Contract Insights

As we step into 2021, CobbleStone Software’s Executive VP – Mark Nastasi – reexamines contract management software technology trends in the wake of the many challenges of 2020.  He provides expert insight into how organizations can move forward into more future-minded, automated, and user-friendly contract management in 2021 and beyond.  Read his considerations and suggestions below.

As a lawyer, you manage a variety of contracts that involve ranging stakeholders and processes.  Yes, you may have help from paralegals and legal assistants to coordinate the contract groundwork.  However, when it gets down to the nitty-gritty of negotiations, approvals, signatures, and post-award contract management processes, you need a trusted and streamlined system in place to grant you optimal control over your contact management process.  Read on to learn how you and your legal team can significantly improve legal contract management software procedures.

2021 is rapidly approaching and, with it, innovations and enhancements to contract management automation.  To that end, here is a list of user-friendly, future-minded, and industry-advancing contract management software features, processes, and best practices that organizations can empower themselves with to successfully and confidently navigate the evolving landscape of contract management through 2021 and beyond.

Managing various types of entertainment and media contracts from varying locations, often internationally, with multiple departments and roles can be an arduous process - especially when relying on disparate methods such as postal mail, wet-signatures, filing cabinets, emails, shared network drives, and lengthy paper-based negotiations.  Dealing with and tracking a high volume of contracts – from intellectual property contracts to option agreements, among many others - can be tremendously challenging without the right contract management system in place.

Vendor risk management can be daunting for risk management professionals and financial contract management teams.  In many cases, the process of sourcing a suitable vendor or partner is hard enough on its own.  However, a risk or vendor management professional must also understand a business's requirements and solicit vendors, contractors, and other partners to engage in business with to ensure they are qualified.  Add to the mix the financial responsibility of ensuring compliance under OFAC, or the Office of Foreign Assets Control, from the United States Treasury Department.  Clearly, the duties of reviewing the vendor onboarding process, agreement terms, and clauses can be a time-consuming set of tasks.  Leading contract management software, however, can streamline these processes with seamless OFAC search integration.  Read this blog by CobbleStone's Founder and Executive VP, Mark Nastasi, to learn how.

General Counsel and paralegals face growing contract volume and contract complexity.  The lack of an efficient legal contract management process can render obstacles that legal departments encounter nearly impossible to overcome.  As such, here's how to utilize legal contract management software for a shortened legal contract lifecycle.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is positively impacting organizations across a vast array of industries.  Developments in AI are proving incredibly valuable as they apply to contract management software systems.  Contract management AI can transform static documents into dynamic assets for better contract lifecycle management.  Here’s how to step into the future of contract management with powerful contract intelligence.

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.