure contracts — those with government organizations or companies that maintain a high level of security, for example — you should use an easy naming and labeling system that can be easily understood. This will make it simple for any member of your team looking for a specific contract to find it. 

Step Four: Keep Your Master Service Agreements Straight

Each master service agreement helps establish your direct relationship with a client, vendor, or subcontractor. It clearly displays exactly the services that are expected from the provider, whether that's the services you provide to a client or the materials or services a vendor provides to you. Keeping your master service agreements straight is critical to keeping your business running smoothly. Also, your contract management software can be utilized to help you do exactly that. It can: Establish the exact terms you and your contractual partners agree to.  The master service agreement’s contract record should list all the details of your arrangement, including payment details, the exact services expected, and any regulatory standards that could impact your contract.  Keep track of the history of changes between you and a specific contractual partner.  The longer you work with a specific partner, the longer your contractual history will grow. When you keep track of that history, you can easily refer back to it in the event of a misunderstanding or if you want to make changes to your current agreement. For example, you might have a long history of work for a client who has decided, in the past two years, not to utilize one of the services offered by your company. As the contract comes up for renewal again, that client wants to go back to using those services. Accessing past contract records can make it easier to negotiate new terms. Likewise, you may find that you make multiple changes to a contract before both sides finally approve it. If a contractual term does not make it into the final version, referring back to previous incarnations of the contract can make it easier to see where the alteration occurred. Also, you can prove whether you or your contractual partner is in the right when you disagree.  Highlight terms unique to that contract.  Your business likely has a series of standard contracts used whenever you engage with a particular type of contractual partner, whether vendor, subcontractor, or client. Sometimes, however, you will make modifications to those standard contracts to meet the needs of your contractual partner. For example, when you take government contracts, you may need to meet a series of unique terms. As a result, you may need to keep track of more vital information about that contract.  Note any amendments to the contract records, especially amendments made after the contract was initially signed.  You originally contracted with a vendor to provide a set number of materials for a certain price. After the contract was signed, however, you discovered that you needed 10% more of that material than initially expected. A quick amendment to the contract establishes with the vendor that you can add those additional materials at the same rate as your initial purchase but also that you do need to add that 10% increase onto your payments. Your contract management software should make note of those alterations and amendments made at any stage of the contract's life cycle so that you can ensure that your business remains in compliance with the standards of that contract.  Keep relevant order forms attached to each master service agreement.  Those order forms can help show your order history and enable you to keep up with spending: both specific spending related to each client account and the spending you do with a particular vendor. Keeping track of your order forms and agreements can help you budget more effectively in the future, whether that means better understanding how to price a future job or determining whether a specific vendor is still meeting your budget needs. 

Step Five: Trigger Reminders and Events

Your contract management software can automate many of the reminders and even specific events needed to help keep your contract life cycles flowing smoothly. As a result, you can free up your employees to focus on other aspects of your business. These triggers and reminders can help keep you on track and allow you to manage your contract records more effectively. Your employees don't have time to carefully examine every contract to ensure that you're keeping up with deadlines and meeting contractual obligations. Your contract management software, however, can keep up with many of those responsibilities for you.  Issue reminders of upcoming deadlines.  Is it time to meet a specific contractual deadline? Do you need to take care of a specific requirement of the contract by a certain date? Your contract management software can issue reminders of those important deadlines. Whether you need to send in a report of your assets to a local newspaper after a fresh acquisition or you need to have an approval in by a specific deadline, enterprise contract management systems make work easier.  Generate reports.  Compliance reports, industry standards, and more… There are plenty of reports generated by your business on a regular basis, many related directly to your contracts. Your contract management software can generate many of those reports automatically. Then it can send them to the proper individuals, keeping your daily business responsibilities moving smoothly.  Remind you of upcoming renewal dates.  When a contract comes up for renewal, you need to know about it well in advance. The sooner you know a renewal is coming, the sooner you can start taking care of those critical renewals. This includes negotiating new terms if needed. You can also use reminders for signatures in place so that you can continue work uninterrupted. 

