Contract Insights

It is easy to make your case for contract management software and its ability to positively transform contract lifecycle management processes.  With so many user-friendly contract management software features at your disposal, it can be overwhelming to plan precisely how to utilize contract management software for your organization's needs.  But it does not have to be.  To that end, here are four fundamental contract management software features to get you started with better contract administration in the age of legal operations digital transformation.

Contract Management Software Features

Contract management software features are used to streamline and centralize the contract lifecycle.  Leading contract lifecycle management software offers features such as:

• a centralized contract repository for documents, data, and more.
• advanced contract searching and reporting.
• intelligent workflow automation for proactive key dates notifications, task alerts, and more.
• and integrated electronic signature software for streamlined approvals and signing.
  
  

#1 - A Centralized Contract Repository

The Contract Storage Challenge

If your organization relies on a manual system for storing all of your contracts - such as a system reliant on disjointed digital storage, email services, shared drives, and even filing cabinets - you can experience many issues.  Contracts can be misplaced and hard to retrieve.  Contract accessibility, organization, and security can be jeopardized.  Moreover, your organization can lack version control, the enforcement of contract archival and retention rules, and the ability to track key dates and milestones.

The Contract Storage Solution!

With a secure contract repository within contract management software, your organization can centrally store contract documents, data, and other essential contract management assets with comprehensive security access and tidiness.  Your contract administrators can work to tailor user permissions to your organization's needs - while only allowing necessary resources to access relevant documents, data, and more.  AI-powered contract management software allows for the intelligent mapping of newly-introduced data from contract documents into organized contract data fields - including those available out of the box and the ones your users easily configure.  AI-based CLM software can also help your team protect important data.  Crucial data points - such as counterparty information, financial data, locations, key dates, emails, and phone numbers - can be easily identified.  This feature can decrease the need for tedious and error-prone manual data entry while boosting security.

#2 - Advanced Contract Searching & Contract Reports

The Searching & Reporting Challenge

Locating crucial contract data can delay the contract lifecycle and waste time and resources.  A lack of audit trails and limited contract visibility can stifle contract transparency and efficiency.

A lack of adequate contract report abilities can cause your organization to overlook contract status, to whom contracts are assigned, budget and financial information, opportunities, and milestones.  As such, your organization can suffer delayed contract execution, accidentally exceed set budgets and amounts, miss fruitful contract management opportunities, and face other deleterious consequences.

The Searching & Reporting Solution!

Your team can easily and quickly find what you are looking for with contract lifecycle management software searching options!

CobbleStone Contract Insight® - for example offers multiple options for contract searching:

• QuickSearch allows you to easily search throughout your CLM system for documents and field data containing a specific term.
• Simple Search allows you to search more granularly within a category such as account number, counterparty name, or department to narrow your search down.

Search history can be tracked within CobbleStone®.  Additionally, you can save search terms that you need to use again.  To help you search more accurately, CobbleStone Contract Insight has a "Did you mean?" feature, which intelligently suggests a search term if you make a typo!

Advanced CLM software can offer comprehensive visibility into contractual relationships across business units for better reporting.  Comprehensive audit trails allow you to automate keeping track of versions and changes.  Flexible ad-hoc reports offer advanced configuration options for more detailed and transparent reports.

Additionally, advanced solutions such as CobbleStone offer executive graphical dashboards for contract analytics at a glance on a visually engaging platform.

#3 - Intelligent Contract Workflow Automation

The Contract Workflow Challenge

Inadequate, low-cost contract workflow tools can require your team to oversee each CLM stage one by one.  Overlooked key dates, missed opportunities, unclear approval chains, and breaches of contracts can result.  Spreadsheet-based workflows and sporadic emails for tasks and dates can result in a lack of accountability.  Contract failure rates can increase.

The Contract Workflow Solution!

AI-based contract management software can allow organizations to maximize workflow automation that supports task performance and more.  Your contract administrators can identify how long employees are taking to complete assigned tasks, promoting accountability.  Tasks that are not being completed on time can be seamlessly escalated to promote punctuality and keep CLM moving.

When your contract administrators can gain workflow insight and governance, they can proactively reassign roles, configure task assignments, escalate tasks, and much more.

Considering investing in workflow automation, but not quite ready?  No problem; you can get started with our free contract management tracker in the meantime.

#4 - Electronic Signature Software

The Contract Signing Challenge

High costs for postage and wet signatures can decrease your organization's bottom line and halt the execution of contracts.  Send-to-sign time can increase with unclear and related signature routing.  Without a solution to efficiently perform bulk signatures, resources and time will need to be significantly sacrificed.

The Contract Signing Solution!

Trusted contract management software can positively transform contract signing with electronic signatures!

Electronic signatures can streamline signing with a rapid and user-friendly process.  You can cut send-to-sign time by up to twenty percent with a robust contract document toolbox, various placeholder settings, one-off contract signatures with a highly accessible collaboration portal, and rules-based signing configuration options according to your organization's needs.  Additionally, send tens, hundreds, or thousands of documents for signing in mass.

Get Started With These Contract Management Software Features!

Don't feel intimidated by contract management software.  The contract management software features detailed above can get you started with transforming your contract process.  You need the only solution that offers the tools mentioned above and more.  That solution is CobbleStone Contract Insight.

CobbleStone's trusted, critically acclaimed, seamlessly integrated contract software suite streamlines legal operations and more with better governance, low friction, and heightened flexibility.  CobbleStone has been a visionary of contract management software features for over 20 years – and continues to innovate.

Discover why thousands of contract management teams worldwide trust CobbleStone's state-of-the-art contract management features.  Book your free demo today!