Contract Management Blog

Twenty years ago, signing an important document electronically seemed legally risky—not to mention just plain weird. Even technologically savvy people wondered: “Will this really work as a legally binding signature?”

Harvard Business Review recently published an article, “The Rise of the Supertemp,” which focuses on the rise of an emerging class of high-skill professional workers who choose to work as independent contractors rather than traditional “permanent” employees.

According to PwC, enterprises could save 2 percent of their total annual costs by implementing automated contract management systems to improve contract accuracy and compliance. And Goldman Sachs concludes that an automated enterprise contract management system could speed up negotiations by 50 percent…

Automated contract management can enable companies to expand revenue from contracts, increase productivity, and reduce legal costs. But highly efficient contract management can’t be achieved without first knowing what contracts a company has.

An illuminative case study in the Harvard Business Review, “When Outsourcing Goes Awry,” explores the dilemma faced by a hospital after it outsourced its anesthesiology services.

Contracts that are too specific can limit the building of good will. For example, if every action a service provider could possibly take is dictated and priced by contract, then there’s no chance to offer additional “no charge” services that will make the client feel appreciated.

As the use of the SaaS delivery model continues to proliferate, enterprises moving to cloud solutions are discovering how vital it is to pay close attention to the contract terms of their SaaS vendors.

According to a May 2012 report by the market-research firm Gartner, “Growth in the e-signature market is becoming viral, and there are significant benefits to adoption for those organizations that plan ahead.”