Step Six: Maintain Access to Past Contract Variations

Your contract management software doesn't just enable you to keep up with your current contracts and contract records. It can also help you keep up with past variations of your contracts. This can be especially helpful when: You need to go back to a past version of a contract during negotiation.  You've been negotiating for a while. Maybe you’ve even gone through several variations of the contract. Then the client decides they want to go back to a previous agreement. Instead of having to put it back together from scratch, you can easily access those past variations through your contract management software. This can help you get those contracts approved more quickly and with less frustration. You need to determine who made a specific alteration to the contract.  During the redline phase, both you and your contractual partner may make specific alterations or amendments to a given contract. When the time comes to get final approval for the contract, every change matters. You will need to be able to easily see who made those alterations before deciding whether or not to sign.  You need to determine how your relationship with a specific contractual partner has changed over time.  Your relationship with everyone from your vendors to your clients may change dramatically over time. With access to past variations of those contracts, you can more easily determine how that relationship has changed. Also, you can track how it has impacted your business. This can provide valuable insights for future business decisions. For example, you can better decide whether you want to continue to utilize a subcontractor who has failed to deliver on your expectations for a specific project. You can also determine if you want to make an exception for a long-term client.  The right contract management software can make a big difference for your business. Better technology improves your ability to keep up with contractual terms and obligations. With these strategies, you can utilize your contract management software effectively to create better organization systems. This will make your contracts more easily accessible to those who need them — and protect them from those who don't. Contact us to learn more about our contract management solutions for better contract records management. Also, you can try out our software with a 7-day free trial.  Read the full article

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Speed Up Business with Contract Management Software for Legal Departments

Many legal departments haven't yet jumped on the digital bandwagon, but times are changing. Specialized software becomes increasingly popular for organizations that want to streamline their contract life cycle and contract management process. Just like CRMs can capture business relationships, contract management software for legal departments can help teams in drafting, negotiations, and compliance.  What is contract management software? In a nutshell, it centralizes contract data, automates the contract negotiation and execution process, and helps management contracts throughout their terms. We discuss more ins and outs of contract management software in-depth in this comprehensive guide. Here are some of the ways legal departments can use contract management software to speed up business before, during, and after a contract’s creation. 

1. Create Contract Templates with Approved Language

A company's legal department is a key player throughout the entire contract management process. One of the best ways in which a legal department can promote compliance in other departments is by creating contract templates.  A contract management system allows the legal department to store contract templates, so users can access them as needed. These templates are standard contracts. They contain the language approved by stakeholders and decision-makers within the company. When salespeople have protected templates, they can quickly make sales on this standard paper. But the protected access ensures they can’t just negotiate the terms without legal approval.  Additionally, contract management software for legal departments has a contract repository. The department can use this to search past contracts for specific terms and clauses when creating a new type of contract template. This means that the legal team doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel each time. 

2. Streamline Contract Tracking and Reviews

At one or more points during the contract management process (and after execution), your legal department will review contracts. In addition to reviewing the language and terms, legal will also make sure both parties are meeting their contractual obligations. Contract management software for legal departments lets the right person set up review structures. These specific timelines and points in the business relationship require regular reviews and audits for compliance.  The contract review process is also important for recognizing customers or vendors who aren't meeting their contractual obligations. Traditional contract management in the legal department requires hours of manpower to track down this information. Through using a centralized contract repository and benefiting from communications across departments, the team can quickly learn about any issues which might pose a legal risk for the organization. For example, the finance department might make note of a customer who hasn't met their financial obligations. The legal department can receive an email or alert on their dashboard to learn about this issue and investigate further before putting the customer on notice.

3. Create Approval Workflows

Even with standardized contracts, situations exist where the procurement team or sales team might need to adjust some of the terms.  The legal department protects the company by ensuring any changes, especially those which include non-standard terms, comply with organizational goals. Ultimately, this helps ensure contracts don't open the company up to legal issues.  When the legal department uses a contract management system, it can control in-negotiation contracts by creating approval workflows. This means a user from the legal department can create a workflow that controls every step from start to finish. They can also encode factors that trigger an approval requirement when sales or procurement changes any standard terms in a contract.  For example, a salesperson submits a contract which requires service delivery outside of the normal service area by a few miles. This may or may not have legal implications. But, just to be sure, the workflow notifies someone in the legal department via email. Then, the contact can review the change of terms and approve or deny the request.  The same goes for final drafts of a contract. Once negotiations are completed and each stakeholder has reviewed or approved their part, they get the final review. The legal team can make sure their department is the final stop for all contracts before signature and execution.

