Whether you’re a small or medium-sized business, you’ll encounter contracts upon contracts whenever you’re dealing with a client or any other stakeholder in the company. Keeping track of all of them can be rough.
The challenges faced by companies without contract management in their business are as follows:
- The company might make many mistakes in defining what is required for them to comply with their contractual obligations.
- The company might not be able to take advantage of contractual opportunities when they arise.
- The company might not be able to manage risks associated with contractual obligations, which can lead to termination or changes in contractual relationships.
Given the challenges of not having proper contract management, you want to avoid them. However, having contract management isn’t just about mitigating risks. It’s about reaping benefits for your business as well. Before we cover those benefits, let’s define what contract management is.
Table of Contents
What is contract management?
Contract management is the process of managing, monitoring, and maintaining contracts.
Contracts are a legal agreement between two parties that outlines the terms and conditions for their business.
The contract management process includes:
- Tracking contract status.
- Obtaining approval for contract changes.
- Ensuring that everyone meets all contractual obligations.
Contract management is the process of planning, negotiating, and executing contracts between two or more parties.
Contract management is a process that includes the following steps:
- Negotiate contract terms
- Execute contract terms
- Monitor contract compliance
- Resolve disputes
Now that you know what it is, here are some reasons why you want to incorporate this into your business.
Why Contracts Management is Important
Are you wondering why you should be investing more in contract management? Here are eight reasons why they’re essential.
1. Protect both parties
Protecting the people who transact with your business is crucial for protecting your reputation. VPN usage is one way you can do that.
Aside from incorporating a VPN into your telecommunications, proper contract management is another way you can make your business transactions safer and more secure.
A contract is a legally binding agreement between two or more parties. That agreement can be a written document, verbal, or even implied. The central role of a contract is to define the rights and obligations of each party in the agreement.
There are many ways that contract management can protect both contract parties. One way is by making sure that both parties know what they agree to before signing anything. Another way is by ensuring that both parties have an equal opportunity to negotiate any terms they find unfavorable in the contract while it’s in a draft.
2. Improves functional efficiency
Nowadays, more parts of the business operations have ways you can automate them. You can automate customer support. You can even have marketing automation that helps increase your return on investment. More businesses do this to improve their efficiency with the help of these tools and software.
Many entrepreneurs use different tools and plugins for productivity and are more efficient as a result. Contract management is one way to reduce the workload on something that you can do faster to better focus on things that might require more time and attention, especially when you have such limited resources.
3. Enforces and improves compliance
Contract management is an integral part of the business process. It ensures that all parties are compliant with the contract, and it can enforce the agreement in case of a breach.
Contract management is the most critical part of any business. It can enforce and improve compliance with the contract, avoid risks and mitigate risks.
Contract management is a process that helps to enforce and improve compliance with the contract.
Contract managers should ensure that all parties are aware of their obligations under the agreement, monitor for potential breaches or risks, negotiate changes as necessary, and document any changes or updates to the contract. They also need to ensure that all appropriate approvals are there from relevant stakeholders before signing off on any changes.
4. Controls risks in the contract portfolio
The contract portfolio is a set of contracts signed and managed by a company. It’s an integral part of the organization’s risk management strategy.
You should regularly monitor the contract portfolio for any changes in law, regulation, or customer demand. You should periodically review contracts to ensure compliance with applicable law and identify potential risks that may arise from changes in the company’s environment.
To control risks, you need to know what they are and how they can affect your contract portfolio. Companies must understand their risks to take necessary actions and avoid any losses in the future. You can do that with the help of contract management.
5. Streamline Your Contract Approval Process
The contract approval process is an essential step in the contract management process. It ensures that everyone follows the terms and conditions. If there are any discrepancies or changes, you should apply them before signing off on the agreement. A streamlined contract approval process will make it easier for companies to ensure that their contracts are legally binding and enforceable.
With a streamlined contract approval process, you will have more time to focus on other aspects of your business, such as marketing or sales. You may even have time to take care of other administrative tasks such as payroll or accounting.
A streamlined contract approval process can also highly improve the customer experience and is one way you can treat your potential customers (and current ones) better.
6. Allows greater accessibility and transparency
Contract management can help with transparency, as it is easier to see what the contract entails. It also helps with accessibility, as it allows people who are not fluent in the contract’s language to understand what is happening.
This benefit means that if a person does not speak the language of the contract, they can have an interpreter read it for them and then be able to understand what is happening. This feature also means that if someone has a disability that prevents them from reading or understanding the contract themselves, they can have someone else do it for them.
7. Find and manage your contracts easily.
There are many different ways to manage contracts, but the most popular is contract management software. You can use this software in many different ways, but people often use it as a way to find and manage contracts easily.
You can incorporate contract management easily into your CRM or customer relationship management system quickly with the use of contract management software.
Here’s how to do it:
- Find all the documents related to contact so that you don’t have to search through different files and folders
- Track when contracts expire and who needs renewal
- Find out when contracts are due for renewal to know what steps are next.
8. Provides smart authoring and templates
With contract management, you can have a clear overview of your business and what your business needs to do for the other party.
Contract management helps with the following:
- You can create contracts quickly and easily;
- Contract templates are available for you to use;
- It’s easy for you to monitor your contracts and ensure that everyone follows the rules correctly.
Smart authoring and templates are tools that can help with this process. They make it easier for contract managers to update contracts with new information and create new contracts without any hassle. You can use several contract management tools to make it easier for your team and related parties to manage each document more intelligently and efficiently.
Signs of successful contract management
The contract management team will be well able to identify the early signs of success, and this success appears in many ways.
The following are signs of successful contract management:
- The contract is up to date, and you’ve applied all the changes.
- The agreement is unambiguous.
- All parties have agreed on the terms of the deal.
- The contract has been signed and dated by all parties.
- The contract is in a safe place.
Final Thoughts
By having a straightforward contracts management process and tools for your business, the contract signing, sending, and the entire process will go smoothly and much easier for everyone involved. Therefore, if you haven’t yet, incorporate contract management soon to use these benefits for your business.
