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How do you find the right CLM software?
It is often not easy to find the right contract solution for your own concerns and to keep track of the flood of offers. However, in order not to waste his efforts and costs in the end, the research work should not be too poor. The following are some tips on which contract management questions you should definitely be able to answer for yourself before you invest in software.
The basic features of a modern contract management solution
Although there are a variety of contract management solutions out there today, most of them should include a number of core features to boost and streamline your contract processes over the average manual document storage system.
Effective contract management software should provide a central storage location for all contracts, customizable workflows, automatic alerts and notifications about important appointments, easy contract creation and collaboration, integration with other systems, security features and access controls, analysis and reporting capabilities, and mobile accessibility.
That's a lot of features. But they are all essential and complement each other to form a complete contract life cycle system that enables companies to make their contract management much more efficient.
A central contract storage makes it much easier to search, view and manage your contracts. Customizable workflows ensure that the software can adapt to the needs of the company and enable efficient and standardized contract management processes. Automatic alerts and notifications for important appointments, such as contract extensions or expiry dates, ensure that contract deadlines are not missed.
With a CLM solution, the process of contract creation and collaboration should be easy, so that multiple parties can work on the same contract and track changes in real time without having to rely on annoying email ping pong. Integration with other systems, such as CRM or procurement systems, improves overall efficiency and allows companies to easily transfer their current contract management to the new software. Robust security features and access controls ensure that only authorized personnel can access and change contracts.
Finally, analytics and reporting features provide insights into contract performance and help identify areas for improvement.
You should ask yourself these 7 questions when choosing a CLM system
1. How is it ensured that my data is protected?
First things first: Data protection. Contracts are highly sensitive and confidential documents whose protection must be taken very seriously. Make sure the contract management software complies with the applicable GDPR. However, the focus should not only be on external backup, but also on whether and how your entered data is stored.
It should be possible to recover data and information loss through backups and standard data recovery procedures. Finally, it should be noted that these backup storages also work permanently, and that there is a guaranteed uptime of at least 99%. An operating time is the time during which the software is running and functional. In the worst case, the CLM software would therefore be down for less than 9 hours a year.
2. Can existing contracts be smoothly implemented into the central contract database?
Can you add your old contracts to the contract management software? Negotiating and setting up contracts without assistive contract software is an enormous effort, so it is important that the old contracts can be adopted. The contracts, templates and drafts should of course all be stored and managed digitally in a contract database
3. Can you find your way around a digital contract more quickly?
Is it possible to quickly jump to the important parts of the contract using a search bar in order to save valuable time? The advantage of automated contract management software is that the data obtained from a contract can be analyzed and this creates a learning effect for the company. An analytics dashboard that contains comprehensive information about all contracts and documents and can generate clear statistics would therefore be desirable.
4. Does the software fit into my organization and can it grow with it?
A cloud software is expandable by definition and it should be easy to add more users to keep up with the growth of the organization.
Leading providers have the option to let various departments with an endless number of participants work together on a contract in order to create a transparent and simultaneous exchange of work.
So that it can also be perfectly integrated into your organization, your choice should be contract software that does not have to be learned and used in addition to many other applications and apps. Instead, it should replace some (ideally all) other editing tools.
This is roughly equivalent to contract life cycle software that combines applications such as Word, Excel, eSignature, Dropbox, Salesforce, Google Drive and many more into one.
5. What does the onboarding process look like?
New software naturally means another changeover for your employees and requires a professional and thorough introduction to the system. In the best case, the process starts with the implementation and your existing contracts are set up for you and everything is explained step by step, from the basics to the fine-tuning.
First, of course, how the platform is structured and which functions are offered and then how the software can meet your individual requirements. But even after the onboarding process, there should be help if needed.
6. Is there monitoring of contract development?
Amending a contract also involves sending a lot of email back and forth so that everyone is aware of which clause should be amended and who has what opinion about it. With CLM software, however, you should be able to make suggestions for changes directly in the document. The latest but also all previous modified versions must be saved in order to be able to switch back to an older version if necessary.
7. What benefits do I get from it?
The advantage of CLM software lies in digitization and automation in contract creation and administration. By simplifying everything from preparation through negotiation to multi-page approval and signature, your organization saves a lot of time, which can therefore be used differently and used to promote profit.
It enables transparency and cross-departmental collaboration in order to overcome the well-known “bottlenecks”. In particular, the creation of standardized templates also supports compliance with applicable regulations. Finally, you can support your risk management with the help of deadline and renewal reminders.
How do you choose the right provider now?
Based on the various providers, the main differentiators will finally be selected.
Which provider offers the most and also the best features. Which provider best implements the term “contract life cycle” and has not only focused on digitizing a contract and creating an electronic signature. It should be started beforehand and the pre-contractual discussion should already be integrated into contract negotiations, for example using a negotiation tool.
How did the Approval processes, preparation of drafts, or the tracking of proposed changes implemented? It is therefore generally recommended that you identify the different providers with the help of a clear overview Comparison article researches and compares.