4. Monitor Important Deadlines

Contract management systems also help legal professionals stay on top of contract milestones, especially contract renewals or termination. Legal teams can set up automated reminders and alerts based on any term of a contract. They can also specify alerts for specific non-standard contracts. If your legal team is involved in the renewals process, early warnings are part of an effective contract renewal work process. Depending on the size of an organization, a legal department might need to keep track of thousands of contract renewals. This is not an easy task with traditional contract management methods, especially as different users and departments add to the contract. Contract management systems provide transparency. When the legal department gets an alert for a contract renewal, they can quickly view all actions which have occurred within the life cycle of a particular contract.   Contract management software for legal departments is more than just an organizational tool. It provides administrators and lawyers with the tools they need. ContraxAware’s cloud-based contract management system includes a variety of tools for:  Organizing negotiationsMaintaining contract complianceStreamlining their responsibilitiesMitigating contract risk for the entire organization Contact us to learn more about how our software solutions can help your legal department and sign up for a 1:1 demo to see how it works. Read the full article

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How Marketing Departments Can Use Contract Management Software

The centralization of a company's contract data is one of the main features of a contract management system. So when you think of contracts, procurement teams and legal departments might come to mind. But centralized data can benefit an entire organization, allowing all departments to handle aspects of their job more productively and more effectively, including marketing teams. So when you ask yourself, “What is contract management software, and how can it help me?” we’ve got you covered. Here are a few ways marketing departments can use contract management software to their benefit. 

Organize Your Customers Based on Their Publicity Clauses

In some situations, a marketing department might have direct contact with customers, or at least need the capability to review terms of a customer contract. One such example is the presence of publicity clauses. A publicity clause is language that discusses the disclosure of the business relationship between the company and a vendor. Under some provisions, companies can publicly announce the relationship between the company and their customer for the purposes of branding and promotion.  Some customers and vendors do not want any product or pricing information revealed to a third party for marketing use. Other times customer or vendor contracts have publicity clauses that allow the marketing department to mention company and names on promotional materials. Mixing up the two can be incredibly costly. Accidentally releasing a business relationship you shouldn’t can break the contract, lead to financial penalties, or even damage your business’s reputation. Marketing departments can harness the contract data found in their contract repository to make sure this never happens. Qualified users can generate clear-cut reports of the customers that allow public recognition. With access to all current and past contracts, the marketing team can filter customer and vendor contracts to choose the right information for their marketing plans.

Clean Out Duplicate Records

Enterprise contract management systems integrate with already existing customer relationship management (CRM) programs. This integration gathers potential business leads in a centralized system. With access to a quality CMS, marketing departments can cross-check their lead lists with customers who are already doing business with the company. This means you can clean out duplicate records from lead lists and cut down on repetitive, unproductive work. Even more importantly, this ensures the marketing team isn't double-dipping or frustrating potential and already existing companies.  Additionally, an accurate lead list with properly identified leads and customers allows the marketing department to be more precise. Marketing specifically to current customers is valuable — as long as it’s done the right way. So marketing departments can use contract management software to treat current customers like current customers and prospect leads like prospects for more targeted results. 

Tracking Customer Trends

Contract data, associated documents, and customer information give marketers the opportunity to track customer trends. Marketing teams can create more intentional campaigns and messages when they know: What a customer is purchasing. The price they are paying.The frequency they are receiving a good or service Data-driven decisions put together marketing initiatives and campaigns that attract new and recurring business better.  For example, the marketing team can review contracts to see which specific price points or discounts are successful in signing on new business. They can then use this information to focus their marketing strategy at this specific price point. This might include creating a discount program or some other type of incentive.  When Salesforce conducted a recent survey of 6,000 consumers, they found 76 percent of them expected companies to understand their needs and expectations. When marketing departments can use contract management software to access customer data, they can understand their actual customers’ needs and wants. This leads to more closed deals, which benefits the entire organization.

Target Marketing for Customers with Growth Opportunities

When marketing departments can use contract management software with all of their company’s customer data, they can use it to target specific groups, up-sell, cross-sell, and secure repeat business for sales teams.  The team can search for customers who use a specific product or service and comprise multiple lead lists. Depending on the circumstances, a team member might contact a lead to up-sell them a higher-priced product or service which better meets their needs or offer complementary products or services.  One common metric marketing departments use to measure customer experience (and profitability) is customer lifetime value (CLV). This is the measure of how valuable a customer is to your business for life. When marketing teams can use an enterprise contract management system to upsell or cross-sell customers, they increase each customer's CLV. Marketing departments can also track the contract life cycle of each customer. Marketers can learn when contract renewals or expirations are near. This gives them the opportunity to ensure existing customers stay the course with incentives or other special campaigns.  Marketing departments can use contract management software, but only if it has the tools they need. ContraxAware’s enterprise contract management system has tools to help drum up more business by marketing to specific groups of customers. At the same time, marketing departments can use contract management software to provide marketing-related customer service and related administrative tasks. Contact us to learn more about how our software solutions can help, and sign up for a free trial. Read the full article

