Contract Management Automation: A Detailed Overview

Contract management automation is a comprehensive method of automatically creating a contract with the help of data saved on an enterprise’s system and other fundamental inputs required to create a detailed contract. With the help of contract management automation tools, companies can establish a legal contract automation system to reduce their team’s workload and boost productivity. 

Businesses can also lower associated expenses and enhance their overall Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) process with the help of contract management automation. In addition, contract management automation can potentially use new technologies such as Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to facilitate the contract lifecycle. 

Contract management automation can also help corporate legal teams reduce their workload by developing a scalable contracting process. It also helps other enterprise teams, like finance, procurement, and sales, to collaborate on a unified platform to create and manage contracts. 

Nevertheless, automating contract management using online software does not wholly eliminate the need for contract attorneys. Rather, contract lawyers can leverage contract management automation to make their job more efficient. 

An Overview of Contract Management Automation 

The contract management automation process starts when an employee requests the software to develop a contract based on a few factors.  So, for instance, contract management automation software might start the contract generation if a date is specified or a sales team closes a specific number of sales. It is an amazing upgrade to conventional contract management because it improves collaboration and tracking within the company and negotiation with external institutes. 

In addition, some units and teams can also use contract management automation, including operations, legal, sales, human resources, finance, and procurement, to streamline their contractual requirements. Many of these units could utilize the advantages of enterprise process automation to enhance how objectives are met. Likewise, numerous departments may also demand cooperation on particular contracts, which you can create thoroughly and efficiently only through automation.

 

Key Benefits of Contract Management Automation

Contract management automation is an excellent way to facilitate and simplify developing contracts – especially redundant ones that are almost similar to the previous ones. Here are some key benefits of contract management automation. 

• Smart and Streamlined Work Processes 

Contract management automation improves the speed and accuracy of contract creation and approval, risk management, procurement, and procurement analytics.

• Prevention of Manual Errors 

Contract management automation is ideal for reducing, if not eliminating, manual errors. Automation is reliable, which can help you ensure that your contract never has any mistakes due to negligence on the employees’ side. 

• Enhance the Visibility and Accuracy of Business Data

Handling your contracts in one automated, unified system combines the crucial information they comprise, establishing a single source of facts regarding your enterprise relationships. Moreover, when you utilize automated contract management software that seamlessly tracks and creates reports on your contract information, you no longer have to bother about skimming through records to find answers to the client’s questions. 

• Improved Accessibility

A typical concern for companies using a manual contract administration approach is discovering a lost contract, as contracts might remain distributed across numerous devices and systems throughout the company.

So to improve visibility across the enterprise, you need an automated contract management system with a unified, centralized repository of all your contracts and applicable documents. This contract management automation is necessary for your organization as it helps you gain better command over the contract lifecycle management process.

• Increased Security 

Collecting contract management records within a unified repository enhances the safety of your business’s confidential data. Modern companies might consult and cooperate with workers and teams operating remotely from other headquarters and across the globe— not to mention independent contractors — making data infringement a real possibility. 

Instead of leaving crucial information unattended, contract management automation can help you store confidential information on cloud platforms where it will remain more secure. Besides, you can effortlessly limit the number of users accessing such documents, editing authorities, and sharing privileges, allowing you to conduct your business securely and safely.

• Better Compliance

As a lawfully enforceable document, a contract describes a profound obligation on you and your associates. In addition, each of these contracts is different, with a distinguished set of guidelines and regulatory prerequisites, making it challenging to manage all of your duties at once.

Key Features of Contract Management Automation Software

Below are some fundamental features of contract management automation software: 

• Many Dynamic Templates

Drafting a contract from scratch can be challenging and leads to the possibility of leaving out crucial elements. With different templates to pick from, contract management automation software can aid your legal departments in drafting and even managing contracts quickly.

It implies they can focus on crucial provisions and spend less time thinking of fundamentals, especially for similar contracts. They can also help you notify your team about newer modifications in the contract. 

• Collaboration Attributes

Since contracts must pass through numerous people, it is important to incorporate attributes that make self-serve contracts feasible. That comprises underlining and leaving comments to draw attention to particular document parts. In addition, the contract management automation also makes it easy to do modifications and save the document simultaneously without version chaos.

• Functional Contract Editor with Numerous Features

Contract automation templates may remain useless without a powerful online editor that allows you to modify each template. Unlike conventional contracting that employs word processors, an automated contract management automation procedure should have multiple features.

It is even necessary for a contract editor to locate the right equilibrium between being complicated and feature-rich. While companies should train their workers to operate with automated techniques, the editors should be uncomplicated enough for anyone to use without training.

• On-time Notifications 

Another attribute that may help you track contract changes is notification. A comprehensive contract management automation software can allow you to customize the type of notifications you obtain and how to accept them. For example, you may set up the contract management automation software to obtain an alert when any revision or addition has been made to documents by the client, or you could get an alert when the client requests some changes.

• Automated Cloud and Local Storage

Storage of data and information has to be organized for seamless file retrieval and safe storage of sensitive information. Some valuable filters for this repository comprise names, teams, dates, client details, etc., and it should also incorporate a tracking function for better file management.

Conclusion 

If you are interested in making it easy to search through your contracts, LawInsider’s contract repository makes it easy for you to upload your documents and find the hidden contracts among them. From 100 to 100,000 contracts, there are no limits and no hidden fees for the amount of documents that you can organize. With secure access and encryption for all files, you can be sure that your contracts stay safe and private.

 

References: 

• https://juro.com/learn/contract-automation#:~:text=Contract%20automation%20is%20the%20use,a%20more%20efficient%20contract%20workflow. 
• https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/management-of-contract 
• https://contractbook.com/blog/contract-automation 
• https://avokaado.io/blog/automation-contract-management/ 
• https://www.contractlogix.com/contract-management/benefits-of-automating-the-contract-management-process/