Are you a small business owner? Do you manage contracts in a small business? Regardless of the position or size of the small business you are a part of, contracts are integral to your organizational processes. From client contracts to employee contracts - among many others - small business contract management KPIs can be hindered by contract non-compliance, disorganized pre-award contract processes, missed contract renewal opportunities, and more – without the proper contract management system in place. Read this blog to learn how to transform your process for streamlined, user-friend, and success-driven small business contract management.
Say, for instance, you own a local retail shop and need to manage multiple vendor and purchase order contracts. How do you remain abreast of varying milestones without checking your contracts daily or manually setting reminders? If you are a self-employed consultant, how do you keep track of your varying consulting agreements and their ranging time-sensitive obligations?
To streamline your small business contract management process, you need a contract lifecycle management software system that can offer complete control and oversight over your contracts’ pre-award and post-award needs.
The pre-award contract process from contract requests to signatures can be slowed by methods relying upon email, postal mail, paper-based drafts, manual redlining, wet signatures, and more. You can be consumed by more pertinent tasks within your small business and find it difficult to allot time for such manual pre-award contract processes.
Rather than waste time and resources going back and forth with stakeholders manually, you should leverage a leading contract management software with artificial intelligence that can electronically centralize the pre-award contract management process. You can digitally submit contract requests, author new contracts with pre-approved templates and clauses, submit and track negotiations, request and receive approvals, and complete the pre-award contract process with swift and user-friendly eSignatures.
Learn about CobbleStone’s IntelliSign® eSignatures in the video below.
Once contracts are signed, you need to store your contracts securely, ensure compliance, track obligations, and anticipate contract renewals. Utilizing paper-based contracts stored in filing cabinets, manually calibrating reminders in spreadsheets or computer calendars, subjectively assessing areas of improvement for contract renewals with limited information, and other antiquated processes can waste precious time and resources that could be redirected toward scaling your small business.
Fortunately, leading-edge contract lifecycle management software can virtually ensure contract obligations are kept with automated task alerts. Furthermore, compliance is easily maintained with advanced audit trails and metrics reporting, and renewal opportunities are maximized with timely notifications. By allowing a leading contract lifecycle management software to help automate the contract processes, you are gifted with more time to tend to other pressing small business responsibilities.
Disparate contract management processes - such as postal mail, filing cabinets, paper-based contracts, wet signatures, shared drives, email, spreadsheets, and others – can make it challenging to organize and track your contracts. These processes can also run the risk of security breaches, especially with non-secure email servers and unlocked filing cabinets.
Luckily, you can leverage a web-enabled SaaS contract lifecycle management suite to digitally manage contracts from virtually anywhere with suitable WiFi. As a small business contract manager, you can know your contracts are secure when working with a contract lifecycle management software provider that is SOC 1 and SOC 2 compliant. A centralized contract lifecycle management solution with location-based flexibility and paramount security can make managing contracts a breeze – allowing you more time to focus on your small business’ growth.
Now that you know the ins and outs of leveraging a winning solution for better small business contract management, it’s time to enlist the valuable aid of CobbleStone Software.
CobbleStone’s Contract Insight Express Edition offers small business contract management professionals a centralized and user-friendly contract lifecycle management software solution that can evolve with small business’ needs. Rather than purchase a deployed software, traditionally only available to large organizations, CobbleStone’s web-enabled software solution can be configured to your current small business’ needs and can seamlessly expand with additional features as your organization grows. You can compare Contract Insight Editions here.
CobbleStone’s trusted, award-winning, and highly configurable small business contract management software streamlines the contract process with optimal governance, reduced friction, and high flexibility from contract requests to contract renewals. CobbleStone Software has been a forerunner in contract management software since 1995. CobbleStone’s user-friendly, robust, and scalable solution seamlessly integrates with mission-critical applications for unified and seamless small business contract management.
Discover why thousands of contract managers trust CobbleStone Software with their contract management needs. To learn more about CobbleStone’s unparalleled small business contract management software, book a free demo with a Contract Insight expert today!
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