Contract Management Solutions and Services

One of the most critical aspects of procurement is contract management. Before the digital age, the entire process could be long and tedious, as there were a lot of paper versions involved. Nowadays, eSourcing includes contract management software in procurement that’s meant to make your job more seamless.

Read on to learn more about contract management solutions and the contract management procurement process.

Contract Management Solutions: What Is Contract Management?

Contract management is one of the backbones of the overall procurement process. It refers to the management of contracts, from the advertising and creation to the renewal or termination stage. While every contract management dashboard is different, contact management solutions set out to do several things, including:

  • Simplify the contract creation process
  • Provide visibility to stakeholders and procurement throughout the process
  • Provide better transparency in buyer and supplier relationships
  • Managing the contract negotiation itself
  • Advance notice for upcoming contract expirations
  • Termination or renewals

Contract Management Solutions: Contract Management Best Practices

Of course, a lot has to do with the procurement and contract management software you’re using and whether you’re effectively using a contract management system.

Some of the best practices for contract management solutions include setting KPIs and making them a focal point of your business, creating contract meta fields so you can review past contracts or terms side-by-side, and tracking the contract’s approval time.

You can also set reminders, so you’re aware of key dates and conduct compliance reviews occasionally to ensure you’re working with the right suppliers or you need to find someone new.

Best Contract Management Systems: What to Look For

As you’re looking for the best contract management tool, you may find that not all software is set up the same, so you must be careful when implementing a contract management system. Choosing the right contract management solutions now may seem a bit tedious, but it’s the best way to ensure that the entire procurement process runs smoothly. You want to streamline your process with procurement contract management systems, not make them tougher.

One of the most important aspects is the overall ease of use. Your entire organization is likely going to use this software. Everyone’s skill set when it comes to operating new software will vary. You want to ensure that your new software is simple enough for everyone to use and that you can use it effectively.

Contract Management: System Implementation

Implementing a contract management system also gives you better access control. For example, if you’re working with manual contract management software, such as papers or filing cabinets, your team can view any contract and its terms when they’re in the office.

However, you don’t want just anyone to access your important documents, so good software will provide you with security and good access controls that you can use to control access by department or region as your needs may require. Most good contract management software will allow you to configure the access controls in buckets that matter to you.

More requirements for a contract management system (if you want it to be truly useful) are having an editable template, encrypted data, and automated reports.

An editable template means you can create the metadata fields and have them vary by contract template. This will allow you to capture the right metadata for each contract type that exists in your world. This will make the solution easier for your team members as well since each will have templates that are familiar to them.

All of your data should be completely encrypted, so this is an easy option. In addition, having the ability to generate your own personalized reports that can be auto-generated and auto-delivered ensures that everyone is on the same page at all times.

Contract Management Solutions: What Are the Benefits of Contract Management Software?

There are many benefits to contact management solutions. Most of them result in better relationships with your clients and a faster contract process.

Features include:

  • Contract security (control of access)
  • Speeds up contract process
  • Enables you to view all contracts
  • See contracts and spend in buckets that matter to you
  • Provides alerts and reminders to help ensure that contracts don’t auto-renew (when you don’t want them to do so)

If you have more questions about contract management solutions or you would like to see a demo related to contact management, contact EC Sourcing Group today at 18 Cattano Avenue, Morristown, NJ or call 973-936-9672 to speak with a member of the team.