Top 5 Contract Management Tools That Will Help Your Business Succeed

Contract lifecycle management is a process that plays a key role in the success of any business. And over time, many technological advances and powerful innovations have emerged that streamline contracts and empower contract managers and business owners. To keep your company competitive in the area of contract management, we have created a list of contract management tools that will help you improve contract outcomes and productivity.

# 1: End-to-end contract lifecycle management software

Every company must have a comprehensive contract lifecycle management solution that systematizes each phase of the contract lifecycle. Today, many companies use old methods to manage and store contracts. This only leads to increased risk, non-compliance, late deadlines and lost documents. As 2022 approaches, you need to make sure you have everything you need to optimize contract life cycle. Contract lifecycle management software helps you grow your business and increase the transparency of your contract process. In addition, contract lifecycle management software automates multiple processes in the contract team and other related departments, allowing companies to strategically assign actionable efforts while saving time and money.

Have you ever thought about all the features that contract lifecycle management software can provide to your business? Here are some highlighted features that will definitely help you in the contract management process:

• Customizable contract start and application form

• Automated and flexible contract workflow

• Pre-approved contract templates and clause library for easy contract creation

• A cloud-protected, centralized contracting platform for communication and collaboration in negotiations, reviews, approvals, etc.

• Digital archive for contract storage and retrieval

• Custom report function

• Proactive and detailed contract dashboard

• Contract expiration and automatic renewal notification

• Audit trails, authorization-based access, and other risk mitigation / security features

Dedicated software solutions for contract lifecycle management can help your company by reducing contract lifecycle times and accelerating tasks with automated workflows. To improve compliance and results while reducing risk and cost, using contract lifecycle management software solutions is the best decision a company can make.

# 2: Cloud-protected SharePoint-based contract repository

To effectively monitor and store all your company's contracts, you should consider using a contract repository that uses SharePoint as your central storage platform. Manual contract storage only leads to contract loss, non-compliance, and increased risk. Today, some companies are using older approaches to contract storage (such as filing cabinets and email chains), ensuring the security of contract data, finding vital details and documents, and managing contract versions appropriately. It is getting harder to do.

To gain a competitive advantage, a SharePoint-based contract repository that supports contract storage and organization is important. In SharePoint, for example, you can configure approvals, activate version control settings, monitor contract performance and status, perform quick searches with user-defined filters, redline and review contracts, and more.

During the term of the contract, sensitive contract data is managed and stored in the contract lifecycle management software. You can take advantage of authorization-based access control to protect sensitive data. This ensures that only authorized users can view and access contracts and related documents.

Have you considered switching to a digital contract archive? Here are five main reasons why cloud-protected digital contract repositories can help companies manage their contract lifecycles:

Enhance security with cloud storage

Use audit trails and contract dashboards to improve transparency and accountability

Centralize the process (i.e., negotiations, reviews and redlining, approvals, etc.)

Sign contracts quickly and maximize productivity

Standardization of contract storage

To get the most out of your company's contracts, a secure cloud repository combined with state-of-the-art software for contract lifecycle management is exactly what your company needs.

# 3: Flexible automation of contract workflow

Imagine manually managing every step in your contract life cycle. A manual approach to contract lifecycle management wastes time and money monitoring everyday tasks that could otherwise be automated. In the event of a bottleneck or other delay, other processes within the contract life cycle are affected, slowing down the entire life cycle of a particular contract. This negatively impacts the return on investment and the length of the contract. As we approach 2022, contract managers are encouraged to deploy software that can automate a variety of tasks and normal management processes.

To avoid issues related to manual management of contract workflows, we recommend that you use contract lifecycle management software that includes flexible and automated contract workflows. Contract workflow automation sends alerts to the appropriate employees and departments to complete contract-related actions within the workflow. This enables a systematic contract life cycle. Workflow automation allows you to configure contract notifications and reminders to proactively notify the right people at all stages of the contract's life cycle.

The automated contract workflow enables contract managers to:

Customize reporting and data analysis capabilities

Reservation log

Redlining tool

Centralized cooperation in negotiation and approval

Digital signature integration

Auto-renewal of contracts, expiration dates, milestone reminders

Detailed audit trail history.

# 4: Simplified contract creation

Are you frustrated with processing your documents without using contract management software? The manual contract creation method significantly reduces the productivity of the company's contract management process because the process of creating a new contract is time consuming. If more than one person or department is involved in drafting and reviewing a contract, it can be difficult to get the draft contract in the right time and in the right hands without the software.

Consider all the factors related to creating a new contract, such as copying and pasting content, downloading contract templates, getting valuable information, manually entering data, ensuring compliance, etc. The list continues. A manual approach to creating contracts makes version control and compliance even more difficult, especially if the contract terms and templates are unregulated and outdated.

The automated contract creation process can simplify many of the processes involved in creating accurate and legally compliant legal contracts. In addition to simplifying contract creation, you can save energy, money, and time by automating this phase of the contract life cycle. An automated approach to contract creation allows contract managers and legal departments to centralize and systematize contracts in ways that improve compliance management and collaboration while minimizing human error and risk.

The standardized contract creation process helps contract managers automatically enter and merge pre-approved terms and data into contract templates. This allows you to create time-efficient contracts with a user-friendly interface. In addition, you can use contract lifecycle management software to export documents to a variety of file formats during the design and revision stages. Automated contract management software keeps version control efficient and keeps everyone involved in the authoring process up to date.

Another crucial point about contract creation software is how contract managers configure permissions and rules so that only selected people are involved in contract creation. Approval routing and audit trails also contribute to a smooth documenting process. By streamlining contract management by assembling and storing secure contracts and automating this phase of the contract life cycle, you can quickly see some benefits.

# 5: Digital signature integration

DocuSign, Adobe Sign, and Sertifi are some of the leading digital signature providers that can help companies sign and execute contracts. Digital signature solutions accelerate contract signing and approval, reducing processing time and contract lifecycle. For example, after negotiations are complete, you can send a signing contract or related document in seconds with just a few clicks. The centralized contract repository acts as the only place for communication and collaboration for all contracts, making it easy to monitor the status of documents during the signing and execution phase of the contract life cycle.

There are some pitfalls in manual contract signing, and the integration of e-signature has evolved to make this crucial step faster and more efficient. Digital signature providers provide contract managers with a secure and quick way to collect signatures for all contracts, and contract managers can send an unlimited number of files for signatures in bulk. One of the greatest aspects of digital signature integration is how to sign contracts on the go. If the signer has a digital device and an internet connection, the signer can sign virtually any document anytime, anywhere. You can accelerate and optimize contract signing by integrating contract lifecycle management software with digital signature providers.

Conclusion

Contract lifecycle management is optimized with the five tools mentioned above, and it is highly recommended to use one of these key tools for safe and successful contract conclusion. Dock 365 provides end-to-end software for contract lifecycle management, Cloud secure-based and SharePoint-based contract repositories, flexible contract workflow automation, simplified contract creation, and electronic integration for enterprises to manage contracts. Allows you to optimize and streamline all aspects. Get competitive today with Dock365.