Despite vendors promising the world, it can be difficult to find a software solution that truly meets your needs and falls within your budget. And once you’ve found it, how do you convince your boss it’s worth the investment?
These are the questions our guide answers. Download it now, or keep reading for a sneak peak of what we cover.
The challenges of being a lean legal team or solo general counsel
Your small-but-mighty legal department may be composed of just yourself. Or, you might have a paralegal or contract specialist to make a team of two or even three. If you’re really lucky, you might even have another attorney working alongside you. Regardless of your team’s exact makeup, we know running lean means everyone is wearing a bunch of hats.
Some common challenges include:
- Spending your time searching for contracts or digging through them to answer questions for others instead of doing high-value legal work.
- Limited resources to efficiently draft, review and negotiate contracts often leads to outsourcing to expensive outside law firms.
- Lean-running companies or more recent budget cuts can mean you lack a dedicated contract manager or team of paralegals to help you lighten your load.
If you can’t hire more in-house legal staff and you want to avoid excess expenses for outside law firms, you might turn to a contract management system for help. In doing so, you might find these systems aren’t built to solve your unique challenges, and in fact, may bring new challenges of their own.
Why most contract management systems aren’t right for lean legal teams
For lean legal teams and solo GCs, traditional contract management software can be expensive, complex, and difficult to use, which kills any hope of internal adoption. Many of the included features are either not applicable or are overkill for your needs. And the implementation process is a heavy lift or requires outside resources to complete.
Often, the software comes with bells and whistles that you don’t need but will still have to pay for, which makes the cost out of reach for lean teams with tight budgets. All in all, it can be a struggle to find a contract management system well-suited to your unique needs as a lean legal team. What you need is a radically simple solution that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
You want a contract management system built for lean legal teams, now what?
When you’re ready to invest in a contract management system, the first step is understanding your requirements and the software’s capabilities. What are the essential pain points this system has to solve? If you’re looking at a system that can do dozens of other things but doesn’t excel at your primary pain points, it’s not the right one for you.
We suggest comparing vendors to make sure you’re choosing one that’s made with legal teams like yours in mind. Here’s how the solo general counsel at FoodSmart changed the game with Pramata.
Next, start building your business case by aligning your goals with the larger organization’s needs. When investing in any kind of technology solution, it’s important to create a business case that speaks to what matters to your organization and shows how this investment will benefit both your team and the whole company.
Download this Guide to Getting Budget & Buy-In for Your Unique Needs
Looking for a roadmap to getting the contract management system you want?
We’ve created this guide to help you get buy-in from your organization by walking you through the process and demonstrating the cost of not taking action. Get started on your journey to contract nirvana today with the Lean Legal Team’s Guide to Getting Budget & Buy-In for Your Unique Needs.
