Unique features of contract management software for large companies

Modern contract challenges require modern solutions, and many have turned to contract management software to simplify their contract workflows. The contract management software market is diverse, and selecting a platform that suits the needs of a large organisation takes more work. In reality, not all contract management software are created equal.

We talked to three people in our business teams to find out what features are essential for large organisations that plan to use software for contract management. Below we list five unique features of modern contract management software best suited for large companies.

1. End-to-end contract management
2. Document templates
3. Custom workflows
4. Rules engine
5. Standardisation

1. End-to-end contract management

A contract goes through several stages, from creating a template and proposal to reviewing and signing the contract.

In the past, customers had to use multiple tools such as Word, DocuSign, and email programs to send and receive contracts. These tools are not integrated, causing contract workflow interruptions and difficulty tracking a contract’s status.

An integrated platform with end-to-end contract management capabilities can handle the entire workflow from one application. It gives executives control over the contracting process by setting up methods to generate, analyse, sign, and manage the company’s agreements. It increases process efficiency and makes the work more enjoyable by eliminating the need to switch between applications.

• Sales acceleration: The right software can accelerate and even streamline sales negotiations. It can facilitate cross-departmental collaboration, particularly between sales and legal teams, which is an issue many companies need help with.
• Contract visibility: With one quick view in your dashboard, you can see the most important agreements with your client (e.g., SLA, uptime, pricing, invoicing dates, consulting hours) and guide your sales, customer success, and support, operations, and delivery teams.
• Contract Renewals: When the software is utilised optimally, it can guide your sales teams to initiate renewal talks at the correct times or notify customer success that biannual negotiations are coming up.

2. Document templates

As a user of contract management software, the capability to develop templates within the platform eliminates the risk of outdated versions circulating within your organisation.

“The process of updating contracts is error-prone” and can be time-consuming. You must ensure everyone on the sales & legal team updates the versions on their desktops. Next, you’d have to get all outdated versions out of circulation, including those sitting in every sales employee’s local folder. However, with a contract management system that provides template development capabilities, updating and ensuring the most current version becomes simpler”.

^{- Tjitte Joosten | Growth @ Docfield}

Instead of manually updating templates and ensuring all team members are using the correct version, the software ensures that everyone is using the most up-to-date version. It saves time and reduces errors associated with the updating process.

For example, imagine you have five team members working on an old version of a template. With a contract management system, the new version of the template is actively distributed to all open documents being processed, while users get notified of the changes made. This eliminates the need to manually send updates and track who is using the correct version.

3. Custom workflows

Imagine you’re a manager in charge of a team of salespeople responsible for closing deals with new clients. You’ve noticed that creating, reviewing, and signing contracts has been causing delays and errors, affecting your team’s performance and your company’s bottom line.

One of the key ways to automate and streamline this process is by adopting a contract management system that allows you to visualise and customize your contract workflows. By clearly mapping out the steps involved in each stage of the process, from creating a draft contract to getting it reviewed and signed, you can ensure that everyone on your team follows the same procedure and that you handle the contracts efficiently.

For example, you can set up a workflow that automatically sends out a notification to the relevant stakeholders, such as the legal department, for review and approval of a contract once it’s been completed by the salesperson. It eliminates the need for manual follow-up and ensures that contracts are reviewed and signed promptly.

Custom workflows allow your team members to visualise the critical processes in the contract management system easily. It can help employees understand and follow the process helping your team know exactly what steps to take and in what order, ensuring that all contracts are handled consistently.

In conclusion, visualising and customising workflows within a contract management system can significantly improve the efficiency and consistency of your contract management process. It can help you to reduce human error, speed up the process, and ultimately close deals faster and more effectively.

4. Rules engine

Another unique feature of contract management software suitable for large organisations is the ability to personalise templates based on certain conditions or rules, such as geography and applicable regulations. Hence, we call it ‘Conditional logic.’ It allows you to create a personalised contract with little effort. It eliminates human error, saves time, and ensures that all the contracts are relevant to the client’s needs. Conditional logic ensures that all the contracts are accurate and up-to-date.

For example, you are a European company serving customers across the EU and North American regions. Countries have different laws and regulations, and keeping track of specific clauses can be challenging. With conditional logic, your legal team can set up a template that automatically showcases the geographically relevant clauses according to the country you’re dealing with. It eliminates the need for manual input and reduces the risk of errors. Additionally, your sales team can focus on closing deals, not legal compliance.

Another use case of conditional logic is for businesses with multiple departments or subsidiaries. Each department or subsidiary may have different contract requirements, such as specific clauses and pricing. With conditional logic, you can create a single contract template that automatically adjusts to the particular needs of each department or subsidiary, saving time and eliminating the need for separate templates for each.

In conclusion, the conditional logic feature of contract management software allows you to personalise contracts quickly and easily, ensuring that all contracts are accurate, up-to-date, and compliant with relevant laws and regulations. It can significantly improve the efficiency and consistency of your contract management process, saving your organisation valuable time and resources.

5. Standardisation

If you have multiple departments and teams working on different contracts simultaneously, out-of-the-box formatting and layout standardisation can streamline the contract creation process for your legal team. It also allows them to focus on the contract’s content rather than worrying about formatting and layout.

Automatically formatting the contract improves the overall appearance of the document and makes it easier for all parties involved to find important information within the contract.

For example, imagine your legal team is working on a large contract with a new client. The agreement comprises multiple sections and contains a large amount of legal jargon. The document is automatically formatted in a way that makes it easy for all parties to understand and navigate using contract automation software. It includes consistent headings and font styles, bullet points for essential clauses, and proper spacing between paragraphs.

You can even force the numbering of clauses to be consistent over different versions of the contract to ensure that an article number always refers to the same content in multiple versions of contracts. It leads to a more polished and professional contract that is easy to understand and navigate.

Conclusion

In conclusion, contract management software is essential for a large organisation that plans to modernise its business processes. We have explained five contract management software features that mainly help large organisations.

End-to-end contract management capability influences the overview of the entire contract process. Document template updates may be used to keep the team up-to-date, and custom workflows control the management and uniformity of contracts across the organisation. Personalisation or conditional logic allows you to create personalised contracts with little effort. The formatting and layout feature ensures that all the contracts are formatted and look well-designed to your partners and customers.