This is a presentation I gave to the Contract Management Department of SJ (Statens Järnvägar), the Swedish railway. The purpose of the presentation was to be a high-level overview of some of my Contract Management Insights.

1. Contract Management
Insights
Presented by Matt Burr Dixon
on Monday 12 December 2016
1Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

2. Content
Brief Introduction
Presentation Context
Quiz
What is contract Management?
Where is it practiced?
Key Take Aways
Questions
2Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

3. Content
Brief Introduction
Presentation Context
Quiz
What is contract Management?
Where is it practiced?
Key Take Aways
Questions
3Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

4. Brief Introduction
Name: Matt Burr Dixon
Not representing any organization
Career:
• Head of Contract Management for Region sub-Saharan Africa, at Ericsson.
• Contract Management Lead for South Africa, at Accenture.
• Contract Manager at Accenture.
• Admitted Attorney (South Africa)
Perspective:
Vendor vs procurement
4Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

5. Content
Brief Introduction
Presentation Context
Quiz
What is contract Management?
Where is it practiced?
Key Take Aways
Questions
5Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

6. From good to great…
Much of what SJ does today is good!
However the world is changing – this is changing our industries and SJ itself!
Ideally we want to move from good to great!
It’s a fantastic ambition – now – how do we do it?!
6Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

7. 7Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

8. Content
Brief Introduction
Presentation Context
Quiz
What is contract Management?
Where is it practiced?
Key Take Aways
Questions
8Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

9. Quiz
9Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.
1. Sank in 1628
2. Salvaged 333 years later
3. Why did it sink?

10. Quiz
New evidence: contract misinterpretation
• Written in Swedish, German and Dutch
• No spelling systems
• Difficulty of interpreting handwriting
10Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

11. Content
Brief Introduction
Presentation Context
Quiz
What is Contract Management?
Where is it practiced?
Key Take Aways
Questions
11Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

12. Why is contract management important?
IACCM: Contract Management professional organization.
IACCM consists of almost 40 000 members globally across 83% of all the countries in the world
covering almost 16,000 Corporations.
12Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.
“IACCM research suggests that, on average, corporations are losing the equivalent
of 9.2% of annual revenue through weaknesses in their contracting process”
“IACCM interviewed executives from 50 of the world’s largest corporations. The
interviews confirm that top management at the most successful organizations
understands the importance of the contracting process and are investing in it.”

13. A definition
…one of many…by no means simple to memorize, explain or relate to others easily.
13Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.
Contract management covers the processes required to govern the life cycle of contracts
made with customers, suppliers, subcontractors and partners. To summarize, it is the
systematic and efficient management of contracts from analysis of the contractual
requirements, negotiation and creation of the contract, governance of compliance and
change, through to the verification that all contractual obligations have been fulfilled for the
purpose of maximizing financial and operational performance and minimizing risk.

14. Contract management reality
14Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.
Sales / Procurement Process

15. IACCM 10 pitfalls
1. Lack of clarity re scope and goals
• Claims and disputes
• Continuous education about your business and close interaction with business and support Subject Matter
Experts can help reduce this. As does early involvement!
2. Legal/Contract team not involved early enough
• Wrong forms of contract and extended lead times
• Strongly align with commercial and business stakeholders – ensure you have a seat at the leadership table and
visibility of the pipeline.
3. Failure to engage stakeholders
• Misaligned interests and future opposition
• Collaborate and involve support stakeholders.
4. Protracted Negotiations
• Competitive exposure and delayed revenues
• Help to build trust and drive negotiations to win-win (as opposed to sub-optimal compromise). Align with Legal
(and Procurement) as one team.
5. Negotiations focussed on wrong terms and risks
• Loss of economic benefit; contract a weapon.
• Think of what can go wrong, then…take it further and consider how to avoid.
15Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

