The process of managing contracts is the collection of strategies, methods and concepts that are employed by companies to simplify their contracting processes. Contract management involves a lot including ensuring that contract obligations are met and reporting to analyze contract information.
The process of managing contracts can be broken into stages:
1. Contract Drafting
Whether you’re drafting or drafting a Non-Disclosure Agreement, Master Service Agreement or Statement of Work, contracts are essential for conducting business and additional reading establishing guardrails for relationships. However, the contracting process can be lengthy and time-consuming which can lead to delays and obstacles. Modern technology has made it simpler. Digital collaboration, automated reviews and tracked changes have reduced contract draft times significantly. JAGGAER contracts is a contract management program, is able to minimize errors by auto-generation.
2. Contract Negotiation
Negotiating terms and conditions is the next step in contract management. This is a difficult task, which is cross-departmental and could include multiple versions of the contracts. The aim is to come to an agreement that is mutually agreed upon and will satisfy both parties and is compatible with commercial and legal policy. Contract management software can help speed up the contract drafting and negotiation process by offering users approved templates, clauses and other pre-approved language. It can also automate and simplify the review and approval process by facilitating collaboration via digital technology and permitting teams to submit their reviews from anywhere at any time. It’s also easy to use electronic signatures within CPQ to speed up the execution process, which has been shown to reduce the time it takes to complete contracts by up to 80 percent.