3 Ways to Handle Contracts More Effectively in Business

Companies in industries ranging from biotech to healthcare to manufacturing need to keep track of what could be thousands of contracts annually. Whether it’s sourcing parts from across the globe or staying on top of strict regulations, there’s a lot of paperwork. Every “i” has to be dotted and every “t” crossed, or you could irreparably bungle the whole deal.

Contract management used to involve a lot of file cabinets and sending the intern to dig up the correct manila folder. It required keeping physical records meticulously up to date in the event of a dispute or compliance incident. It meant a lot of repetitive tasks and headaches, especially for a company’s legal team.

But with modern technology, it’s much easier to handle your contracts and access the information you need. The right tools can help you stay compliant, prevent fraud, and save hours of mundane admin. Plus, digitizing your contracts is much better for the environment than sticking to paper. Here are three tools your business should consider for a smoother, simpler, and greener contract-handling process.

1. Contract Management Software

Contract management software includes a range of different capabilities that can support the contract lifecycle. It’s a way for companies to obtain signatures, store contracts, make them searchable, track dates, automate workflows, and ensure compliance. Such solutions keep all contracts in a central, digitized location to avoid retrieval delays or other issues.

The best contract management also offers extra features and benefits. It can alert the user when a contract is due to renew or expire. This can keep you from getting locked into a renewal or losing out on a deal. It can integrate seamlessly with other software your company uses, such as your CRM and business intelligence tools.

The best contract management solutions take advantage of advanced artificial intelligence and natural language processing. These evolving technologies can be helpful at every stage of the contract management lifecycle. For instance, AI can assist users by drafting contracts and making suggestions during writing. It can also use pattern and anomaly detection to flag errors, risks, or legal deviations. In some cases, AI can also use natural language processing to let users search contracts for important “legalese” information using colloquial search terms.

If you’re choosing contract management software, make sure the program is appropriate for your business. This will depend a lot on the industry you’re in and the other software your company uses. The right program should be intuitive and require little if any training for your team members. It should also be simple for users outside the organization to utilize and understand.

2. Electronic Signature Tools

If your company’s contract management needs are more minimal, you could opt for a simple electronic signature platform. While not as fully featured as contract management software, these solutions do away with outdated paper contracting procedures. That’s no small thing, as some companies still expect clients and partners to print forms, sign them, and scan them back into a computer. Nobody wants this — it’s a terrible waste of time and resources, and it signals to prospective clients you’re out of touch.

Electronic signature tools, on the other hand, offer much more convenience and security to every party involved. Traceable and searchable, e-signature histories can make it much simpler to track and look up records. They can also make it much easier to conduct business internationally because of the much faster turnaround time for signing.

E-signature programs typically have many measures in place to prevent the risk of fraudulent activity. For instance, an electronic signature program may keep track of when and by whom a document was opened and viewed. They can include a tamper-evident digital seal, with technology that alerts users if a document is opened again after signing.

Most e-signature platforms use multiple methods to verify the identity of anyone opening and signing a document. They may ask users to upload a government-issued photo ID, require multifactor authentication, or associate signatures with users’ bank accounts. Some programs can even use geolocation to track where a document was signed, to further reduce the risk of fraud.

3. Translation Solutions

If you’re conducting business in multiple countries, you’ll need systems in place for securely storing and transmitting contracts overseas. And if you deal with contracts in multiple languages, you’ll need contract software with advanced translation capabilities. But this is one feature that even some of the most advanced contract management programs don’t always include.

Translation is complex, and many AI translation programs can’t handle metaphors, local expressions, or intentionally misused grammar. The best ones are highly specialized and require huge chunks of data for continual training and processing. That’s why the good systems aren’t typically rolled in with other types of business software.

In many cases, you’ll still need human oversight to make sure your AI translations are accurate. Nevertheless, it could pay to invest in software that takes on some of the work of translating. Depending on the type and complexity of contracts you work with, you could choose a contract-specific translation program. Or you could work with a generalized AI language translation platform.

There are some online platforms that use a mix of AI and human translation for your documents. You’ll need to be selective with this, though, especially if you’re working with any kind of sensitive data. When choosing software for your contracting needs, always work with a trusted and verified provider.

Smarter, Better, Faster, Stronger

As technology continues to improve across the board in all business sectors, more and more practices become obsolete. What once could’ve taken weeks can now be completed with a few clicks. But in contract management, as in every other function, the best outcomes typically result from a partnership between humans and technology. Tools should assist but not replace knowledgeable professionals in the contract management lifecycle.