16. IACCM 10 pitfalls
6. Contracts lack flexibility. Insufficient focus on governance
• Performance management dominated by blame/fault
• Ensure performance management is clearly understood, change control is included and the governance process
is practical and can be operationalized. Avoid blame!
7. Contracts difficult to understand
• Users see contract as irrelevant to business needs
• Help simplify, clarify and reduce ambiguity. Help interpret effectively post award.
8. Poor handover from deal team to implementation team
• Commitment and obligations missed and misunderstood
• Think end-to-end in the pre space. Someone (likely a colleague) needs to operationalize the contract!
9. Limited use of Technology
• Inefficiency and loss of quality in performance and analysis
• Use/introduce effective tools, and do not underestimate the value of other technology/automation – e.g. excel
tracker/reminders.
10. Poor post award processes and governance
• Repetitive issues and errors causing value loss
• Implement practical, simple, value add processes that clarify the contract, manage risks and issues, enable
change (up/add on sell) etc.
16Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

17. Content
Brief Introduction
Presentation Context
Quiz
What is contract Management?
Where is it practiced?
Key Take Aways
Questions
17Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

18. Pre-sales and post sales
18Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.
Pre-Sales
Post-Sales
Legal Contract management

19. Pre-sales
• Contract management resource estimation
• Surprises
• Critical T&C’s
• Customer/vendor knowledge
• Experience – history and precedence
• Continuously liaising and aligning with key internal and external stakeholders as signature
approaches
• Anticipating what challenges may lie ahead and appropriately guiding those same
stakeholders
• Actively participating in negotiations
• Leveraging off strategic tools
19Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

20. Post-sales
• Revenue and risk management
• Contract Awareness
• Scope management
• Change
• Deliverable and obligations
• Risk management
• Governance
20Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.
NS
Time
Customer
claim /
delivery
failure
Claim /
delivery
Mitigation
NS
Time
Change
requests

21. Content
Brief Introduction
Presentation Context
Quiz
What is contract Management?
Where is it practiced?
Key Take Aways
Questions
21Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

22. Key take aways
• Awareness of the importance of Contract Management function, the value add and
need to improve!
• Contract Management inclusion as a trusted advisor – to avoid pitfalls!
• SJ is on the right track if it is prioritising Contract Management!
22Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

23. Content
Brief Introduction
Presentation Context
Quiz
What is contract Management?
Where is it practiced?
Key Take Aways
Questions
23Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

24. Questions
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25. What makes a contract manager great?
1. Understand the business you are in
2. Know your contract
3. Know what you don’t know
25Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.
• Attention to detail
• Work ethic
• Willingness to collaborate
• See themselves as facilitator
• Able to build trust
• Persuasive

26. What are the major challenges as a Contract Manager, in your
experience?
1. Failure of stakeholders to see the “big picture”
2. Contract management not involved early enough
3. Lack of continuity from pre to post-sales
26Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

27. What is the best way to overcome contractual obstacles, like
price/performance discussions, penalties, delivery problems etc.?
1. Is it realistic to think that you can avoid them?
2. Run towards the problem (not away from it)
3. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst
4. Understand the underlying interests
27Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.

28. Compromise Map
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My way
Your wayNo way
Best way
Compromise
CAUTION: be
careful of getting
stuck in the Sub-
optimal corridor!

29. How to keep good relations between two parties in contracts as ours
with a long term partnership (as in the relation between SJ and it’s
partners)?
1. Partner
2. Trust
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30. Trust Equation
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31. Trust Equation
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Credibility =
* (i.e. I understand, not sympathy i.e. I am sorry)
Know what you are talking about = Words
Intimacy = Genuineness, ability to relate = Empathy*
Reliability = Do what you say you will do = Actions
T =
C + R + I
S
T – Trustworthiness
C – Credibility
R – Reliability
I – Intimacy
S – Self-orientation
Self = Hidden agenda, passion, ambition = Balance

32. More Questions:
1. How to handle disagreements so they don’t grow and become something that’s is
discussed over a long period of time?
2. The importance of additional agreements within a long term partnership?
3. The importance of equal mandate within the contract and the parties?
4. What kind of tools would you use for monitoring a contract like the ones that SJ
has with its partners?
32Copyright © 2016 Matt Burr Dixon. All Rights Reserved.