What Are Contract Lifecycle Management Benefits?

Summary

Contract Lifecycle Management is an enterprise legal management software application delivering a comprehensive approach to managing contracts from initial creation through execution and renewal or termination. The software streamlines the entire contract process throughout drafting, automation, contract negotiation, and execution with centralized oversight, helping organizations reduce risk, improve compliance, and maximize contract value. Many other benefits help legal departments automate workflows and manage terms and conditions.

Key Benefits of Contract Lifecycle Management

Key benefits of contract lifecycle management include:

Reduced Contract Cycle Times

Automation helps the legal team reduce contract processing time from weeks to days. Use of standardized templates automates workflows and eliminates bottlenecks. This is a key benefit of contract lifecycle management software.

AI Tools

Use of extractive AI creates high-level benefits for contract creation with approved clause libraries and templates. AI can be used in approvals, document control and final execution. Contract repositories are accessible via AI tools, making it easier to search for winning contracts, clauses and terms. 

Enhanced Compliance and Risk Management

More regulations affect companies, and legal teams must be apprised of how to comply with each at the state, federal and global levels. Contract lifecycle management enables a centralized contract repository with automated alerts to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and contract terms. Alerts can help stave off potential risks before they become problems.

Analytical Reporting and Improved Visibility

Real-time dashboards contribute to analytical and data-driven reporting with visual graphics. This provides leadership with high-level, complete visibility into contract status, cycle times, compliance obligations, and performance metrics across the entire organization. All of these key benefits rolled into one solution enhance the financial impact to the organization and continuous process improvement. The ability to create instant reporting at any time helps business units understand budgeting and forecasting, among other benefits.

Cost Savings and Revenue Protection

A primary benefit of CLM software in the legal department is the automation of contract renewals. Advance alerts, which can be set for a preferred timeframe, prevent auto-renewals of unfavorable contracts. On the other hand, alerts can be set to track deadlines for future contractual obligations. Adhering to contract terms and conditions requires constant vigilance, especially with a high volume of contracts to manage. Contract lifecycle management software captures this information while ensuring that all revenue opportunities and deadlines are met without penalty.

Renewal and Amendment Management

The alert functionality of the CLM tool is critical for contract renewal and amendment. Set up proactive alerts for renewal dates, automatic renewal prevention for unfavorable terms, and streamlined amendment processes to optimize ongoing contract relationships.

Better Vendor and Supplier Relationships

Enterprise legal management platforms, like LexisNexis CounselLink+, include vendor management applications in the solution. When coupled with the contract lifecycle management application, many processes are streamlined. Clear communication channels between the legal and operations teams and vendors improve collaboration and adherence to contract terms.

Increased Operational Efficiency

Elimination of manual tasks, reduced paperwork, and standardized processes free up legal and procurement teams to focus on strategic activities.

Basic Contract Lifecycle Management Benefits

Every contract requires basic elements to execute a final, approved document. Contract lifecycle management software streamlines these processes and enhances cycle time. Here are some of the basic benefits to watch for:

Contract Authoring

LexisNexis CounselLink+ offers one-click access to the entire LexisNexis ecosystem. Users of the platform get hundreds of standardized templates from LexisNexis Practical Guidance® to use in contract drafting. Moreover, approved clause libraries are accessible, providing reduced drafting time and legal review. The software creates consistent, automated document generation. CounselLink+ features contract drafting conveniently in Office 365. This provides everyone on the legal team with access to the contract as it is being drafted.

Negotiation and Collaboration

Contract redlining and version control contribute to real-time collaboration tools that streamline the back-and-forth negotiation process. Internal stakeholders and external parties reduce the time needed to negotiate and collaborate.

Approval Workflows

Specific stakeholders receive routed contract drafts via the CLM software. Routing is based on various filters, like contract value, risk level, or contract type. Stakeholders review and approve contracts according to established business rules.

Electronic Signature and Execution

Integration with e-signature platforms enables fast, legally binding contract execution while maintaining complete audit trails. CounselLink+ integrates with DocuSign.

Contract Storage and Repository Management

As mentioned above, a centralized, searchable database stores all contracts with metadata tagging, making agreements easy to locate and reference, when needed.

LexisNexis CounselLink+ Integrates Contract Lifecycle Management into ELM Software

The enterprise legal management solution LexisNexis CounselLink+ is integrated with the LexisNexis ecosystem and all LexisNexis products that legal departments subscribe to. Contract lifecycle management integrates in the ELM dashboard within the CounselLink+ environment. Users can author contracts in Office 365 from a single, unified platform. Moreover, in the matter management application, contracts link to matters automatically and save search time for respective contracts associated with matters. AI-driven tools optimize contract workflow and collaborative multi-party engagement. Essentially, legal departments that use CLM integrated with CounselLink ELM software revolutionize operations, collaboration, productivity, and efficiency.

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TL;DR

Contract lifecycle management software transforms contract handling from a manual, time-consuming process into an automated, efficient system. The primary benefits include faster contract cycles, better risk management, improved compliance, cost savings, and enhanced visibility. The core processes span the entire contract journey: creation, negotiation, approval, execution, storage, monitoring, renewal, and analytics. CLM systems, integrated with enterprise legal management solutions, essentially turn contracts from static documents into dynamic business assets that drive value and reduce risk.