Contract Insights

Contracts are legally binding agreements that define and govern the exchange of goods or services. A contract’s journey – from creation to fulfillment and completion – is complex and leaves room for errors and oversights. As such, a process has been generally agreed upon for the handling of contracts. This process is referred to as contract management.

But what is contract management, and how can it be approached? Here’s what you need to know.

A healthy contract management process should constantly be adapting to technological advancements.  As contract volume and contract complexity begin to grow, organizations must embrace digital transformation to be furnished with the right tools to streamline the contract management process.  Such innovative CLM tools can be found within a trusted contract management software system. Read on to learn more.

Vendor, customer, and employee compliance management are essential for organizations to maintain adherence to compliance standards, mitigate risk, and uphold their reputation. However, as contract volume grows, it can be difficult for organizations to track the records of vendors, customers, partners, and employees regularly. To achieve and maintain compliance, it is paramount that organizations, regardless of industry, remain aware of violations committed by entities they are performing business with. Such violations include failure to adhere to economic and trade sanctions under The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Contract management software with intelligent national sanction compliance checks and risk analysis snapshots can help organizations avoid these issues by providing a comprehensive and centralized OFAC search process. This solution is CobbleStone Software

Contracts are legally binding - and thus need to be executed properly.  Legal teams should equip themselves with a thorough understanding of the contract lifecycle management process.  The contract lifecycle is the process under which a contract is authored, reviewed, sent for signature, executed, and - potentially - renewed. 

The "lifecycle" is an archetype used to compartmentalize and understand a contract's complex evolution.  The lifecycle begins with contract requests and concludes when these requests are fulfilled - with the possibility of managing contract renewal.  Let's further explore the eight stages of the contract lifecycle below and how digital contract management software can help streamline your contracting processes.