If you’ve read my two previous blog posts covering the commissioned Forrester Consulting study conducted on behalf of Pramata, it may feel as if the CLM industry is up against nearly insurmountable challenges – but that’s not the reality. There is a world of opportunities for contract management professionals who can realize the full potential value of their CLM solution. Everyone from one-person in-house counsel teams to enterprise-size legal departments can drive key business outcomes, but their success is directly tied to their CLM technology investments.
One of the key findings from the Forrester Consulting study is: Choosing the right CLM provider can determine the success of your contract management program and adoption rates. So how do you maximize the full strategic value of your CLM solution? To start, your CLM’s primary features must align with key business priorities that sit outside of the legal department
Effective CLM solutions are multidisciplinary
During a recent ALM | Law.com webcast, Alla Valente, a senior analyst at Forrester, joined me as a guest speaker to discuss findings from the Forrester Consulting study. Alla hit the nail on the head when addressing the current opportunities within the CLM space. According to Alla, CLM technology must do more than provide efficiencies: “To guide your business through times of uncertainty – not only helping avoid any missteps but also taking advantage of new opportunities – CLM capabilities must start going beyond tactical efficiency.”
On the webcast, Alla emphasized how CLM solutions should empower legal teams to craft multidisciplinary contracts. In other words, contract management solution capabilities need to shift from focusing only on contract accessibility and efficiency to delivering strategic value across the business, addressing high-priority finance, procurement, and sales goals. This means businesses must look beyond their legal team’s tech needs and consider how a contract management solution can accelerate revenue and realize contract renewal objectives.
The Forrester Consulting study found that, to fit organizational needs completely, 46% of the CLM decision-makers it surveyed expected their CLM solution to deliver “improved adoption across the business” and “improved executive buy-in for CLM programs.” Forty-five percent of the survey respondents expected their CLM technology to help them take advantage of financial opportunities.
“Aligning CLM solutions with business priorities couldn’t be more important.” said Alla during the webcast. “For all organizations, across geographies and across different verticals, increasing revenue is among the top three business priorities. They [business leaders] want to create better customer experiences and be able to serve their customers better, and they want to shift their business to be more digitally enabled.”
Leveraging contract management tools to seize key business opportunities
The economy is putting many businesses in the precarious position of cutting budgets while increasing revenue. The Forrester Consulting study revealed that 71% of CLM decision-makers report greater budget scrutiny on technology investments with 69% saying their organization will likely cut technology budgets this year. As Alla made clear during the webcast, today’s economic climate requires companies of all sizes to center their priorities on increased revenue, improved customer experiences, and enhanced digital capabilities.
The real benefit of contract lifecycle management technology is that it can address all three of these business priorities, enabling contract management teams to be a key driver of the business by identifying measurable revenue opportunities. If your goal is to protect existing revenue while growing new revenue streams, a CLM solution that provides complete visibility into contract data can do both. But to do so, the technology must be easy-to-budget, easy-to-use and include accelerated deployment times so that the solution’s real value is immediately realized.
Gaining complete visibility into your contract data greatly improves business outcomes, helping contract management teams mitigate financial surprises and seize key business opportunities. An effective CLM solution not only offers unparalleled visibility into contract data, but provides enterprise-wide awareness into contract terms, obligations and renewal dates – giving contract management teams the information they need to protect revenue and proactively manage contract renewal activities.
Tighter technology budgets mean more discerning CLM decision-makers
Unfortunately, according to CLM decision-makers, contract management tools keep coming up short. The study found some of the top challenges organizations face regarding their CLM solution: 1.) It is too expensive; 2.) It takes too long to deploy; and 3.) The contract management team struggles with inaccurate/unreliable contract metadata.
Tighter technology budgets mean CLM decision-makers are becoming more discerning when evaluating technology, searching for solutions that deliver on promises quickly. To be sustainable, contract management technology investments must enable the business to pivot when necessary and be more agile to navigate economic uncertainties. A successful contract management solution comes with a shorter time to value, but, more importantly, delivers on its promise to move the business forward – taking into account all stages of the contract lifecycle management process, from pre-signature tasks to post-signature strategies.
Ultimately, your CLM solution must enable your team to do more with less. That’s a big promise but one Pramata has been able to fulfill time and again, helping our clients build solid commercial relationships with their customers, vendors and partners by uncovering hidden opportunities within their contract management programs. Our radically simple approach to contract management allows our customers to overcome common industry challenges – making it possible for in-house counsel teams to get their CLM solution up and running in record team while delivering unparalleled visibility into their contract data
Be sure to download the full findings from the Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Pramata at:
Also, you can watch the ALM | Law.com webcast featuring guest speaker Alla Valente and me at:
The Future of CLM: Realizing the Full Strategic Value of a CLM Solution.
This blog post is the last of a three-part series covering the commissioned Forrester Consulting study conducted on behalf of Pramata: “Are you Maximizing the Strategic Value of Your Contracts? How Leveraging Your Contract Lifecycle Management Technology Drives Organizational Awareness and Holistic Business Value.”
If you haven’t already, be sure to read the first two post in the series:
● The Hard Thing About CLM: Why In-House Counsel Teams Need Radically Simple Solutions
Download the full study now: “Are you Maximizing The Strategic Value Of Your Contracts? How Leveraging Your Contract Lifecycle Management Technology Drives Organizational Awareness and Holistic Business Value”
