Contracts secure and protect assets and, while doing so, should help organizations generate revenue, not lose revenue. Regardless of the intent of contracts, lost revenue is a significant challenge for contract managers. CobbleStone launched the “Mastering Contract Management Blog Series” to address the problems that contract, legal, and procurement professionals face when managing contracts. In the fourth blog post in the series, lost revenue is discussed.
Lost Revenue: Mastering Contract Management Series
By Maria Votlucka on 02/28/19
Simplify Contract Communication Using CobbleStone Chat in Contract Insight™
By Rosemary Shields on 02/27/19
It is imperative to have proper communication methods in place in order to achieve contract management success. One communication method is often not enough for a business to complete all tasks effectively as each one requires a specific type of communication. Email is common for general business communication, followed by phone and sometimes text for more urgent situations. But, when working with a contract management software system filled with content like contract records, file names, account numbers, and more, it can be useful to have direct communication within the system to easily share links and refer to specific areas of the system.
A CobbleStone Client Success Story: El Paso County
By Rosemary Shields on 02/22/19
Missed deadlines, lack of communication, and other contract management challenges are seen far too often in the government sector and can be eliminated with the right software and process. From requisitions and approvals to intelligent workflows and online collaboration, CobbleStone presents system users with a streamlined process that can be used for cost-effective contracting, legal compliance, transparency, and more.
Learn from this client success story how the El Paso County, Texas Auditor’s Office used CobbleStone’s Contract Insight™ to help overcome common contract management challenges related to their government-regulated processes.
6 Reasons to Choose Contract Management Software Training
By Rosemary Shields on 02/15/19
Most leading contract management software is easy to set up, configure, and use, but completing training courses can take your expertise to the next level. Contract management software training can help you and your team become system experts, guiding you through each step in the process. Training instructors inform users of the system’s usability at a much deeper level, ensuring you get the most out of your contract management software. You may be familiar with contract clauses and templates, but leading contract management software has capabilities that some might consider to be endless opportunities. Ensure you and your team are getting the most out of your software by signing up for expert-led software training.
4 Organizational Benefits of a Records Management System
By Rosemary Shields on 02/13/19
Leading financial research estimates that companies spend almost 5% of their revenue tracking agreements after signing a contract.
Organizations, both large and small, find that manually managing contracts and related documents can be time-consuming, disorganized, frustrating, costly, and the list goes on. There are many disadvantages to the manual records management approach, but the biggest issue with manual maintenance is organization. When contract records are managed manually with spreadsheets and local file locations, the process can become extensive because of bottlenecks, miscommunication, missed deadlines, and more. What can be done to eliminate these challenges?
Implementor’s Story: Configuring Contract Workflows for Higher Education
By Rosemary Shields on 02/8/19
The Challenge: Missed Renewals and an Inefficient Process
CobbleStone’s award-winning contract management software, Contract Insight™, is a fully configurable system, able to meet any industry’s needs with a few configurations. Both large and small educational institutions, from community colleges to leading universities, use Contract Insight as their preferred education contract management software. Learn from this real-world example how one of Washington’s largest higher education institutions chose Contract Insight as their contract management system and utilized the user-friendly software’s configurability to set up the system to meet their needs.
Assessing Contract Risk: Early Identification and Prevention
By Rosemary Shields on 02/6/19
Because a contract comes with both opportunity and risk, contract management must include both data analysis and risk prevention.
Contractual agreements contain critical information that can have positive and negative effects on an organization. Without procedures in place to identify and monitor contract risk, organizations can be at a disadvantage, possibly leading to higher costs, compliance violations, and, in many cases, unfavorable lawsuits. Learn to prevent these situations by utilizing a strategy to help assess the risk associated with your contracts. Early identification and prevention will allow for you and your team to address concerns early on rather than waiting for negative consequences to transpire.
A Paralegal’s Guide to Effortless Contract Analysis and Data Extraction
By Mark Nastasi on 02/1/19
This post was originally shared in the Paralegals Connect January 2019 Newsletter
Contract review is a daunting task for paralegals. In most cases, having an extra set of eyes to review contract terms is critical to ensure no "bad" clauses slip through the cracks. The duty of reviewing agreement terms and clauses is a time-staking task, making the effort and focus it takes to review contracts priceless to an organization. Moreover, paralegals bear a great amount of work to complete the contract negotiation and signing process quickly — all while preventing unwanted or risk associated clauses from being overlooked in the contract’s final review. Having a smart assistant handle contract data extraction, data entry, and contract tracking can be a lifesaver to the busy paralegal and, in many cases, can provide assurance that your organization’s contracts will be mistake proof.