Contract management has developed into one of the most important facets of any corporation as they rely heavily on contracts to assure compliance, reduce risks, and spur expansion from supplier agreements to employee contracts. However, contracts necessitate the use of a trustworthy and effective contract administration system. The market is flooded with possibilities, making it difficult to choose the best one for your company.
To understand the important variables to take into account when choosing a contract management system, we have put together a thorough guide. From contract formation, contract storage and retrieval, contract reporting and analytics, contract integrations, and contract cost, you will have a thorough understanding of the fundamental components of a contract management system. Whether you run a small business or a major corporation, this guide will give you the information you need.
How to select a Contract Management System?
Software for managing contracts is an effective, economical solution to simplify contract administration and benefit your business. But how can one be confident about picking the appropriate one when there are so many providers? The following are some essential features to consider while selecting a contract management system for your business.
1. Integrations
Although a contract management system offers robust capability to enhance contract processes, it cannot serve as a stand-alone solution for all of your company’s requirements. Today’s extremely complex businesses need a modular, adaptable set of software tools, and those tools must all collaborate under a single tech stack.
The CMS should work seamlessly with all of the essential business programs you use on a daily basis, including both internal systems and external tools such as email, marketing automation, CRM, CPQ, and ERP. One may not have to spend as much time switching between tools thanks to dependable connectors that make sure data transfers between platforms go smoothly.
2. Ease of use
The usability and compatibility with your current software should be taken into account when choosing a contract management system. To simplify the contract administration process, choose a software solution that is simple to integrate with your existing tools and processes. In order to guarantee that your staff can effectively complete their jobs without needless obstacles, the system should be simple to use and navigate. In-depth user training may be necessary for some contract management solutions, which may cause challenges with adoption. It’s critical to assess the software’s usability and how long it would take your staff to become proficient in both its fundamental and sophisticated features.
3. Efficient search capabilities
The capacity to search within a contract and across several contracts is one of the main potential time savers provided by contract management systems. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based contract management systems are very beneficial. AI software can also interpret search phrases using context. Strong search capabilities, such as full-text search and OCR (optical character recognition) for scanned documents, should be present in the CMS.
4. Document creation
Numerous documents are needed during the contracting process, including the contract itself and any supporting materials like schedules, budgets, and statements of work. But depending on labor-intensive, paper-based procedures are slow, ineffective, and prone to errors. One can quickly create professional, branded papers as part of the contract workflows using automated document production, and one may fill those pages with information from any system of records. In order to improve organizational efficiency and accuracy and provide end-users with a seamless, consistent experience, a strong CMS should have document generating capabilities.
5. Collaboration and sharing
Look for a contract management system that enables secure team interactions and manages competing revisions to the same document when selecting a program. In order to completely eliminate conflicting revisions, you should be able to assign papers to individual reviewers. Additionally, select a solution that enables team members to keep track of both their own and one another’s advancement. To distinguish between tasks that have been finished and those that still need to be completed, your program should be able to log changes, compare versions, share, and export data. The processes can be made more efficient to prevent errors and save time.
6. Contract repository
Businesses can expedite and automate the contract lifecycle management process with the help of a secure contract repository supported by contract artificial intelligence and machine learning. The static documentation produced by your outdated process can be transformed into dynamic CLM building blocks for enhanced supervision, opportunity realization, and risk reduction. Critical information found in recently introduced contract papers can be intelligently mapped as well-organized contract data fields defined by the system or by the user.
7. Workflow automation
The contracting processes are complex and involve numerous handoffs between various organizational departments. Because of this, it’s not always obvious what needs to be done when. That issue can be resolved by introducing automated processes in a competent CMS. The contracting process is divided into a set of processes using automated workflows. When action is required, built-in notifications notify all relevant parties, and the contract advances after the activity is finished. Automated workflows guarantee that all parties are aware of the status of a contract, the activities that must be taken, and when they must be taken.
8. Dashboards and reporting
Although the contracting process produces a vast amount of data, that data is only useful if you can extract practical insights and improve business results. A good CMS should have customized dashboards that let you assess the health of your contract management process, track the development of contract life cycles through time, and monitor contract performance in real time. Critical contract data, such as KPIs, workflow activities, financials, bids, suppliers, compliance, renewal dates, and more, may be easily analyzed by different teams. A robust contract management system is loaded with capabilities such as contract data searching, executive graphical dashboards, and contract financials tracking.
9. Security and compliance
One critical aspect to assess when choosing a contract management system is its security and compliance to industry rules. Exploring the system’s firewalls, encryption, access controls, and backup methods, among other security precautions is critical. Additionally, whether the system conforms to industry norms such the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Businesses could face serious legal and financial ramifications if one does not follow these requirements. Before choosing which contract management system to use, it is crucial to carefully assess the system’s security and compliance with industry requirements.
10. Pricing and customer support
These options are important considerations when picking a contract management system. To estimate costs, make sure to evaluate the features and prices of various contract management systems. It’s also critical to take each provider’s level of customer care into account. In general, investing the effort to investigate and contrast available pricing and customer support options can result in a smooth and effective contract management system’s selection process.
Conclusion
Selecting the best contract management system for your company might be challenging. But by considering all the above features and other important aspects such as your unique requirements, budget, scalability, and support services, you can make an informed decision that will ultimately save you money, time, and effort. Learn more about how WNS-Vuram’s contract management system, TrustHall, an easy-to-deploy AI-powered plug-n-play enables enterprises across industries to manage the complete contract management lifecycle to help reduce risk, speed up the sales cycle, and improve business outcomes. Talk to our experts today or write to ask@vuram.com for a demo.
