Let's be honest; contract lifecycle management isn't fun. It can be a long and tedious process that leaves everyone involved with a headache. There are a ton of small, menial tasks required that can gum it up and open the door to mistakes in the contracts or their management. However, do not despair; there is a solution: contract management software.

1. Choosing a
Contract
Management
System
6 things to look for

2. Contract Management
• Contract lifecycle management isn't fun. It can be a long and
tedious process that leaves everyone involved with a headache.
• Contract management software automates all those menial tasks,
reducing human error in many capacities, and simplifies complex
contract workflows.
• There are a lot of companies offering contract management
software.

3. Foundation of Contract Management Software
• A lot of people evaluate contract management software
based who built it, without considering how it was built.
• Contract software built from the ground up tend to be more
expensive and boast a steep learning curve.
• In contrast, contract management software built using
platforms like SharePoint tend to be more affordable and only
require an understanding of the platform.

4. Deployment Times
• A lot of companies boast that their contract management
software will revolutionize contract management for your
company.
• 6-12 months to reach full deployment has occurred, however
4-6 weeks is the most ideal deployment time.
• If deployment is less than about four weeks, perhaps the
quality of the software is low.

5. Deployment Times
• Make sure to see a demo of the contract management
system before making the investment to purchase it for your
organization.
• Also, make sure that your staff gets the appropriate amount of
time to learn the system.
• Learning the system should be a free-of-charge feature of
the contract management system provider.

6. Deployment Pitfalls
• What some contract management system providers don’t tell you is that deploying the
system might take anywhere up to six months to even a year. Even if it’s just two
months, that’s way too long to wait.
• You need contract management software that you can hit the ground running with.
Ideally, you should be looking for contract software that can be deployed in less than
six weeks.
• The sweet spot exists somewhere between the four-to-six week mark. Any longer than
that and it’s too slow.
• Any shorter than that and the system likely isn’t thorough enough to meet your needs.
You could even say that a four-to-six week deployment time is the “goldilocks zone” for
contract management software implementation.

7. Training
• In a perfect world you should be able to jump into a contract
management system and get going. Unfortunately, that’s
generally not going to be the case.
• All contract management software has little idiosyncrasies
that you need to learn.
• Additionally, users in your company are also going to have
varied levels of technological competence

8. Training
• Basically, training is needed from the contract management
system to the users within your organization.
• You should be on the lookout for contract management
software providers that offer free training for their systems.
• It shouldn’t be up to you and your team to puzzle things out.

9. Training
• Further, you’ll want to find a provider that offers free ongoing
training as you’ll inevitably be bringing in new users.
• Companies that offer contract software without training likely
aren’t invested in your ongoing success.
• That’s why you should always look for free, ongoing training
when looking for contract management software.

10. Ease of Use
• The framework of the system should be easy to navigate and
simple to use.
• The training that the contract management system provider
offers should only point out functionality.
• Your users shouldn’t have to hold their nose, chant a magic
phrase, and hop on one leg to get simple things done.

11. Ease of Use
• Contract software that requires a song and dance to use isn’t
going to benefit your company.
• It’s going to do the opposite. A complicated system might put
people off using it.
• They’ll see others struggling with it and not want to even try
learning it. This creates a situation where only a few people
know how to use the system.

12. Ease of Use
• If employees are sick or leave the company you’re left with an
overcomplicated system that’s costing your company money
that no one knows how to use.
• That’s why you should be looking for how easy the system is
to use.

13. Support
• What separates different types of contract software is what
support the provider offers. There are plenty of questions you
need to ask regarding this.
• Do you need to pay for support or is it free?
• When is support available?
• How quickly does the company’s support team get back to
you?

14. Integrations
• Your company is probably using more than just contract
management software. It’s likely you have a whole suite of
tools and platforms you use.
• Having to memorize logins and switch between different
platforms can waste a lot of time over a long period.
• However, contract management software that offers a large
number of tool integrations can help that out.

15. Integrations
• This can help break down any information or document silos and
make contract management a lot easier.
• You can log into a contract management system using one set of
login information and have access to all of your tools within one
platform.
• This saves you time and helps cut down on a lot of the mistakes
that can creep into the contract management process.

16. Conclusion
• These are just some of the things that you’re looking for in
contract management software.
• If you’re looking for a list of features you should look for,
make sure to check out this blog we wrote at the end of 2020.
• It gives a comprehensive view of what to look for in contract
management software.