Master your contract management workflow

Contract management can make or break a business. Glitches in the flow can cause legal issues, eat away at revenue and damage working relationships with partners. On the flip side, when contracts are effectively managed, your organisation can avoid disputes and maintain healthy partnerships – both essential to growth.

Let’s explore how you can create and optimise a contract management process that’s ready to scale with your organisation and all the benefits that come with it.

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No team member wants the arduous task of tracking every single milestone within the contracting process – and not every step in the contract management workflow needs a human touch. 

An automated system can be used to receive new requests for contracts, draft basic legal language for new contracts and streamline auditing, reporting, approvals and renewals.

The ability to set reminders within the platform and even enable automatic email reminders also takes the burden of remembering off your team’s (likely very full) plate and allows them to focus on the bigger picture of hitting targets and achieving business goals.

‍Add eSignature capabilities

The signature portion is arguably the most important part of the contract. There’s no deal until the contract is signed.

‍With electronic signature as an option, your team can ensure that everything gets signed as quickly as possible. 

Digital signatures enable deals to be confirmed on the go, all while ensuring security and efficiency at the same time. Make sure they’re a part of your contract management stack.

Save time with templates

No need to draft every single contract from scratch. While you certainly want every contract to feel (and to some extent actually be) personalised for each client, a little standardisation can go a long way. Having a reliable library of contracts will give you a strong foundation for developing even the most complex contracts.

With Dropbox’s eSignature product HelloSign, you can turn your most frequently used contracts into templates or download some commonly used forms like NDAs, consulting agreements and social media policies.

More ways to keep your contract management up to date

Audit your current workflow

‍How you managed contracts for your first few clients should and will change significantly, so empower your team to review your contract management process at regular intervals (quarterly or annually). Don’t be afraid to call out key wins while also tackling challenges and risks that pop up. Armed with that baseline information, you can embark on improving how contracts are handled within your organisation.

‍Whether your goals are to eliminate certain risks or save money, it’s important to know exactly why you’re altering your contract management approach. To reimagine how contract management works within your company, you need both the why and the how.

Stick to one system

Yes, every client requires personalised engagement. And while it may seem a bit counter-intuitive, standardising your contract management process allows you to support each client more effectively.

‍Having a contract management system that keeps all of your contracts and interactions with stakeholders in the same place can save you from problems down the line with missing paperwork and miscommunication.

‍A single system allows for better communication between relevant parties in the contracting process and keeps all sensitive information more secure.

‍Step into the modern era

Whether your sales team is working to improve their contract management or you need to overhaul how your entire organisation manages contracts, we have the tools and resources to help you streamline your process.

‍With a little thoughtful planning and an assist from cloud services, you can shift contract management from being a challenge for your organisation to a streamlined and efficient process that helps to accelerate your growth.