Can't get a grip on your contract management using Excel and Word?

Every single contract situation involves several employees from a wide range of departments. Yet contracts continue to be managed locally or in paper form. This costs time and nerves.

Empower your organization with software that can create, manage and negotiate contracts. Avoid numerous errors and the associated costs, which can quickly amount to several hundred thousand euros. 
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Why is simple contract management not enough these days?

The traditional view of contract management is the administration of contracts via static administration systems. However, in a dynamic world, the demands on contract management are increasing. Contracts need to be renegotiated as products and customer requirements change.

In addition, data has to be re-entered into contracts on a daily basis. This results in errors that can quickly cost a lot of money.

What Is Contract Management?

Contract management is the process of administrative support for contract creation, negotiation, administration and signing. The task of contract management is to optimize each of these process steps so that they can run without friction losses. A number of administrative measures are used in this process.

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What does modern contract management have to do today?

In addition to the storage and access management of contracts, modern contract management must be able to keep the data of concluded contracts available. Inefficient contract management can cost companies up to 9.2% of annual revenue.

Other contract management tasks to increase the organization's profitability include: 

  • Regular risk assessment of the contract portfolio (evaluation of the contract portfolio for cluster risks)
  • Reminders for responsible persons on important deadlines
  • Creation of templates for the important contract processes
  • Attachments of guidelines and manuals for the preparation of contract documents
  • Preparation and implementation of guidelines for the negotiation of contracts
  • Establish approval processes for the release and shipment of contracts
  • Establish a signature process for selected contracts

What is contract management software and how can it help companies?

Contract management software supports contract management in fulfilling its tasks. The core tasks of contract management software are the creation, negotiation and management of contracts.

1

Preparation of contracts

Innovative contract management software offers the possibility to create contracts via an approved template. This allows companies to save up to 70% of costs during the creation process.

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2

Negotiation of contracts

Contracts are usually negotiated via email and MS Word. This is a lengthy process. Contract management software can help shorten this process. It can also eliminate the possibility of accidentally sending internal comments to the other party. 

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3
Filing contracts

In order to make a reliable statement about the state of your company, a look at your contract portfolio is indispensable. Contract management software helps to determine which risks are currently lying dormant in your books, without painful Excel analysis or data gathering. 

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Why is modern contract management relevant from a GDPR perspective?

Data subjects have the right to know what data is stored about them. Contract management software provides information at a glance about what data is available and in what context it was collected. 

Why should accounting and contract management work together effectively?

The accounting department is responsible for invoicing. This requires deadlines and invoice dates from the contract. If these are missing, invoices can only be issued slowly and your money will arrive later.

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Why is a functioning contract management the basis for risk controlling?

Controlling usually takes over the risk monitoring of contracts and is responsible for planning and evaluating data across the entire company. An important data supplier for controlling is contract management. An insufficient data situation is often the starting point for far-reaching wrong decisions.    

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What does a complete contract management process look like?

Contrary to the name, a contract management process does not start with the filing and administration of contracts, but with the creation of templates to keep the quality of the process high.
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Preparation of contract templates

Define templates and provide for alternative clauses and negotiation scenarios
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Release workflows

Who has to release the contract at which point? Who finally signs the contract on your side?
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Management and analysis

What happens after the signature is obtained? Who needs access rights to the contract?
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Deadline management and changes

Who takes care of compliance with the contract deadlines? Who ensures that the agreed items are delivered?
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Archiving and deletion of contracts

Who is responsible for the audit-proof archiving of contracts? Who ensures that contracts are deleted in compliance with the law, if necessary?

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