Key Benefits of Contract Administration

In previous posts, we’ve talked about how contracts are an important part of administering your business operations and how contract management software is a leading tool to help you stay organized, up-to-date, and maintain quick and easy access to your most important documents.

If you stop for a moment and really think about the significant influence contracts exert on your business, you cannot dispute the importance of accurately managing them through their entire lifecycle. Maybe that’s why you are investigating – or have even already purchased – contract management software. But implementing such a solution isn’t just about importing contracts to have electronic copies and then maybe setting a few alarms to remind you of key dates. To proactively reduce risk and business liability, and maximize operational efficiency and profitability, you need to practice effective contract administration – the ongoing governance of each contract.

How Are You Maintaining Your Document Retention Policy? (And Do You Have One?)

If you were asked about how well you adhere to your business’s document retention policy, how would you answer? Could you even answer? Do you know what your document retention policy is – or if one even exists in your organization? A full-functioning contract management software system can help you answer those and related questions quickly and easily.

Depending on your industry, document and record retention can be vital – if not regulated and required – for you to actively participate. From the Sarbanes-Oaxley Act to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) to other government policies, document management and retention has become an all-too-important task for CIOs and other business executives.

Contracts Defined

Contracts Defined

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a contract as:

• a binding agreement between two or more persons or parties
• a business arrangement for the supply of goods or services at a fixed price

Contracts are the documents governing the administrative operations of your business or organization. The complexity of the different contracts ranges depending on the size of your business, your industry, etc. Some contracts are simple and administer everyday tasks like janitorial services. But increasingly complex contracts can quickly creep into your business as your growth scales with success. While it might be suitable to manually manage a few contracts as you get started, it is a job that can reach an overwhelming level almost overnight without the right tools in place.

Contract Information Doesn’t Belong in Just Your Employees’ Heads

If your organization doesn’t use contract management software, perhaps this potential situation may sound strikingly familiar.

In every office, there is one go-to person who knows just about everything to do with the operations and administration. For this example, let’s suppose the office is yours and this person is “Sue”.

Upgrade Now to Contract Assistant Standard Version 2.3

Screenshot of Contract Assistant Standard Version 3.2

Just last week, we released the newest version of Contract Assistant Standard, the single-user edition of our contract management software. More than 10 new features and enhancements were added!

Contract Assistant Standard Edition has upheld its reputation as one of the industry’s most popular contract management software systems since its introduction in 2002. In Version 2.3, a new user interface, added power and broad range of new features build on the ease of use and affordable pricing.

News Flash: Introducing Contract Assistant PRO Edition 3.7!

Screenshot of Contract Assistant PRO 3.7

If you haven’t heard about the wealth of new features and enhancements in the latest release of Contract Assistant, this post is just for you! Read on for a bunch of new reasons why this upgraded contract management software could be the best decision for you and your organization.

What’s in It for Me: Why Every Department Benefits From Contract Management Software

Implementing a contract management software solution involves different roles and responsibilities across an organization, and the resulting improvements extend across many departments. Considering this, an organization’s decision to purchase a contract management software solution isn’t usually made by just an administrator. Typically, several individuals with varying responsibilities are charged with the research, evaluation, and selection; or if you work for a larger organization, more than just one department will be involved in at least one part of the process.

To create the necessary buy-in among your business’s leaders and functional partners, you need to shatter the assumption that contracts—and the benefits of implementing software to manage them—only affect an administrative role or department.

Don’t Take Our Word For It… See Why Our Customers Chose Contract Management Software

If you have yet to use contract management software—or frankly didn’t even know it exists—there is little chance you’ll understand what you are missing without it.

And despite the market for contract management software being somewhat off the main radar of business owners and professionals, there are more than just a few software development companies that have created solutions to fill the niche.

8 Steps to Choosing a Contract Management Solution

Here is the good news: you’ve identified the need for improved contract management in your business and you are ready to implement a software solution.

But just the thought of figuring out which of the many available solutions will fit your organization best can overwhelm you even more than the piles of paper contracts and multiple spreadsheets you currently use! Fear not – by following these eight steps, you will be well on your way to choosing the contract management solution that will make the greatest difference in your short- and long-term business objectives.

SaaS – Says Who? Consider Your Contract Management Software Vendor Carefully

There’s a lot of talk these days about “the cloud”, especially for software companies. Certainly, there are advantages to SaaS (software as a service) and other cloud-enabled software, but it’s important to also examine the disadvantages before purchasing a business software solution, particularly when assessing contract management software.

Contract management software typically handles some of the most confidential, sensitive information for your business. Can you fully trust a third party to safely store and process your contracts and other critical documents? Hosted software means that crucial business information is sitting on someone else’s server. That can be a considerable risk for several reasons.