Whether you outsource various aspects of your company’s operations or offer services to the corporate world, managing your contracts is key to your company’s success.
Contracts are key in making sure both parties in any agreement have the information laid out correctly and without room for confusion or misinterpretation.
Contracts help both sides discuss the details — big or small — in an efficient manner. But as much help as contracts can be, poorly managing them can lead to catastrophic failures and severely hinder a company’s success and profit.
Managing your contracts does not have to be a complex or time-consuming venture.
Here are some of the many ways a company or entity can benefit from properly managing its contracts.
Reduced Risk
As a business owner or manager, you face a great deal of risk in various aspects of the job. By properly managing your contracts you can make sure that both you and the other parties in the contract are all operating under the latest terms, conditions, and policies which are laid out in a clear manner.
Addressing issues that arise will be dealt with in a manner that protects you legally.
It also helps you catch any agreement breaches and deal with them in a time-efficient manner. It eliminates any vague or ambiguous aspects in a business arrangement.
Whether you have a lot of outsourced services or a large number of clients whom you service, managing your contracts will ensure that you are protected and help you keep customers satisfied.
It also helps ensure the same quality of work is delivered to everyone under the appropriate terms.
Professionalism
If you are a small or medium enterprise or a new startup, gaining customer confidence and trust can be a difficult task.
Providing properly managed contracts for the services you offer or wish to receive will help demonstrate your professionalism and help you grow.
It also protects you from any pitfalls that may arise in the future as you address most likely issues from the onset.
Organized Renewal
Contracts will always have a maturity period or a time component. Contracts will need to be renewed at the end of their agreement term which oftentimes is annual.
Depending on how you structure your contracts, you will often have a variety of dates throughout your year where contracts need to be renewed and that can sometimes be a lengthy process.
Contract renewals are not all created equal and some may need more attention than others. Efficiently managing this can help make sure that you are not left with a period of time with a lapsed agreement.
This also ensures that any terms of the old contract that need to be addressed are seen with sufficient time to discuss them with the other party.
The folks at https://www.contracthound.com/contract-renewal/ explain how this renewal process needs consideration on both when to start and how to negotiate as renewing a contract has nuances different to that of a new agreement.
It is key to address issues from previous agreements before entering into a new one.
Financial Analysis
With proper contract management, you can better forecast your finances in terms of both expenses and revenue.
You can better estimate how much your sales volume will come in from anyone customer that you have an agreement with as well as gauge your expenses with service providers that you have outsourced.
Proper contract management can also help negotiate better prices as it will create a direct stream of business with other entities and it helps make sure you are not billed for work outside the scope of your agreement.
Efficiently managing your contracts will improve your company’s financial planning ability and help reduce costs where possible.
Contract management does not have to be complex or difficult. There are a plethora of tools available to help businesses grow and thrive and manage their contracts in the right cycle for them.
Such tools include Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM) software that helps you review the data on efficiency, value, and contract deadlines.
Such software creates a central location for your contracts and information and helps you organize it and digest it so that you can manage your business accordingly.
Such software also helps give you alerts so that you are never susceptible to forgetfulness.
With the tools available today efficient contract management has never been easier and with the right implementation, you can reduce any risk your company faces, organize any necessary renewals, and have a better grasp on your company’s financial position.
