Docfield 2024 recap: from specialised solution to full-fledged CLM

When we started Docfield 5 years ago, our mission was simple: help organisations focus on their core purpose rather than get bogged down by administrative, legal, and compliance-heavy contract work. For several years, we honed our craft in the education sector, simplifying the creation of complex documents like Onderwijs- en Examenreglementen (OERs).

But we always knew we could do more. In 2024, we realized that vision. We evolved from a specialized tool into a comprehensive Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform, empowering customers across different industries to manage their contracts more intelligently, efficiently, and confidently. It was a year in which we didn’t just improve our product—we redefined our place in the market and helped our clients do the same in theirs.

I. Becoming a complete CLM solution

What does it mean to become a “full-fledged” CLM solution? For us, it meant turning contract work from a necessary hassle into a strategic advantage. We’ve always excelled at the initial stages—helping clients create well-structured contracts, maintaining a single source of truth, and ensuring everyone was working from the correct template. But this year, we went further. Instead of contracts living as static files locked away in a folder, we helped our customers transform them into dynamic assets.

We built upon our strengths in the pre-signing phase and added deeper capabilities for negotiation, signing, renewal, and compliance tracking. Our customers no longer had to jump between tools or settle for manual processes. They could navigate the entire contract journey in one platform that proactively guided them through each step, ensuring best practices, consistency, and compliance were baked in rather than tacked on at the end.

This shift might sound abstract, but the results were very concrete. Consider the education sector, where creating an OER is a legally mandated but time-consuming task. In 2024, our customers created over 1,000 OERs using Docfield. By standardizing the process and automating repetitive steps, we saved them a staggering 150,000 hours of work—time they could reinvest in teaching, research, and student engagement. Measured financially, that time equated to roughly €8.5 million in value. The impact wasn’t just a nice statistic; it directly influenced how institutions allocate their limited resources, allowing them to refocus on delivering quality education rather than wrestling with documents.

In the education sector, we were thrilled to welcome several new clients who share our commitment to enhancing the teaching and learning experience. Among them were LOI (part of Salta Group), Avans, Saxion, Christelijke Hogeschool Ede, and HAS. By embracing Docfield’s CLM capabilities, these institutions have joined a growing community of forward-thinking educators determined to reduce administrative burdens, ensure compliance, and redirect valuable time back to students and faculty. We’re excited to support their missions and proud to contribute to the future of education.

II. Breaking out of our comfort zone

The genetics of Docfield is in the education sector, but we always suspected that what we had learned there—how to simplify complex, repetitive contract work—could be applied to other industries. In 2024, we proved it. Companies in HR, real estate, and healthcare embraced Docfield to streamline processes that had long felt cumbersome and error-prone.

HR teams, for instance, found that creating, negotiating, and signing employment contracts no longer required sifting through scattered files or relying on memory to ensure compliance. Real estate firms discovered that leases and agreements could be set up using predefined templates, ensuring every deal was consistent and professionally presented. Healthcare providers used Docfield to navigate a maze of regulatory requirements with greater peace of mind, knowing their contracts would always reflect the latest standards.

In all these new verticals, the story was the same: our customers spent less time dealing with administrative friction and more time delivering their core value. By helping them get contracts right the first time, we empowered them to move faster, close deals sooner, and present a polished, professional face to their clients. What once felt like a chore—a contract waiting to be wrangled into shape—became an opportunity to show what their organization stood for.

III. Growing as a team, growing as a company

Behind every improvement we make stands a passionate, dedicated team committed to our customers’ success. This year, we welcomed our new Chief Commercial Officer, Adriaan Hoogduijn, who brought fresh perspectives on how to shape our commercial strategy and support our rapidly diversifying client base. With each new colleague and every internal initiative, we became more agile and more in tune with the people who rely on us.

This cultural evolution wasn’t just internal. It reached our customers, too. Each improvement in our platform—be it a more intuitive contract dashboard, clearer workflows, or integrations that automatically pull data from CRMs—was guided by real-world feedback. By listening closely to what customers asked for and what they struggled with, we made Docfield feel like an extension of their own teams rather than an external tool they had to “learn” or “manage.” The result is a platform that feels naturally supportive, helping customers do their best work rather than standing in their way.

IV. Celebrating simplicity and professionalism

Contracts are the backbone of trust in business relationships. Yet too often, they are treated as a final administrative checkpoint rather than a strategic gateway. This year, we helped organizations break out of that mindset. By simplifying the contract journey, we allowed them to showcase their professionalism, maintain consistency in their terms and conditions, and guarantee compliance without having to monitor every minor detail themselves.

Our customers now present their clients with contracts that look and feel right—clean, consistent, tailored to their brand, and free of the errors or inconsistencies that can chip away at trust. Sales teams close deals faster. Legal departments rest easier. Operations teams no longer waste time reconciling contract details in spreadsheets. Every stakeholder benefits from a streamlined process that ensures nothing slips through the cracks.

V. Preparing for 2025 and beyond

Our achievements in 2024 set the stage for even more exciting developments in the coming year. We’re committed to infusing more intelligence into Docfield—helping customers anticipate risks, navigate changing regulations, and identify opportunities hidden within their contract portfolios. We’ll continue refining our platform so it not only automates repetitive tasks, but also offers insights that help organizations shape better strategies.

We’ll dig deeper into the industries we’ve begun to serve and possibly enter new territories where high-volume, high-stakes contracting is the norm. Our aim is to empower customers with an even richer set of capabilities, always staying true to our core principle: contracts should drive efficiency, predictability, and growth.

VI. Conclusion

Our 2024 journey was about more than rolling out new features. It was about reimagining what contracts could represent for our customers. Instead of seeing contracts as time sinks or compliance landmines, our customers now view them as opportunities to move faster, reach higher standards, and demonstrate their organizational maturity.

By transforming into a full-fledged CLM platform, we’ve proven that contract management can be a source of competitive advantage. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, humbled by the trust our customers place in us, and invigorated by the possibilities that lie ahead. As we head into 2025, we carry with us a renewed commitment: to continue elevating contract work from a back-office chore to a strategic pillar of success. And we can’t wait to see what we’ll achieve together next. 

From all of us at Docfield, thank you for an outstanding 2024, and here’s to an even more successful, impactful, and inspired year ahead.

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