Contract Insights

There are many moving parts involved with a contract, and it can be easy for your organization and counterparties to get mixed up at some point in the process.  This is why a contract checklist is an essential part of the commencement of a contract.  Your organization can utilize a contract checklist as a contract roadmap.  Read this blog for an overview of a contract checklist – as well as what solutions your organization can leverage to navigate that contract checklist successfully.

Traditional contract data migration services can afford your organization tremendous headaches – to put it lightly.  Hidden expenses regarding aftermarket technology and labor costs, evolving storage requirements, questionable data security, poor data recovery measures, and low scalability involved with locally stored and manually implemented data migration can be detrimental.  Leave the tedium, risk, high costs, and wasted resources in the past in favor of web-enabled, self-serve data migration and export with contract management software.

Robust contract data management, contract analytics, and contract data security provide the necessary insights and protection for organizations to cut contract lifecycle times with enhanced control, governance, security, and visibility.  Organizations can transform contracts into powerful, data-driven sources of business intelligence that support contract strategy, contract management KPIs, and goals with the help of leading contract management software.  Here’s how.

Contract writing - also known as contract authoring - is a critical stage of the contract lifecycle.  The contract writing process involves contract parties putting into written copy the terms of a contract.  One extremely important facet of contract writing is  contract clause management.  Insufficient contract authoring procedures as they pertain to contract clause management often rely upon disorganized tracking of versions, a lack of unified contracts and subcontracts, and - unfortunately - scattered clauses.  Such processes can leave your organization with contracts that are missing clauses, an overlooked mass of key dates and milestones, and unified contract lifecycle management.

Contract writing is an essential phase in the contract lifecycle.  During the contract writing stage, contract parties put the terms of a contract into written copy.  Inefficient contract writing processes often rely on scattered clauses, poor compliance management and version tracking, insufficient line item management, and a lack of unified contracts and subcontracts.  These processes can lead to an organization that is hindered by error-prone contracts with missing clauses, missed key dates and milestones, and a decentralized process that impedes the contract lifecycle.

Organizations that make data-driven decisions position themselves for long-term success. Their culture, tools, and abilities are centered around the common goal of collecting quality data and analyzing it quickly and accurately to make informed business decisions. When managed effectively, quality contract data translates to contract analytics, providing the insights necessary for organizations to decrease contract cycle times with sharpened control, governance, and visibility. Learn how to turn contracts into a pivotal source of business intelligence that supports strategies, tactics, and goals.

CobbleStone attended the 2019 NY GovBuy on April 30^th and May 1^st as a contract management and eSourcing software exhibitor.  The event was a collaborative experience for NY state government buyers, held in Albany, NY at the Empire State Plaza and Albany Capital Center.  Sessions provided conference attendees with industry news and best practices for procurement, bid management, contract management, and more.  If you didn’t get a chance to attend 2019 NY GovBuy, I outlined some key takeaways from the NY state conference. 

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.