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  Automate Your Way to Enterprise Contract Management
 
Contracts management must keep pace with automated business transactions and complex business relationships. Unfortunately, many companies don't pay much attention to this until it's too late. That's when they realize they have an inefficient contract management operation.
 
Automating the contract management process and increasing visibility into the overall contract management process can bring several benefits. Through automation, according to Goldman Sachs, contract negotiation cycle times can drop by as much as 50%. Operating and processing costs can be slashed by as much as 30%. Process automation is also critical to contract management success since it helps eliminate costly manual errors, improves headcount efficiency, and reduces overall operational redundancies. According to Goldman Sachs, companies typically spend 25-50 basis points of revenue to manage contracts in the enterprise. This can be reduced to 10-25 basis points when contract management software automates the processes.
 
When evaluating an automated contract management offering, it is critical to consider a common data repository for storing all contractual information within the company. All data is stored in a single database that provides a "single version of the truth" means that there can be no more battles over who has the most current and accurate information. While several niche vendors in this space claim that they offer contract automation, very few can offer their customers a true common data repository as the solution foundation.
 
With a "single version of the truth," all individuals and organizations can have real-time access to accurate contract information. Various departments in the organization including Legal, Sales, Order Management, Finance, Customer Service, among others can obtain the same information regarding terms and conditions, rights and obligations, pricing, customer/party information, etc. Therefore as processes are automated across multiple organizations, and potentially even geographies, individuals participating in the process can have the confidence that their decisions and actions are based upon factual and consistent information.
 
Equally as critical for contract management process automation is seamless application integration. This is the "second half" of the automation equation. Through seamless integration, the end-to-end contract management business flow from opportunity identification to invoice/collection is possible. Integration between the contract management applications and the other functional applications in the Sales, Customer Service, and Finance departments, just to name a few, enables several departments to collaborate effectively and view the same information at the same time. This allows consistent information to flow throughout the organization, which increases customer satisfaction. Without seamless integration, a business flow that connects the enterprise would fall apart. When choosing a vendor for contract management, consider one who can deliver the complete solution that enables your organization to manage contracts efficiently and collaboratively with all the key departments in the company.
 
So, what type of contract process automation can a company achieve once it has a common data repository and its applications are seamlessly integrated? Just about any. A robust event and workflow engine can be used to automate virtually all contract management processes. Such events or workflows can be initiated via "Triggers" and result in a host of automated "Outcomes." Only a vendor that offers a single repository for all contracts information with seamless integration between its contracts modules and other e-business applications can provide a complete solution that meets your contract management needs.