Centralize your Contract Management

Legally binding contracts and agreements touch every enterprise area, defining relationships with partners, suppliers, customers, and employees. According to Gartner, 60-80 percent of all business-to-business transactions are governed by a contractual agreement. This translates into the average Fortune 500 company managing between 20,000 to 40,000 active contracts (according to PwC). Unfortunately, given the sheer volume of arrangements in place, Aberdeen Group estimates that between 12 and 15 percent of an organization’s contracts are either lost or unaccounted for.?

As a result, managing contracts effectively can have significant benefits. With the focus on operational efficiency and compliance, user benefits are often overlooked yet can have significant benefits. For example, Aberdeen Group estimates that Sales teams who use a contract management solution are 40% more likely to reach their quota than teams who do not use a contract management solution. Additionally, account executives are 35% more likely to reach their individual quotas and also realize 24% shorter sales cycles.

When we talk to different organizations, we typically hear about a common set of challenges that include:

1. Visibility into the document itself – all too often, contracts are managed with a spreadsheet and lack visibility beyond the location and current status of a contract. For example, why and when was the original contract created, how many versions of the contract exist, are there other, similar contracts throughout the organization, who was (and will be) involved in negotiations, how many other contracts have similar terms or clauses, and so on.
2. Lengthy cycle times -?when your organization receives a request for a contract, are you able to create the contract on time, did you get the right type of discounts that you should have received, are you able to renew the contract on time, etc?
3. Compliance – This includes both external regulations as well as internal requirements and policies, as well as external obligations. Negotiations occur over the phone, via email, or in person. Do you have an audit trail in place to keep track of edits and modifications to standard terms and conditions?
4. Tracking – Different people have different processes for managing contracts, especially when they work in different departments, divisions, or regions. Are you able to standardize workflows and contract processes, and have insight into specific activities?
5. Multiple systems – Many times, we find that organizations store contracts in multiple disparate systems and repositories, making it difficult (if not impossible) to share best practices and standardize on pre-approved terms, conditions, clauses, and contractual language. This lack of consistency often leads to lengthy cycle times as contract authors seek to reinvent the wheel. It also exposes your organization to risk as contracts may be more easily lost or abandoned.?

Effectively managing contracts requires more than just storing documents in one place. A contract represents a legal record and it has metadata and documents and people associated with it, such as contract requesters, contract authors, individuals that negotiate with third parties, legal reviewers, and so forth. Plus, there is a lot of information, or metadata, about the contract itself, the parties involved, renewal dates, discount percentages, the amount or value of the contract, custom attributes, and so on.

Throughout the lifecycle of a contract, a number of people interact and work with it. This requires the ability to manage certain levels of user access, certain types of views, and a way to manage different types of contracts and different tasks, roles, and responsibilities for individual users. For example, there may be users who are responsible for only reviewing terms, while others are involved only in approving contracts. Additionally, there may be power users, such as the staff in a legal department, who review various terms, clauses, etc. All of these impact an organization’s ability to effectively manage a contract throughout its lifecycle. And that’s where Contract Center comes in.

OpenText Contract Center transforms contract management with smarter process automation that integrates an enterprise-wide contract portfolio into existing systems and work processes. It’s built on the OpenText #AppWorks low-code platform and combines flexible digital process automation with powerful analytics and the breadth of OpenText’s industry-leading enterprise content management platform. Contract Center accelerates contract cycle times, drives operational efficiency, and gives organizations the visibility they need to take advantage of contract and renewal incentives and share best practices.

OpenText Contract Center provides a completely integrated solution for all types of contracts, including buy-side, sell-side, partnership, and other agreements. It is an out-of-the-box solution for contract processing, from initiation, negotiation, approval, and management to renewal. It securely manages all information relevant to a particular contract, such as the contract document, metadata (including terms and conditions), users, regulatory information, and amendments. And, it empowers teams to work together to manage risk and improve negotiations and contract adherence.