What is Contract Management Software?

What is Contract Management Software?

Contract management software is a digital platform designed to automate and streamline all stages of contract management—from drafting and negotiation to execution and ongoing maintenance. This type of software helps organizations maintain comprehensive records of contracts, track critical deadlines, and manage compliance with automated tracking of contractual obligations. It simplifies workflows by providing tools for version control, secure document storage, e-signature functionalities, and detailed audit trails.

By reducing manual efforts and increasing transparency, contract management software enables businesses to mitigate risks, improve collaboration, and enhance operational efficiency, leading to better business relationships and outcomes.

4 Ways Contract Management Software Can Help Your Business

1. Contract management software makes creating a contract easy and automated

Contract management software  also known as contract lifecycle management, wires automation into the contract management process. With a library of approved templates and clauses in place, contracts can be automatically assembled based on criteria associated with the contract, such as region, products, services, or price terms. With advanced contract management software, users can auto-build contracts based on defined business rules and bulk data upload. Self-service contract creation enables faster time-to-revenue and significantly reduces legal operating expenses.

2. Contract management software makes contract review and approval cloud-based and completely auditable

Today’s contract management software systems are almost completely offered as cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS). This means teams can collaborate and review contracts from anywhere in the world. When COVID-19 hit, this proved to be an indispensable capability for companies that wanted to keep business running despite widespread office closures. And contract management software empowers companies to set up automated workflows to route a contract to the right person automatically. Throughout the contract creation process, the software captures changes to contract terms, creating an immutable audit trail and escalations if unapproved clauses are introduced.

3. Contract management software connects contract data to the systems and processes they touch

Once a contract is executed, a best-in-class contract management system can push the contract data into surrounding systems, as well as pull in data to track commitment fulfillments. For example, a supplier contract can get pushed into a spend management system so that all invoices received under the contract comply with the original terms. This drives down leakage and eliminates rogue spending. In a sales scenario, a company can track delivery data directly against the contract, meaning no obligation goes unfilled, reducing risk and making the company a better partner.

The strongest CLM software products on the market today deliver value long after a contract is executed.

4. Contract management software makes contract data easily accessible and actionable via dashboards

Because contract management software is continuously capturing contract data and connecting it with the run of business, users can surface intuitive metrics within configured dashboards. A common dashboard metric is contract risk. Contract management software enables companies to configure risk scores based on internal data and third-party sources. This then enables users to detect early when a contract is at risk and take action to address it.

Using Contract Management Software to Gain Contract Intelligence

Icertis’ contract management platform turns your contracts from static documents into a strategic advantage, giving your company the powerful capabilities it needs to stay out in front, now and into the future. This goes beyond contract management software to become contract intelligence.

Contract intelligence is advanced digital contract management that links the entitlements and obligations in any kind of contract lifecycle to your critical business processes. Contract intelligence ensures that all agreements are in compliance and commitments are upheld, that changing conditions dynamically trigger the appropriate actions, that high-value insights are available in real-time, and that new information makes the whole system increasingly smarter and faster.

Icertis distinguishes itself through its bold vision, unrivaled expertise, and enduring commitment to contract management software:

Organization-wide contract management solution

Icertis was the first company to grasp the truly transformative potential of a contract management solution and has boldly pursued the vision of organization-wide contract intelligence for more than a decade.

ERP, CRM and Systems of Record Integration

Icertis has expertise in any kind of contract and the best ways to connect them to the processes and systems that touch them. We integrate into all major ERP, CRM, and spend management systems, meaning we can handle any contract scenario.

Smart rules to automate contract compliance

Icertis’ innovations in contract management software continue to push toward self-governance, with continuous monitoring and smart rules that automatically ensure compliance and minimize risk.

Powerful Contract AI

Icertis has deep knowledge and  powerful AI tools to help you ramp up quickly, streamline contracts and processes, close deals faster, and connect the dots across departments.

Today, CLM software is a critical resource for surmounting the challenges of today’s business climate and proactively preparing for those of the future. A contract management software platform - and the hidden contract data it makes visible - is the foundation a company needs to accelerate commerce, mitigate risk, control costs, and negotiate optimal future contracts. The best CLM platform turns contracts into indispensable strategic advantages for maximizing a company’s success. Request a free demo to learn more.

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