With this blog post, we aim to assist those seeking to enhance their processes with customizable contract management software. We’re giving you first-hand insights on what to look for and how to find the right solution for your team’s specific needs.
When it comes to contract management software, not all options are created equal. To find one that truly stands out, there are a few key requirements it needs to fulfil. Firstly, it needs to be customizable to fit your specific business needs, since using generic software that only partly suits your requirements can be counterproductive. Then, the software also needs to be user-friendly and easy to navigate. It doesn’t matter how advanced the software is, if the employees can’t use it easily, it’s not worth your trouble. But this is only part of the picture.
3 steps to finding a customizable contract management software that works for you
1. Review your existing contract management processes
To find the right software solution, it’s essential to start with a review of your current business processes and identify areas for improvement. Oftentimes, businesses focus too much on new software without considering their existing needs. While quick decisions are crucial for competitiveness, skipping due diligence will have its drawbacks.
Remember that investing in software is a significant decision. Thoroughly evaluating existing processes helps create a fact-based plan, ensuring that the new software aligns seamlessly with your operations and reduces employee resistance during the implementation.
2. Listen to your team — they are the ones who will use the software
To select the right software, it’s best to engage with your team to understand their pain points, challenges, and needs. With countless software options available, sorting through options alone can be time-consuming and error-prone. To streamline choices and ensure the chosen solution works effectively in practice, consulting team members and seeking first-hand recommendations is often the best way to make an informed decision.
3. Consider modern technologies
Staying open to modern technologies widens the pool for applications that align with your needs and helps you leverage innovation for optimal performance. Up-to-date technologies, such as low-code contract management software are usually easier to use, integrate with existing toolsets, and offer more customizability.
7 things to look for in customizable contract management software
Scalability
A strong custom software solution should seamlessly grow with your business, sparing you from frequent replacements as your team evolves. It should be flexible enough to adapt to shifting business demands. In the age of advanced machine capabilities, software should actively embrace the expanding functionalities to remain a valuable asset for the company.
Ease of use
Those familiar with out-of-the-box software understand that it often requires a steep learning curve before team members become comfortable with it. This learning process can consume significant employee training hours. In contrast, customizable software is more intuitive, which helps minimize the learning curve and reduces the need for extensive training.
Automation
One of the most important features of effective contract management software is its ability to automate tasks, including functions, such as starting automated approval processes according to agreed-on conditions, automatically sending a contract to the other party as soon as it’s signed by the first party, monitoring deadlines, and sending notifications to users. As a result, contract management software helps streamline processes and save hours or days’ worth of time otherwise spent on repetitive manual tasks.
Security
To consider contract management software secure and reliable, it needs to come with customizable features, such as precise access control and user management. If we can control who has the right to delete, modify, download, and send contracts, our entire contracts database will be more secure. Another important function of modern software is that we can also hide who can see contract values at the field level, helping to protect sensitive information.
Seamless integration
Custom software needs to seamlessly integrate with existing systems within the organization. Its potential lies in the ability to create a unified platform that stores and utilizes information efficiently, delivering benefits to departments such as CRM and sales teams.
Easy migration
Whether your team is currently using out-of-the-box software or transitioning from another system, any new software solution you introduce needs to account for the migration of existing processes in a transparent manner to avoid confusion and lost data.
Cost-efficiency
The ability to eliminate unnecessary features and associated licensing fees — often found in out-of-the-box options — makes customizable contract management software a cost-efficient solution. You pay only for what your team truly needs, resulting in higher return on investment.
Choosing a customizable contract management software to really match your needs
Selecting the right contract management software is an important decision for any business. With the multitude of providers available, this choice may seem overwhelming.
However, by taking a few preliminary steps and considering key factors, such as adaptability, security, integration, and user-friendliness, teams can navigate the market and compare existing options to find the software that best aligns with their goals and ensures that contract management is in good ‘hands’.
