Contract Insights

Proper contract management is vital for the health of an organization’s contract lifecycle.  Despite the importance of forming a solid foundation for contracting, most organizations do not use a contract playbook.  Considering that these tools for contract procedure establishment are instrumental in helping many departments within an organization to share a universal understanding of standard contract processes and improve contract performance, this is surprising.  When a contract playbook is paired with leading contract management software, organizations are equipped with powerful tools for efficient, cost-effective, and organized contract management.  Given the importance and under-use of contract playbooks, here is how organizations should establish them for next-level, automated contract management.

As technology evolves and organizations shift to adapt, business process changes should increase productivity rather than hamper it.  Contract managers who primarily utilize manual methods with their team may encounter difficulties in efficiently managing contracts.  Contract mismanagement can decrease productivity, hinder communication regarding task responsibility, and increase avoidable inefficiencies.  As contract administration changes for the future, organizations can attain greater control over their contract management processes by avoiding the following pitfalls of contract mismanagement.

Organizations should be equipped with contract management software that is easy-to-use, reasonably priced, and whose features are aligned to their needs.  When these criteria are not being met, organizations risk encountering issues such as contract lifecycle bottlenecks, wasted time, increased costs, and lost revenue.  These are issues that require making a switch to a better solution.  With that said, here are three things to consider when making the switch to a leading contract lifecycle management software platform.

Establishing a bid process with which you can regularly receive optimal bid responses may seem like a daunting task.  However, it is quite achievable with the right steps and tools.  There are numerous simple ways to leverage scalable, cloud-based source-to-contract management software for streamlined RFP, RFI, and RFQ management, and better bid responses.  Here are six ways to get more quality bid responses from vendors.

Contract management AI is not something to be intimidated by.  Its goal is not to eliminate jobs or replace valuable employees.  Instead, it can add value to contract management software processes by transforming contracts and documents into building blocks for enhanced contract oversight, improved risk mitigation, and more proactive opportunity realization.  It can lend a competitive edge by shifting the responsibility of employees from tedious data entry to valuable contract analytics.  Organizations that embrace AI-based contract management can maximize growth opportunities and increase their software ROI.

CobbleStone Software’s latest release, Contract Insight® Enterprise Version 17.6.0, has arrived with many new features and enhancements to improve your eSourcing and contract management software platform!

The chess-like, back and forth nature of contract negotiations can create confusion and contract lifecycle inefficiencies.  Without a centralized and well-organized system, organizations on both ends of the contract management chessboard become trapped, halted, and unsure of where they should move their next piece.  A centralized, well-organized process can get the match moving again.  Discover how contract management software can streamline contract negotiations.

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.