Contract Management Blog

The Oscars, Grammy and Tony Awards.

Almost every form of art has some kind of trophy that practitioners of that art aspire to achieve.

Contract management has changed a lot in the last two decades. Given the rise of computing power and the Internet, contract management has evolved quite a bit. Yet, surprisingly, many businesses insist on implementing contract management processes like old times.

When you think about it, sometimes it all comes down to cost.

Removing the veil from operating costs and imposing accountability and awareness of amounts spent in the contract  process can give you a leg up on the competition. Here are 4 specific ways on how to stay ahead in contract management.

The job of a contract manager is not easy. We face challenging situations on a daily basis and, often, feel a bit a overwhelmed trying to juggle multiple contracts at once. While we sometimes face situations that we may not be able to control, we have to focus on what we can control.

Inefficient contract management can cause a host of problems, not the least of which is money lost due to poor organization of the contract lifecycle. A lack of organization in contract management is often caused by issues such as the inability to follow-up with contracts, inability to route documents to the appropriate person, lack of information on major contract milestone, and inadequate knowledge about best practices for corporate governance and compliance.

According to a 2014 IACCM survey, 63% of experienced contract practitioners report that they are frequently a cause of cost overruns; 59%, a cause of project delay; and 28%, a cause of reduced future business opportunities. (Here is the IACCM full study)

If you don’t know when work is supposed to happen, it probably won’t.

Effective contract management is necessary if you want to have a fully integrated approach to keeping track of all contracts and activities linked to those contracts.