Collaboration in the contracting process: how technology can help 

Collaboration in the workplace is important. Teams that work together to problem solve, share ideas and help one another understand different areas of the business gain big benefits. Cross-departmental insights and how they work together can lead to achieving common goals for the business, most importantly, improving revenue.  Where this can really have a big impact is in your contracting process and how your teams are managing them. 

You can likely agree business begins and ends with the contract. And every stage from onboarding to renewals, closing and ending agreements is literally a BIG deal. With so many moving parts and dependencies in today’s contracts, it’s critical that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. Most business minded professionals would also agree that it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the details and time it takes to manage multiple contracts in various stages, and help to simplify the process and reduce risk is welcomed! 

Technology for collaboration in the contracting process 

How contracts are handled from team to team and client-side is going to vary. Often these processes are siloed and lead to oversight, poor planning and missed deadlines.  Teams still relying on manual processes are leaving more room for error and added risk to deals. The lack of control and visibility is a challenge that can cost time and money. Transitioning into a collaborative contracting process like Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) can speed up processes and help you tackle the problems in contracts today to keeping business moving! 

There’s lots of shiny new technologies out there that can positively impact your organization, and you’ve likely already adopted many of them. As a business leader, finding new areas for improvement should always be top of mind. Addressing challenges with a technological approach, such as CLM that enables collaboration in the contracting process is on the rise, and frankly the smart thing to do. Ideally you can adopt a CLM solution that streamlines efforts across departments and the teams that run them.  

QuintilesIMS achieves 75% faster approvals and 100% faster contract processing with Conga 

While there are several solutions to choose from, a good place to start is by narrowing down to a CLM product that supports end-to-end contract management. We’re talking about the full lifecycle of your contract from contract drafting to renewals/amendments and everything in between. This is where we see the impact of visibility and data insights. With all your key players involved, contract lifecycle management allows stakeholders a clear view into your contracts for better planning and forecasting. 

Moving into real-time collaboration and automation with CLM 

Real-time contract collaboration allows all parties to see what their next steps are to keep the contracting process moving forward. Through automation, each piece is reported along the way to provide clear insights on where stakeholders are at in the contract process and if edits or improvements should be made. You and your teams can now get things done easier, faster and in sync. 

Contract automation enables streamlined contract review, negotiation, editing, and approval. It takes manual, tedious administrative tasks and pushes them through your systems with intelligence. Implementation of contract automation yields several benefits such as minimizing errors, enhancing compliance, and generating mutually beneficial results. The deliverable; higher-quality contracts. The win: visibility and transparency that results in better customer/ partner relationships. 

When you’re managing contracts appropriately, it’s easy to find places to streamline and optimize both in your sales cycles and your revenue management. 
 

Collaboration in the cloud 

Disruption can be a good thing when it applies to innovation. Business today moves fast, so legal workflows, processes and operations need to keep up. The introduction and adoption of tools and technology that can help legal teams advance can add big gains in efficiencies and revenue. For this reason, we’re seeing more and more organizations embracing disruptive technologies and embracing contract management cloud-based solutions. 

Cloud technology can make risk management and compliance more efficient and cost-effective. Time spent by legal resources on tedious, recurring tasks brings little value back to the business. With CLM teams work cross-functionally across departments, sharing insights and collaborating to get things done faster. This results in more time to focus on matters where it is better served, such as decision-making and revenue driving activities. 

It may seem like a jump to make the move towards Contract Lifecyle Management and collaboration in the cloud, yet odds are you’re already doing it in other areas of the business. Applications like project management tools, emails, digital calendars and online chat rooms are all spaces in which your legal teams are sharing data and insights today. The effectiveness of these tools should give you some clarity as to how meaningful and impactful this could be in managing critical contracts. 

It's all in the data 

You didn’t hear it here first, but you’ve definitely heard it before. Capturing, tracking, reporting, and analyzing data is vital to any business. They are also key features of a quality contract management tool. Having access to a reliable source of verified data provides the intelligence to understand and improve contract management, allowing legal teams to translate them into valuable insights.  

See how switching from a traditional CLM to CCI empowered teams to improve contract management and performance. 

Modernizing legal ops with contract lifecycle management 

What lies ahead for collaboration within contracts and how technology applies? Well, we know that knowledge across teams is powerful, but time is scarce. It would seem the trending theme across organizations lately has been having to do more with less. And while the concept may seem impossible, it’s the inspiration for the technology tools and solutions we rely on today. 

The legal industry and functions of the future will be molded by applications that make use of cutting-edge technologies like process automation, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics. These advanced tools will enable growth and business value to be accomplished more efficiently and effectively. Those organizations that align business objectives with matching technologies will be more likely to sustain in the new digital age. 

Stand out from your competitors and support a more client-centric approach with streamlined processes. Incorporating collaboration tools is going to breakdown the communication silos that add risk to your business. With real-time data across the organizations, you’ll be reducing errors and delays caused by transferring data and files manually. Now is the time to step into your transformation journey and start driving productivity and revenue.