5 Things You Need to Know About Contract Lifecycle Management Software and Why You Should Use It
If you work in the procurement department of a large corporation, chances are you’ve heard of contract lifecycle management (CLM) software. But what is it exactly, and why should you care? Here’s everything you need to know about the benefits of using contract lifecycle management software, including why it matters to your organization and how it can help streamline processes.
CLM software offers a single digital platform for the entire contract lifecycle
CLM software is a single digital platform that brings together all the contract lifecycle processes and documents, as well as the contract terms, conditions, and signatures. It’s also where you can see a complete list of your contracts with their information such as status, cost, pricing details, performance metrics, and more. This means there’s no need to go through multiple systems if you want to find out about one specific contract. CLM software offers clear visibility of your entire portfolio of contracts from start to finish.
CLM software allows for better collaboration
When you use CLM software, you can collaborate with team members and clients to manage contracts, monitor tasks and milestones throughout the process, set up workflows, review key documents and generate reports. By making communication seamless across departments and levels in your organization, CLM software can help you avoid mistakes that could cost time or money down the road.
CLM software automates manual tasks
CLM software automates manual tasks such as contract management, contract version tracking, and contract compliance. As the name suggests, CLM software helps you manage your contracts. CLM software manages this process by taking them through different stages: from inception to completion and beyond.
CLM software provides real-time data and analytics
One of the most important CLM features is having real-time information on your contracts—specifically, who they belong to and where they are in their life cycles. When you have this information at your fingertips, it’s easy to know exactly what stage each contract is in (and when it’s due for renewal). This allows you to plan for future revenue streams and avoid missed opportunities. It also helps you determine if a particular contract should be renegotiated or canceled altogether based on its current terms and conditions. What’s more, monitoring changes made to contracts throughout their life cycles means that employees can stay abreast of any new requirements set forth by clients—and thus prepare accordingly before deadlines come around again.
CLM software improves visibility and efficiencies within the organization
In the past, companies have used spreadsheets or manual tools to track contract activities. With CLM software, you can get a clear picture of where your contracts are at any given time and how well they are performing. This allows you to make better business decisions that can save money and time while improving processes within the company. You will also see a boost in visibility when it comes to managing risk management efforts across your organization.
For example, if someone needs access to a certain contract but isn’t sure who has it or how many copies there are out there, this kind of information would be difficult for them to get unless there was an organized way for employees within IT departments at different locations across different departments (or even different countries) from communicating with one another about their respective projects’ needs. Otherwise, accessing such data could prove rather difficult–which makes sense considering most people don’t usually want others looking over their shoulders when working on something important like this.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that there are many different ways in which CLM software can be used to improve the lives of those within organizations–and it’s important for businesses (as well as other organizations) to take advantage of the opportunities this software provides if they want to stay competitive.