All contracts go through a cycle from request to creation, approval, negotiation, signature and onboarding (or put-away). From there the cycle continues as the contract is managed, goods/services are delivered, payment is made, and, at last, contracts are renewed or terminated.

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) of the European Union became effective on May 25, 2018. Organizations inside and outside the EU should comply by that date, but many are still getting there. Reaching and remaining in GDPR compliance is an ongoing responsibility that affects an organization’s contractual commitments. Here is an overview.

Automation of your contract management process brings improvements in efficiency and effectiveness. It also helps you document them with better reporting. Here are three examples.

A contract playbook lists the terms and conditions of a contract type and provides clear guidance to negotiators for defending these provisions, offering variations of these provisions, or holding fast to the provisions as non-negotiable. Playbooks also give negotiators instant access to a plain language rationale for the organization’s use of a given clause and when to escalate an issue to a legal or business approver.

Contract managers are pressed on several fronts. As professionals, they need to uphold the contracting standards of their organization across dozens of agreement types. As workers in a busy department, they need to produce agreements efficiently. And as the primary contact for business users who need contracts to do their jobs, they are asked more often than they’d like: When will my contract be ready?

Every contract carries with it some risk of noncompliance, but contract management software can reduce that risk significantly.

While instant results are wonderful, most good business decisions require delayed gratification. Profits are always down the road, new hires need weeks to get up to speed, improved workflows take time to kick in. You may feel that change is always a slow and bumpy process. If so, you will be surprised by the immediate positive effects that contract management software has on your operation. This investment gives you valuable results as soon as it is installed. The right software program will deliver three easy wins that promptly improve your business while easing your professional burdens.

For some business people, dealing with contracts is an unappealing part of the production, sales or fulfillment process. The real job begins, they feel, when the contracts are signed. In reality, contract management before signing must be a priority because nothing works well if this aspect of the deal is not in order.

If your organization is using a contract management system, you have probably addressed the use cases that led you to adopt it. You have a repository for contracts so that they are no longer lost. You have forms and workflows that create contracts and guide them through finance and legal for approval. You are associating your contracts with related documents such as statements of work, licenses, certificates of insurance, amendments, and addenda.

Advanced contract management software makes running your business easier, at least in theory. If you are at the shopping stage, one of those “theoreticals” is the choice between software in the cloud (SaaS or Software as a Service) and software installed on premise. Either mode of delivery can give you a program that improves risk management, compliance, and contract quality. Below are five points to consider.