All contract management begins with knowing where your contracts are and what they contain. Many companies, however, still do not have a clear overview of both these points. The contracts may be stored in a mix of physical and electronic locations, including in the cloud, Share Points or even on a salesperson’s PC. In such a case, contract discovery and set up of an electronic repository is an essential first step to take control of the contract management area. A next critical step is identification of key obligations, deliverables, timeframes and action owners to monitor and follow up for the contract execution.

Implementation of a contract lifecycle management system brings several benefits, such as improved standardisation of templates and clauses, shorter cycle times for development, approvals and negotiations and greater business autonomy to take the lead in contract creation. Extending your CLM system to interface with ERP procurement and CRM sales systems improves your ability to plan and forecast the impact of contract execution on the business. 

Do you agree with my point of view? I would be interested in any feedback you may have.