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How Facility Managers Can Use Contract Management Software

Most facility managers and their teams handle day-to-day operations and maintain facility contracts. As part of the job, many facility managers rely on contracting outside vendors for efficient operations. This includes cleaning and janitorial services, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, and many other aspects of maintaining the facility. Keeping track of these contracts and managing them is cumbersome when they aren't organized. That’s where contract management systems come in — our software has features and work processes to help everyone on your team. Facility managers can use contract management software to streamline and automate many of their tasks, too.  Below, you will find some specific examples of ways facility managers can use contract management software. 

Create a Vendor Contract Repository So You Can See the Whole Picture

Contract management systems centralize contract data in one location to streamline the contract management process. Facility managers can create a special contract database to store all of their vendor contracts. Then, they can get rid of obsolete file cabinets and unorganized computer files. A vendor contract repository also provides transparency and ease of access for team members who might need to access information when the facility manager isn't in the building. This fosters communication among team members. Also, it cuts down on the need to dig through piles of work orders, invoices, and vendor contracts. Users can search the repository by: Vendor nameProduct or servicePriceAny other keyword or metadata  Users can store documents, notes, and servicing records, too. This all-in-one solution ensures that no detail gets lost. With such a versatile tool, everyone can get needed information in seconds. Not only does this save time, but it also helps operations continue smoothly.

Organize Contact Information to Improve Relationships and Maintenance

Not all vendors contracted by facility managers provide service on a specific daily, weekly, or monthly time schedule. Vendors related to building maintenance are typically contracted on an on-call basis. For example, on-call services come in when a pipe bursts, an electrical socket quits working, or a handrail becomes loose on a stairway. In these cases, a facility manager needs to know who to call. Facility managers can use contract management software to have all vendor contact information organized in an easy-to-access fashion. This cuts down on downtime and reduced productivity. Once the service representative arrives, the facility manager’s team can ensure the vendor's quote is fair based on previous work. Also, they can review any notes they might have added from the last time the vendor provided a service at the facility.

Manage Your Company’s Vendor Contracts

With a vendor contract management repository and organized contact information, facility managers can better manage vendor contracts. One of the most useful features of a contract management system for managing vendor contracts is the ability to track deliveries and/or work provided by the vendor. Team members can set reminders and alerts to create a preventative maintenance plan.  Contract management systems don't only store documents. They also allow for associated documents such as work orders, invoices, and more. A complete work history supports any claims you have to make down the line. For example, a facility manager might order cleaning supplies once per month. They can set an alert so, if the delivery doesn't arrive as planned, the system sends a notice via email. This allows facility managers to handle any problems or issues with vendor service or delivery in an expedient manner. Depending on your vendor, you can also ensure the documents automatically copy into the contract records with DocuSign and integrated software.

Manage Lease and Renewal Periods Without Missing a Single Date

Commercial leases are highly complex. They can require months of negotiations for renewal. Landlords and facility managers must agree about the type of lease and who pays what costs, as well as factoring in any needed improvements.  Facility managers can use contract management software to set reminders and alerts about tasks associated with negotiating a lease renewal. Some companies might share commercial space with other businesses. As a result, the landlord might pay for common areas or utilities and bill tenants for their portion. These are known as common area maintenance (CAM) fees. Facility managers can also use contract management systems can set alerts to pay CAM fees and other leasing costs that are over and above the base rent for the facility. If you’re considering moving, contract management software is even more essential. It can help you organize the extensive project of: Ending your leaseTransferring service contractsHiring trusted moversTracking the total expenses of the move

Track Expenses and Budgeting to Maintain Adequate Cash Flow

Part of effective facility management is creating a budget and tracking expenses. Overspending on services can topple businesses. Facility managers can use the data in their vendor contract management software to track facility expenses. As a result, your team can stay on track with your company’s yearly budget. Also, you can save time when creating a new budget. Facility managers can also set alerts for when a specific expense goes over its allocated budget amount. Facility managers can use contract management software to better maintain company facilities. It’s as simple as that! ContraxAware is here to help you manage vendors in a more productive and efficient way. So, contact us to learn more about how our software solutions can help your facility management team. Alternatively, sign up for a 1:1 demo to see how ContraxAware is an excellent fit for your business. Read the full article

