End-to-End CLM for IT
In today's fast-paced and technology-driven world, the IT industry is constantly evolving, and businesses are increasingly relying on technology to drive their operations. As companies undertake complex projects, manage vendor relationships, and navigate intricate legal and compliance landscapes, efficient IT contract management processes are crucial to success.
In this blog, we’ll discuss the different stages of IT contract management and how AI-powered CLM software can help. From streamlining contract processes to ensuring compliance and mitigating risks, CLM software empowers IT professionals to take control of their contracts, optimize resource allocation, and drive successful project outcomes.
Contract Management
IT contracts encompass a wide range of agreements, including software licenses, hardware purchases, service level agreements (SLAs), maintenance contracts, cloud services, and many others. However, in order to fully leverage the benefits of these agreements, success starts in the planning stage — not just when the ink hits the paper.
Every aspect of these agreements, including the scope of work, deliverables, timelines, and any specific technical or performance specifications, should be clearly defined before beginning the contract creation process. It's also essential to involve all relevant stakeholders, such as project managers, legal teams, and key business representatives, to ensure understanding and alignment on workflows.
With so many moving parts to consider, managing IT contracts manually can quickly become overwhelming. This is where using end-to-end AI-powered contract lifecycle management software, such as IntelAgree, can help: from creation to execution to renewal, AI-powered CLM software automates the entire lifecycle, enabling organizations to better manage their IT contracts, reduce costs, mitigate risks, and ultimately, improve their bottom line.
IT Contract Creation Process
Creating an IT contract from scratch with all the proper terms, clauses, and parties can be an arduous process. In fact, according to Aberdeen Research, It takes, on average, 20-30 days for a company to create, negotiate and finalize a contract. However, with CLM software's standardized templates and predefined legal-approved clauses, you can create accurate, consistent IT contracts in a fraction of the time compared to traditional manual methods.
With a template, you can quickly and easily assemble a contract simply by filling in the essential details — such as party names, addresses, contract terms, and any other relevant information — into the CLM software's appropriate fields. These templates not only define the structure, sections, and standard clauses for your contracts, but are also customizable for your specific requirements.
IntelAgree, for example, offers numerous pre-built templates as well as the ability to create your own. Plus, our user-friendly Contract Creation Wizard walks you through a series of legal-approved questions to automatically populate terms in your contract, ensuring that the resulting contract is fully compliant and foolproof.
Contract Execution
Once an agreement is finalized, signing and executing the contract can be a hassle without CLM software. Between juggling multiple tools, making countless tweaks, and manually sending the document to all parties involved, the negotiation and signature process can become lengthy and stagnant.
Thankfully, CLM software can organize and expedite this process by enhancing collaboration. All parties can access contracts, make comments, and redline within one platform. Tools like IntelAgree’s Microsoft Word add-in also make it easy to swap clauses and maintain language without needing to bounce between multiple platforms. Coupled with version control, every stakeholder can track changes and comments throughout the history of a contract.
Automated approval workflows also guarantee that every necessary stakeholder reviews and approves the contract before execution. This feature allows you to assign approvers and automatically notify the next party, so you can always route the right contract to the right parties, at the right time. And, using a CLM software reduces contract approval time by an average of 82% according to Forrester and Aberdeen. Plus, you can ditch the chaos of managing multiple tools and embrace the simplicity and security of native eSignature platforms for digital signatures by authorized representatives.
Performance Monitoring
Post execution, CLM software also allows for easy tracking of contract progress, identifying bottlenecks, and making informed decisions based on your contract data. You'll have real-time updates at your fingertips, covering contract statuses, milestones, and other crucial data points.
CLM software also centralizes contract information from vendor contracts, agreements, and specific metrics in a single, secure, and easily accessible repository, eliminating the hassle of searching through multiple physical or digital storage locations. With intuitive dashboards and reporting functionalities, IT professionals can evaluate vendor performance based on key performance indicators (KPIs) and assess adherence to service level agreements (SLAs).
By centralizing your contracts, you can also rest assured that you'll never miss a renewal date or deadline again. From automatic email reminders about workflow changes, project milestones and deadlines, to customizable dashboards displaying pertinent contract data, AI-powered CLM software keeps you proactive about renewals and tracking financial obligations across the board — so you can stop auto-renewing services you don't need and maintain the ones you do.
IT Compliance
Compliance continues to be a major concern for IT companies, especially given the intricate legal and regulatory requirements they must meet. As per KPMG, a staggering 70 percent of executed contracts are not adhered to by various business units within a company. Fortunately, CLM software provides IT professionals with all of the tools they need to ensure compliance, including predefined clauses and templates that address specific regulations and industry standards.
But with CLM software, it's not just about having the right tool — it's about using it effectively. Automatic approvals and reminders built into the CLM software ensure that every contract has bulletproof language and adheres to relevant regulations, reducing the risk of legal consequences and non-compliance.
Since IT contracts are fraught with risks that can jeopardize project success, financial stability, and legal compliance, it’s crucial to find a CLM solution that conforms to your necessary requirements and addresses all key components. The right CLM solution won’t just make contract management easier — it will help you stay ahead of the curve in an ever-evolving landscape. Gartner's projection of a 50% reduction in manual contract review efforts via AI-based contract analytics solutions by 2024 further highlights this transformative potential. With AI-powered end-to-end CLM software, IT organizations can adopt a data-driven approach to vendor management that promotes transparency, strengthens relationships, and enables informed decisions on vendor selection, contract renewals, and negotiations.
Ready to take control of your IT contracts and drive project success in the fast-paced tech world? Schedule a demo now to see how IntelAgree can streamline your contract processes, ensure compliance, and mitigate risks.