CLM (contract lifecycle management) is a shepherd-and-sailor rolled into one. Its presence ensures that all your essential resources and processes stay on the desired point without getting lost, damaged, or left unseen in all stages of a contract.

Any company that knows how to use contract lifecycle management (CLM) well is already at an advantage compared to a company that struggles with timelines, budgets, and legal blind spots with a contract. It’s impossible to work in isolation in today’s globally-connected world. Sooner or later, one must award contracts for various processes and services. But managing these contracts can be a task full of headaches, confusion, and legal chaos.

That’s why it is crucial to choose a good contract li’l two lifecycle management (CLM) with a smart implementation partner – because you kill with one stone here. You improve your chance of raising the contract’s impact on your business. And you also weed out all those spots that might have slowed you down. With the right partner and approach to contract lifecycle management (CLM), you can get the best output from a contract without pouring in any extra time, talent, or money that was envisaged. A CLM expert knows where the cracks are and can guide you well on those slippery turns.

Why CLM and how to find a good one?

Any robust contract lifecycle management solution would essentially entail:

• Request
• Authoring, reviewing, and redlining
• Negotiation and process
• Approval
• Execution
• Compliance
• Storage, record management, retrieval
• Audit, reporting, and governance
• Termination, renewal, disposition, obligations
• Amendments

Poor contract management can lead to many operational, legal, and regulatory risks. On the other hand, good contract management can improve the business value derived from contracts. Effective contract management can reduce the administrative burden of contracts. A lifecycle approach can erase fragmentation and shrink contract cycle times by a considerable degree.

When you find a good implementation partner for CLM, you get to enjoy:

• Automation and streamlining of contracts
• Digitization and process augmentation
• Sanitization, deduplication, and smart archiving
• Process mapping, reconfiguration, and improvement
• Identification and optimization of crucial contract templates
• A data-driven approach to achieving speedy results from a contract
• Library and templates for better comprehension
• A 360-degree view for timely monitoring of KPIs
• Versioning and integration with other tools and partners
• Fast onboarding and easy trouble-shooting

But how to find this CLM partner? And how to know if this decision will work?

It’s not that tough. Start by evaluating prominent options in your network, have a good market espousal, and have a proven record of CLM impact. But just picking any great CLM solution partner will not set you free.

The checklist for a CLM partner

To derive maximum effectiveness out of CLM, you will have to assess then if this partner can:

• Dovetail nicely with our process approach
• Bring the ability to understand your strengths and improvement areas – and with solid clarity
• Help you to get a holistic perspective on CLM brakes and bottleneck areas
• Leverage deep expertise in contract management legalese and fine-print areas
• Guide you with process mapping, integration, and change management
• Use innovative technology to bring intelligence, speed, and clarity into the game
• Support your vendors to deliver timelines without sacrificing other imperatives of quality, compliance, and customer advantage
• Offer the right mix of tools and technologies that align with your organization’s context and culture
• Bring a versatile set of experience with industry verticals, contract scenarios, and tough deadlocks
• Provide a rich pool of experts in the areas of audits, reviews, and time management
• Help with process mapping, automated reporting, and collaboration with other functional solutions
• Help you to spot cracks in contract management before it’s too late to correct the course
• Take away the complexity of contract management and help with a single pane of glass

Contract lifecycle management (CLM) is a significant first step to underlining the efficiency and value parts of any contracts you sign and manage. It can take off a lot of weight from your shoulders. But a CLM is also a good cue to look inwards and have a brave view of what processes, areas, and people in your organization need significant improvement. Without this, a contract can quickly turn into a white elephant. And it’s neither easy to count elephants of this species nor simple to carry them all the way.

No matter which shepherd you hire here. Partner with an exemplary implementation expert and embrace speed instead.