How to Automate the Way You Manage Contract Expirations
By Justin Perkins, Solutions Engineer and Karen Howe, Training Director
Are you and your team focusing on the most critical elements of contract management–or are you wasting time and effort on administrative tasks that could be automated? One such activity which most organizations face is managing contract expirations. Read on to discover ways contract management software like Contract Logix can reduce the time spent tracking, reporting on and managing expiring contracts.
When it comes to contract expirations, business leaders we talk with frequently mention needs like:
- The ability to correctly report in real-time on all their currently active agreements.
- Advance notice of contracts that are expiring.
- Clearly defined and repeatable processes for what should happen when a contract expires.
- A way to automatically expire agreements once the expiration date has passed.
- Enforcement policies that block edits to expired records by all but a few select individuals.
Contract management software provides all the automated tools to fulfill these needs. For example, with Contract Logix, you have the option to automatically update the status of any contract to “Expired” once the expiration date entered into the system record has passed. No one needs to manually update that record, and so any reports you pull will accurately reflect the current status. Another option enables the system to automatically “lock” the expired record so that no one can make changes except those users whose role allows them to use the “unlock” feature.
Other indispensable tools include automated date alerts to notify you of upcoming contract expirations and workflows that allow you to automate the steps which must be taken when a contract expires. Alerts and workflows can even be combined so that, for example, when an alert is sent a workflow is automatically triggered to remind the appropriate individuals of the required steps and track their completion. You shouldn’t have to depend on manual processes which might get forgotten or resort to managing contract expiration tasks in batches periodically versus in real time via automation.
Takeaway
No matter the size of your business, time spent managing contract expirations manually is better spent elsewhere, like negotiating the next agreement in the queue. You should be leveraging tools that reduce risk to your business and help you to be proactive versus reactive while allowing you to put the focus where your resources need to be. A contract management system that accurately reflects the status of agreements today and updates automatically, one that is capable of alerting you to upcoming contract expirations and is able to enforce policies and procedures surrounding contract expirations, is more essential than ever in today’s business world.
Interested in learning more about contract management software and how it can help your organization? Just schedule a free demonstration with one of our specialists here.