Have you ever felt the stress of finalizing a contract right before the deadline, only to find out that a minor change is needed and you’ll have to start the process all over again?
Maybe your auditor has asked you to find a specific contract, which apparently has a missing signature, but the relevant people are not available. Maybe the contract itself is missing, or the folder has been deleted by mistake.
We know these situations happen quite often and it is just as much of a hassle every time.
Contract management is an important part of the administrative work in any business. Dealing with contracts, however, can be really time-consuming. By digitalising your contract management, your company can save hours of hassle and following-up, while significantly reducing costs.
With today's technology it is easy to store all sorts of agreements and confidential contracts in one secure and easily accessible place. Here are 5 key reasons why you should consider digitalising your contract management.
1. Get full control of your contracts
The traditional ways of managing contracts, such as shared spreadsheets, folders on your computer and physical archives, tend to result in lack of control.
Whether you are in a large, medium or a small company, there is always a need for overview and control of the contracts. For larger entities, the sheer number of existing and new contracts can be an endless task to maintain. Consequently, it goes without saying that digitalised effective contract management is essential to stay on top of your game. However, this applies to smaller entities as well. Even with lower contract volumes, precise and efficient management allows you to save time, cut costs and reduce errors.
Save yourself the trouble and get control of storage, renewals, renegotiations and terminations. Using a contract management system gives you a clear overview of all your contracts and their statuses in one place.
2. Save valuable time and reduce costs
Your time should not be wasted on searching for missing information in old folders and messy spreadsheets. Using a contract management system can significantly decrease the amount of time and resources required to administer contracts.
By uploading contracts to one central cloud-based system, you and your colleagues will no longer have to worry about important documents being lost or misplaced. When you need a specific document quickly, you need a search function that saves you time looking for it.
Contracts will sooner or later come to an end, and it can be a comprehensive task to keep all the deadlines in mind. Some contracts should expire without renewal, but some require a review. Maybe you are able to renegotiate and save your company costs in the new agreement? By archiving all contracts in one place and using alert notifications, you can increase renewal awareness. Missing a deadline can be costly, and it might also be perceived as unprofessional by the counterpart.
3. Minimize administrative work with e-signing
Digital isn't just the future, digital is now. Outdated manual processes take up a lot of our time, but we don't even think about it, because it's the way things have always been done. Let's examine this with an issue many people don't even consider as the major hurdle it actually is - the contract signing process. Imagine a typical scenario, where you have finalized a contract and it's ready for signing. You're clearing paper jams and licking envelopes, preparing to send copies for signing. You stick them in the out tray, and the waiting game begins. It takes a few days for them to arrive - only for you to realize a minor change is needed. And the process starts over again.
Not to mention the frustration of being unable to send out for signatures whilst working from home or travelling for work! Most people don't have a printer at home, adding even more delays to closing your deal.
It doesn't have to be like this. With an e-signature solution you can solve all these issues in the blink of an eye, saving valuable time for you and your counterpart. Get one step closer to creating a paperless office, reducing your environmental impact whilst modernizing your contracting process.
Do your company a favor and get rid of the old-fashioned and inefficient habits and get started with a modern and flexible office life with electronic signatures.
4. Improve security
It is almost impossible to protect hard copies of documents. It will most likely at some point disappear or be misplaced over time. Try to avoid physical papers drowning in the company archive. And have you ever thought of what will happen if something unexpected strikes you or the person administering the contracts in your business? If the system is relying on one key person in the company, then you have a problem if he or she suddenly gets sick or leaves.
By using a contract management software, companies can be sure that confidential information is securely stored. Many solutions also allow permission-based user roles to control access to documents as well as safety features (such as two-factor authentication), so nothing falls into the wrong hands. And off course, not depending on one specific person in the company.
5. Be more prepared for audit
Most businesses go through audits and the outcome often depends on how prepared you are.
Audit processes require examination of company contracts and having these contracts, or any kind of pertinent documentation, stored in one place can help you spend less time searching for it when you need it. Save yourself the hassle of fiddling around in different folders and archives. A digital contract storage system will also help you be proactive in audit by ensuring all information stored in one place at all times.
If you’re interested in knowing more about contract management software and how Azets can support your company in this area, read more or get in touch with us at our website. You are welcome to try our software Azets Agreement and see how this tool can help your business become more efficient. If you are already an existing customer and have access to Azets Cozone, simply start a free trial today, (you need to login to Cozone to be able to reach this link).
