Contract management technology selection and implementation considerations
Considerations for a successful CLM implementation
Contracts are foundational to any business transaction. In recent years, organizations big and small have renewed their focus on how they manage contracts, driven by increased complexities in business models, newer and potentially stricter regulations and the corresponding need to reduce risk, and an increasing realization that better value can be achieved through improved contract management.
Historically, managing contracts has been a challenge due to the contextual nature of contracts that require expert legal understanding and the difficulties in extracting information from legal language. However, recent advances in text analytics and language processing have made this task significantly easier, allowing the potential within contracts to be unlocked.
Though companies realize the value of having an effective contract management process and system, they still struggle to articulate the return on investment, determine the appropriate technology that can solve their business needs, and implement the solution in the optimal way that fosters adoption and use. These challenges are further compounded by the myriad overlapping technologies and service options that are available in the market.
There are many white papers and blogs that discuss the benefits associated with contract lifecycle management (CLM) technologies, including but not limited to:
- 360-degree customer/partner view of existing contracts
- KPIs and obligation monitoring
- enforcing libraries of standard and legally approved terms and templates for business
- redlining, versioning, audit trails
- reporting and searchability
- integration with CRM, vendor masters, ERPs and e-signature tools
In this document, we cover the key challenges, risks and mitigation steps that organizations should consider when selecting and implementing a CLM solution.
