Sourcing and Procurement
Improving contract visibility and access with digital solutions
Contracts are the backbone of modern businesses, shaping relationships between different stakeholders and driving operations. Despite written contractual agreements governing most business transactions, many organisations still grapple with inefficient, outdated contract management processes, which can lead to poor contract visibility, compliance failures, missed opportunities, and unnecessary risks. Digital contract management solutions provide a way forward – away from these challenges – transforming how businesses access, track, and manage their contracts.
What is contract visibility, and why is it important?
Contract visibility refers to the ability to access, manage, and analyse contracts easily throughout their lifecycle. It ensures all stakeholders can access critical details, track contract obligations, and make data-driven decisions for enhanced contract management effectiveness. This is about more than just convenience and has strategic significance and can benefit businesses in many ways, including:
- Staying ahead of the contract lifecycle by easily monitoring milestones and progress.
- Boosting compliance and performance by ensuring contracts align with legal and operational standards.
- Unlocking contract intelligence to drive efficiency, make data-driven decisions, and optimise contract outcomes.
- Minimising risks by avoiding errors and reducing exposure to liabilities.
- Savings costs and time through automated processes and better resource allocation.
- Enhancing accessibility to streamline collaboration and improve contract searchability.
- Meeting contract obligations by keeping track of deadlines and ensuring smooth contract execution.
[Understand the Importance of Contract Visibility with Infosys BPM!]
Challenges in ensuring contract visibility
While the benefits of contract visibility are significant, achieving it can be equally challenging, especially when businesses rely on traditional contract management practices. Some of the major obstacles businesses face include:
- Disparate repositories – from physical filing cabinets to siloed email accounts and storage repositories.
- Lack of standardisation in contract formats, language, and metadata.
- Restricted access to critical information.
- Poor-quality or incomplete data.
- Manual processes that are time and resource intensive.
- Increasing contract volume and complexity.
- Errors stemming from lack of version control.
- Limited transparency, accountability, and ownership.
- Resistance to adopting new technologies.
How can digital contract management solutions help improve contract visibility?
The obstacles to ensuring contract visibility can hinder businesses from fully leveraging their contracts as strategic assets. Infosys BPM offers a comprehensive suite of digital contract management solutions that can help businesses overcome these challenges, offering tools and features to streamline contract processes and centralise and optimise contract management. From automating routine workflows to moving towards smart contract management, Infosys BPM can help businesses embrace core components of contract visibility – a centralised repository, metadata management, performance tracking, timely notifications, and robust reporting analytics – to take control of their contract lifecycles.
Here are seven ways digital contract management solutions are helping businesses improve contract visibility and accessibility:
Consolidating all contracts into a single repository
A centralised repository breaks down data silos and eliminates the inefficiencies of scattered documents. All stakeholders can quickly locate and access contracts, fostering collaboration and ensuring effective version control to ensure critical documents are accessible when necessary.
Standardising contract formats and metadata
Consistent templates and metadata management improve clarity and communication in contract management. This also minimises ambiguity, reduces errors, and ensures compliance when it comes to contract execution.
Establishing clear ownership and accountability
Assigning clear roles and responsibilities and establishing tiered access controls in digital contract management solutions establishes ownership and accountability at every stage of the contract lifecycle. This ensures all stakeholders stay aligned with contract goals, fosters transparency, and creates an auditable trail for compliance management.
Automating notifications and alerts
Digital contract management tools can automate notifications and alerts for crucial contract milestones, reducing manual efforts and ensuring companies do not lose sight of any opportunity or obligation.
Integrating seamlessly with CRM and ERP systems
Integrating contract management platforms with existing enterprise systems creates an interconnected ecosystem, streamlining processes, improving data consistency, and promoting proactive contract management.
Conducting regular contract reviews
With periodic contract evaluations, businesses can spot potential issues early and identify opportunities to optimise contract management. This can also ensure the contract remains aligned with evolving business objectives and compliance requirements.
Leveraging advanced analytics and reporting
Digital contract management solutions provide actionable insights through analytics, fostering a data-driven contract management culture. Additionally, automated reporting tools can also help highlight key trends, allowing businesses to adapt and refine their strategies.
Conclusion
Contracts are a powerful asset for modern businesses, but poor visibility and access can often diminish their potential. Digital contract management solutions are changing how businesses handle contracts, fostering a data-driven contract management culture for enhanced efficiency, compliance, and risk management. By leveraging tools like centralised contract repositories, standardised metadata, and automated workflows, businesses can improve contract visibility and turn contract management into a source of strategic advantage.