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Let's be honest; contract lifecycle management isn't fun. It can be a long and tedious process that leaves everyone involved with a headache. There are a ton of small, menial tasks required that can gum it up and open the door to mistakes in the contracts or their management. However, do not despair; there is a solution: contract management software.
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Choosing a Contract Management System 6 things to look for
Contract Management • Contract lifecycle management isn't fun. It can be a long and tedious process that leaves everyone involved with a headache. • Contract management software automates all those menial tasks, reducing human error in many capacities, and simplifies complex contract workflows. • There are a lot of companies offering contract management software.
Foundation of Contract Management Software • A lot of people evaluate contract management software based who built it, without considering how it was built. • Contract software built from the ground up tend to be more expensive and boast a steep learning curve. • In contrast, contract management software built using platforms like SharePoint tend to be more affordable and only require an understanding of the platform.
Deployment Times • A lot of companies boast that their contract management software will revolutionize contract management for your company. • 6-12 months to reach full deployment has occurred, however 4-6 weeks is the most ideal deployment time. • If deployment is less than about four weeks, perhaps the quality of the software is low.
Deployment Times • Make sure to see a demo of the contract management system before making the investment to purchase it for your organization. • Also, make sure that your staff gets the appropriate amount of time to learn the system. • Learning the system should be a free-of-charge feature of the contract management system provider.
Deployment Pitfalls • What some contract management system providers don’t tell you is that deploying the system might take anywhere up to six months to even a year. Even if it’s just two months, that’s way too long to wait. • You need contract management software that you can hit the ground running with. Ideally, you should be looking for contract software that can be deployed in less than six weeks. • The sweet spot exists somewhere between the four-to-six week mark. Any longer than that and it’s too slow. • Any shorter than that and the system likely isn’t thorough enough to meet your needs. You could even say that a four-to-six week deployment time is the “goldilocks zone” for contract management software implementation.
Training • In a perfect world you should be able to jump into a contract management system and get going. Unfortunately, that’s generally not going to be the case. • All contract management software has little idiosyncrasies that you need to learn. • Additionally, users in your company are also going to have varied levels of technological competence
Training • Basically, training is needed from the contract management system to the users within your organization. • You should be on the lookout for contract management software providers that offer free training for their systems. • It shouldn’t be up to you and your team to puzzle things out.
Training • Further, you’ll want to find a provider that offers free ongoing training as you’ll inevitably be bringing in new users. • Companies that offer contract software without training likely aren’t invested in your ongoing success. • That’s why you should always look for free, ongoing training when looking for contract management software.
Ease of Use • The framework of the system should be easy to navigate and simple to use. • The training that the contract management system provider offers should only point out functionality. • Your users shouldn’t have to hold their nose, chant a magic phrase, and hop on one leg to get simple things done.
Ease of Use • Contract software that requires a song and dance to use isn’t going to benefit your company. • It’s going to do the opposite. A complicated system might put people off using it. • They’ll see others struggling with it and not want to even try learning it. This creates a situation where only a few people know how to use the system.
Ease of Use • If employees are sick or leave the company you’re left with an overcomplicated system that’s costing your company money that no one knows how to use. • That’s why you should be looking for how easy the system is to use.
Support • What separates different types of contract software is what support the provider offers. There are plenty of questions you need to ask regarding this. • Do you need to pay for support or is it free? • When is support available? • How quickly does the company’s support team get back to you?
Integrations • Your company is probably using more than just contract management software. It’s likely you have a whole suite of tools and platforms you use. • Having to memorize logins and switch between different platforms can waste a lot of time over a long period. • However, contract management software that offers a large number of tool integrations can help that out.
Integrations • This can help break down any information or document silos and make contract management a lot easier. • You can log into a contract management system using one set of login information and have access to all of your tools within one platform. • This saves you time and helps cut down on a lot of the mistakes that can creep into the contract management process.
Conclusion • These are just some of the things that you’re looking for in contract management software. • If you’re looking for a list of features you should look for, make sure to check out this blog we wrote at the end of 2020. • It gives a comprehensive view of what to look for in contract management software.