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4 Uses of Contract Management Software for Procurement Departments

Procurement departments need to have best practices and standardized processes in place. That’s the only way to create loyal vendor relationships that supply affordable, yet high quality, services and goods for a company. Procurement teams are heavily involved in an organization's contracts. So, a slow or error-laden procurement process can affect an entire organization. In our “What Is Contract Management Software?” guide, we talk about the benefits of CLM software for your whole company. Here, we talk about the benefits and uses of contract management software for procurement teams. Below you will find some ways procurement departments can use enterprise contract management systems to manage vendor agreements and limit risk for your entire organization.   

1. Implementing a Clear Negotiation Process

Different members of the procurement team use different incentives or leverage during contract negotiations. But this can cause inconsistencies among vendors. You can be sure different vendors speak with one another, even if only during service or product delivery. If outside vendors sense that they are each being treated differently by a company, it can damage business relationships.  Procurement teams can create a clear negotiation process within a vendor contract management system. Then every team member has access to standard practices, negotiating guides, and contract templates. Although many different features can add to this process, creating one or two standardized documents that specifically outline negotiable and non-negotiable items will have the biggest impact.  Additionally, procurement supervisors can trigger alerts when specific terms of a vendor contract go out of the approved range. This ensures all terms in a vendor contract meet organizational needs in terms of location, cost, quantity, and time — but team members still have room to negotiate.

2. Utilizing Vendor Contract Templates

Traditional vendor contract management might include creating a new contract for each new vendor. Not only is this time consuming, but it leaves organizations open for risk if the language is loose. It can lead to a dropped deal if drafting the contract takes too long.  Whether by an internal legal department or external firm, you can create legally sound vendor contract templates. This eliminates risk by ensuring only approved language is used in a vendor contract. This allows the procurement team to access the template they need and input client-specific data rapidly from anywhere. Contract management software for procurement teams can automatically generate vendor contracts that fit the product type, order specifications, and more.  Supplier contract management software also allows companies to manage specific vendor contacts. That means the addition of client information is automatic or as simple as a click or two.  The time savings from using pre-approved vendor contract templates also reduces the time of the entire contract management life cycle. At the end of the day, your company can get the goods and services it needs more quickly. 

3. Taking Advantage of a Centralized Contract Database

Contract management systems are centered around a repository of a company's contracts and accompanying documents. That includes vendor contracts and documents. This gives procurement teams easy access to vendor contract templates. It also provides easy access to current and previous contracts. With a centralized contract repository, procurement teams can look for new vendor opportunities and opportunities to reduce organizational costs. For example, they can look at previous years’ rates, see if there are overlapping vendors, or ensure price increases fit within the terms of the contract. When the procurement department has user-friendly, organized access to a company's contracts, they can create reports and search the repository, too. Supervisors can also see an entire contract workflow and ensure their team members are completing tasks in a timely fashion. Remaining compliant with the organization’s standard procurement processes and goals is just one of the uses of contract management software for procurement teams.

4. Tracking Contract Renewals & Termination

Traditional methods of contract management make it difficult to track contract renewals and termination of contracts. That can cause gaps in service or missed opportunities to renew or drop contracts.  With the right features in contract management software for procurement purposes, however, it gets easier. The procurement department can set alerts to ensure they don't miss important milestones in a vendor relationship. Once the dates are entered, procurement teams don’t even have to manually monitor the dates. They’ll just receive an email when the deadline starts to loom. This can preserve business and save money, depending on the situation.  For example, procurement teams can set one or more alerts when contract renewal approaches. This gives the team time to audit and evaluate a relationship with a specific vendor. They can take the time to ensure product or service delivery is still necessary and still falls in line with organizational goals. Without pre-planning for the renewal of a vendor contract, companies might automatically continue to spend money on goods or services which they don't need or want.  Additionally, the procurement team can use a contract management system to send alerts if a vendor terminates a contract. This will prevent the team from automatically issuing a purchase order or making payment for a product or service they are no longer receiving. 

