The past decade has seen enterprise legal teams across regions struggle with maintaining high levels of efficiency with the added pressure of reducing costs. Thanks to the era of cloud-based solutions, legal teams can now get closer to achieving their goals by letting a CLM tool reduce one of their most time-consuming tasks – contracts.
From automating contracting processes to helping with GRC Management, Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) for legal teams is like a blessing across industries. Here’s how:
Smarter contract authoring
One of the most time-consuming tasks for a legal team is authoring stronger and more compliant contracts with pre-approved language and clauses. It can take days and even weeks before a contract is finalized and moved to the next stage. This can all change with the help of a contract lifecycle management system. An efficient CLM system should make drafting and negotiating, standardize contract templates and clauses for different requirements, and equips members from both legal and non-legal functions to assemble and execute legally compliant contracts. This accelerates contract authoring and gives the legal operations team more time to focus on other high-value activities.
Once the authoring phase is complete, approvals from different stakeholders take up much time in a contract lifecycle. A dependable Contract Lifecycle Management for legal teams streamlines workflow and approvals and simplifies the process for all parties involved. Users can store, review and approve contracts easily with the help of the approval functionality that loops in multiple stakeholders to work together on contract negotiations. Unlimited files can be attached to contract management software, and once a request is approved, it is easy to convert it into contract records without losing any data. In addition, task assignments, document tracking, and established notifications ensure accountability and reduce the hassle in the approval process.
Gone are the days when legal teams would spend hours locating a particular contract just to find out the stage of its lifecycle or simply invest time in defining processes for each contract. Instead, every stage of every contract can now be visible to all parties involved with the help of a centralized repository in the contract management solution. It also enables you to establish benchmarks and KPIs to reform your processes.
Missing contractual obligations is a prominent reason for the loss of business in many organizations. Not anymore! With the help of proficient contract management software, users get automated real-time reminders, notifications, and alerts that ensure there is never a missed milestone or obligation. The convenience of it is such that alerts can be set depending on preference, such as before or/and on the due date, notification medium, and the frequency of these reminders. A data-driven CLM solution is not just a management tool, it should be capable of mitigating risks, increasing overall efficiency and eliminating cost.
Digital storage gives parties involved the satisfaction of a physically secure contract. No more can contracts be victims of theft or be destroyed physically. CLM for legal teams helps to store contract data on the cloud and move away from the world of papers and shared drives. But what about cybercrimes? Leave that to a CLM system; not only does it save you physical storage space but also ensures your contracts on the cloud are secured with multiple layers ensuring complete security.
Thanks to an efficient CLM system, it is now easy to view critical contract information in a blink. Contract management Solution ensures users get timely reports on status updates, incoming tasks, and contract performances. These reports can be emailed individually, day to day, or an automated daily, weekly, and/or monthly schedule can be set up that shares updates via spreadsheets that can be saved and distributed.
Risk rating and risk mapping tools in contract lifecycle management for legal teams identify potential risks and save businesses from huge losses. A risk assessment matrix highlights probable risk patterns from within contracts and any risk exposures that can impact the business. Being aware of potential risks in a particular contract gives organizations the flexibility to choose their way forward.
A digital transformation is a way forward for legal teams looking to improve the contract management process. Adopting technology for the legal department in the form of a CLM system can lay the foundation for this transformation.