It’s not an overstatement that today’s business environment is highly complex. Between regulations, international markets, business models, and compliance concerns, enterprise contract management could greatly help.
Many small businesses get by with a spreadsheet, a Word doc, or even hand-written notes to get started with an enterprise contract management solution. However, there’s no better way to serve your customers, prospect with confidence, and start negotiating in the most optimal conditions than with software that focuses on your needs.
Table of Contents
- What is enterprise contract management?
- Why do I need enterprise contract management?
- What is the contract management process?
- What are the components of contract management?
- Key takeaways
What is Enterprise Contract Management?
Enterprise contract management is an approach that helps you improve how you handle your contracts. Small businesses to large corporations need one because it allows them to streamline processes to pave the way for them to further scale.
While there may be an existing software that you already have in place, enterprise contract management allows you to benefit from more features that can further improve your work process.
Why Do I Need an Enterprise Contract Management?
In doing your business, the more free time you have, the greater advantage you can utilize. It is important that you streamline every possible process so that you can allocate more time to scaling. Dealing with something that can be delegated is a poor business decision.
So, here are some of the benefits that you can enjoy when you get enterprise contract management for your business:
Improved compliance
Contracts highlight the importance of the boundaries between your work scope and deliverables. When you have easy access to contracts, you can implement strict compliance with what has been agreed upon. So, there will be no overworking that isn’t compensated nor recognized.
Heightened security
Since some contracts nowadays are signed and stored digitally, they are subjected to third party intrusions. To ensure that they are only accessible to the parties involved, an enterprise contract management would be a great investment.
Better process
Sheets and piles of folders may be your go-to contract management system before you’ve heard of enterprise contract management. Though these may be working for you already, enterprise contract management is more professional because it only gives access to the parties involved. More so, it’s still kept at a glance for you in a secure and protected cloud.
Reduced risks
It is normal to have misunderstandings in life. But when it has something to do with your business, it is not something that you shouldn’t take lightly. It will involve charges filed if things get worse. By having enterprise contract management, you can mitigate risks in your business by ensuring you have something to refer to should problems arise in the future.
Easier alert
Contracts have deadlines. Sometimes, you forget you are already overworking yourself with requirements that are not yours to carry anymore. Since Fill has easy integration with Google Workspace, you can mark contract deadlines on your calendar easily. So when your agreements are already over, you can be notified right away.
What is the Contract Management Process?
Just like anything else, there is a process in contract management. It doesn’t just end with writing it and having it signed. So, here is some of the process of contract management:
Planning
A contract’s lifecycle would not start without planning it in the first place. In this part, the parties involved would plan the work scope, boundaries, and timeline. This ensures that both parties are aware of all the details that have to be remembered throughout the partnership.
Writing
Verbal agreements are not as effective as written contracts are because there are measures that you have to consider. And when you casually talk about agreements, these measures may not be taken into consideration. Hence, your scopes and timelines have to be put into writing. With Fill, you can write digital contracts quickly using the vast template gallery.
Signing
It goes without saying that you need to sign the deal to make it valid. Without having the contract signed, it won’t be as effective as it should be. You can have your contracts signed online on a platform that allows you to sign for better contract management in just a few seconds to increase productivity.
Storing
When a contract is already signed, it shouldn’t just be ignored. It has to be kept securely so that you can easily come back to it when you need to review terms and conditions. Also, you have to keep it so that you can keep track of the timeline.
What are the Components of Contract Management?
Some of the components of contract management include risk analysis, suppliers and contract, and reporting. Here’s what they are and how they help your business:
Risk analysis
Businesses don’t just sell. They provide solutions. And just like anything else, these solutions have risks that businesses have to prepare for. So, conducting a risk analysis is important to withstand any possible problem that will arise in the future.
For instance, when a business plans to scale, it may consider looking into the risk that it comes with. After all, it will affect how their business will perform in the long run. Hence, it’s a high risk. The contract should highlight this.
Suppliers and contract
Suppliers and contract lay out the variations that affect the contract as a whole. This includes the details that specify the mode of payment, timeline of delivery, and monitoring frequency, among others.
For instance, one party prefers to opt-out of daily reporting to avoid micromanaging. So, they would like to report bi-weekly or monthly instead. This has to be addressed and agreed upon to prevent any misunderstandings.
Reporting
Objectives should be put into place in contracts so that the measures done by both parties can be evaluated accordingly. When objectives are set into place, you can look into whether there are converting results in terms of the financial gains.
For instance, you can track whether the scope of work by the other party is done accordingly and the KPIs are met in the given timeline. If not, then you can look into reevaluating the agreement to mitigate financial risks.
Key Takeaways
Efficiency is important and it can be achieved with the help of a good enterprise contract management system. While ECPMS is not a new concept, it is only in recent years that its popularity has grown among businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Enterprise contract management is an important part of any business’ financial infrastructure. It’s designed to help you easily manage, track, and pay all of your invoices on time, so you can be confident that your finances are being handled in a timely manner.
Try it to your business today and see how things unfold! Sign up for your free account with Fill here.
