Contract workflow automation is a must-have feature for any contract management software. It enables teams to automate many of the steps in the contract workflow,making the entire process more efficient and freeing up time for the legal team and other team members to focus on more important matters.
A contract workflow, in simple terms, is the end-to-end process of moving a legal document through various stages, such as initiation, execution, renewal, and so on.
The benefits of contract management workflow automation
1. More dependable contracts by using standardized, pre-approved templates.
Your legal team can keep contract and clause template libraries up to date to meet ever-changing regulatory requirements. This ensures that executives always use the most effective contract templates.
Automated workflows also ensure that contract drafters use the company's preferred and fallback positions during negotiations. That means you and the company can be confident in the legal work produced regardless of who creates the agreement. Deals can be closed faster and lawyers no longer have to review the same basic language over and over.
2. contracts can be automatically forwarded and approved at the same time
With automated contract workflows, no time is wasted searching through inboxes for agreements or chasing someone down in emails. With automated contract workflows, no time is wasted searching through inboxes for agreements or chasing someone down in emails.
Collaboration does not have to be fragmented, and the routing process as a whole can be standardized. Collaboration becomes seamless and action can be taken quickly by automatically routing contracts to relevant reviewers.
top.legal enables you to work directly or manage contracts digitally with your entire team or partners on an equal footing. Internal and external users can quickly reach an agreement and execute contracts using collaborative authoring and automated workflows.
When certain stakeholders are unable to complete their step of the process, bottlenecks can form. Rather than delaying time-to-contract, automated workflows can be used to create multiple approval groups within any internal workflow phase.
3. Compliance with corporate governance protocols is a lot easierer compliance with corporate governance protocols is much easi
To ensure compliance, businesses will be able to incorporate business rules and policy guidelines into automated workflows. They can, for example, create a contract routing workflow that prevents final approval until all edits and issues have been addressed and all required approvals have been obtained. On-demand audit trails and customized dashboard views aid in compliance monitoring at all stages. To ensure compliance, companies can build business rules and policies into automated workflows. For example, they can create a workflow for routing contracts that do not allow final approval until all edits and issues have been addressed and all necessary approvals have been obtained. On-demand audit trails and customised dashboard views help monitor compliance at all stages.
4. Increased visibility with audit trail and monitoring analytics to help identify challenges and risks
Audit trails are an essential component of contract accountability. Because the system records every step taken by every user throughout the contract lifecycle, an administrator can review the logs to see who did what on any given contract. This information cannot be changed or edited. This significantly reduces risk if things don't go as planned. Simultaneously, the system can provide analytics to assist teams in staying up to date on all aspects of a contract. The data can also point out potential areas for improvement. Audit trails are an essential part of contract accountability. Because the system records every step each user takes throughout the contract lifecycle, an administrator can review the logs to see who did what on a particular contract. This information cannot be changed or edited. This significantly reduces the risk if something does not go as planned. At the same time, the system can provide analytics to help teams stay up to date on all aspects of a contract. The data can also point to potential areas for improvement.
5. Contract workflow automation allows legal teams to save time, effort, and money
Automating contract workflows allows legal teams to focus on value-added work, which saves time. According to Aberdeen Research, administrative costs associated with contracts are reduced by 25-30% by implementing automation.
The goal of workflow automation software is to improve the efficiency of processes. By automating processes, users can spend more time on important, high-value tasks. For example, replacing manual drafting processes with a standard contract clause generator speeds up the speed at which your organisation can complete data transfers and process data for business operations. Automating contract processes can help with a variety of administrative tasks that inhibit productivity