But You Don’t Have to Invest in Contract Management Software for Procurement Teams Alone

Contract management systems have powerful tools to help procurement departments mitigate risk and manage vendor agreements. This benefits an entire organization. ContraxAware offers a comprehensive CLM software solution that has features for every department in your company. Contact us to learn more about how our software solutions can help your procurement team and sign up for a free trial. Read the full article

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5 Contract Management Software Benefits for Finance Departments

When companies think about contract management, especially in terms of considering contract management software, they often think of their procurement department, legal department, and their sales team. But there are several contract management software benefits for finance departments, too. (What is contract management software? Find out with our in-depth exploration article.) Ultimately, contract management software makes jobs and tasks easier for all departments. Some ways finance departments can use their company's contract management software to streamline their processes are provided below.  

1. Automated Approval Trees

In some companies, finance teams need to approve the financial arrangements on each contract. Contract management software allows qualified users in the finance department to create automatic approval trees. An automatic approval tree is an organized tier of approvals. Once a member of the sales team submits a contract for approval, the system automatically sends the contract to the right approval parties in the right order.  For example, the contract system can automatically approve a standard contract with no changes to the terms. The finance department can set parameters that trigger alerts when terms of the contract change. This can include setting alerts for non-standard discounts, non-standard timelines for payment, or any other non-standard terms that involve the finances.  One of the biggest contract management software benefits for finance departments is the flexibility it gives your team to determine your own rules. When users create parameters for these alerts, they also designate who gets notified when an alert gets triggered. This ensures a request for approval goes to the right person. A 10% discount may only need to be approved by the sales manager. But a 30% discount may need to be approved by the manager, the billing representative, and their manager.

2. Tracking High-Revenue Deals

High-value deals are what keep the lights on at your organization. It’s essential that each individual and team involved in the life cycle of a high-revenue contract, including the finance department, have contract tracking power. Finance teams can benefit from a number of contract management system features to track high-revenue deals.  For example, users can group contracts by revenue account, assign specific approvers or users to high-value contracts, and set alerts for important due dates related to the deal. Users can also set alerts for things such as contract expiration and contract renewal dates, making it easy to movie high-value customers to the top of the list.  

3. Ensuring Payment from Customers

Accounts receivable are among the most important functions of a finance department. Automating accounts receivable with a contract management system streamlines payments, making it easier to keep track of whether or not customers are paying in accordance with the terms of their contract with your organization.  Traditional accounts receivable methods involve manually entering payments into a bookkeeping system or spreadsheet, and manually check if customers are following terms. Contract management system users can create: Payment due date alertsGrace period alertsTriggers for an alert when the payment amount differs from what is stated in the contract.  Not all accounts receivable errors stem from customers who don't pay their bills. By ensuring payments are in line with the terms of the contract, the finance department can catch any errors which can impact the company and the customer. This preserves a healthy business relationship.

4. Monitoring Vendor Costs and Payment

Finance teams can get frustrated when departments spend too much on vendors. They need to ensure the company meets its financial obligations with its vendors. Much like accounts receivable, automating accounts payable can prevent errors that can damage a relationship with a vendor. Maybe even more importantly, the finance department can reduce company costs related to vendors. Some contract management software benefits for finance departments that can help with accounts payable include: Creating documents for relevant users that outline approved vendors.Creating approved pricing guidelines and/or spending limits.Setting reminders and alerts for payments to avoid paying a vendor late.  Finance teams ensure compliance with company purchasing limits. They can also save money in late fees or lost discounts because of late payments. 

5. Keeping Detailed Records of Slow Pay/No Pay Clients

Finance departments need to know which customers are paying on time. Contract management software benefits for finance departments should help measure cash flow, not just revenue. Finance departments can integrate their accounts receivable with other contract data to make notes about clients who don't pay on time. Additionally, they can automate a number of different processes, such as: Sending a client to collections after they have reached a certain threshold of late or outstanding payments.Putting a stop on automatic contract renewal when clients aren't paying.Communicating information about non-renewals or cancellations to other departments. These alerts can help save your organization money. Also, they can automatically stop services to clients who aren't paying in accordance with their contract.

Why Are These Contract Management Software Benefits for Finance Departments So Important?

Contract management systems are powerful tools for finance professionals. The right enterprise contract management software will help finance departments automate and streamline tasks. This makes their job easier. Also, it saves money for your organization. So contact us to learn more about how our software solutions can help your finance team and sign up for a  free trial. Read the full article