Minimizing human error when managing contracts for your company can save both time and money. Cutting down on this wasted time allows your employees to spend their time on other more important tasks, helping both you and your company succeed.
Contract Management 101
Contract management is exactly what it sounds like, managing the paperwork. It starts with creating and executing contracts, and eventually leads to renewal or termination. As contracts can stand for years on end and include some important legal information, it’s a good idea to have them well-organized and easily accessible. Traditional contract management usually includes a filing cabinet, endless hours of sorting through stacks of paper, and time-consuming tasks like looking for hidden mistakes. Luckily, in the modern world we have options for better contract management.
The best of these new options is converting your business to an online system. Management softwares designed specifically for contract management is a great tool that can help your business stay both organized and efficient. While it may not seem like a necessity if your business has been using the traditional management ways for a long time, it can help cut down on repetitive tasks and human error.
Why is Contract Management Important?
Contracts are the foundation of any business, they allow deals and exchanges to be conducted safely and accurately whether that be between other businesses or simply with the customers you serve. Good contract management is important for any business. While that may seem like a big generalization, the problems you may be encountering now with human error, organization issues, and so much more could easily be cut down simply by modernizing your management system.
Take a second to think about the time your company may spend on one contract.
The process likely goes something like this: first you need to tackle contract creation, maybe that includes changing some things to fit your customers specific needs, or maybe that means drafting a completely new contract. Once that is out of the way you may find that this contract needs to be negotiated or changed. Afterwards, the contract goes through an approval process that may include collecting signatures and more. Once all of that is completed then comes the long-term management. How long will this contract stand? Will you need to go through any renewal processes at some point? What if you or your customer wants to negotiate the contract again? Maybe it includes monitoring or termination.
That single contract has quickly turned into quite the task that likely required people with expertise in finance, legal issues, etc. While from a distance it may seem like a simple thing, contract management can be pretty overwhelming and costly if done incorrectly. A simple wording issue or mistake can end up costing your business a lot of money. That’s why we recommend using the tools you have at your disposal. Software designed for contact management takes all of those little things and puts them into one, easily accessible place. Additionally, good contract management software can have some pretty helpful add-ons that can cut down on wasted time and human error.
What is Contract Management Software?
Contract management software is a new and innovative way to manage your contracts completely online. You can think of it as a fully digital filing cabinet that not only allows your business to stay organized but also much more efficient. Many of these softwares include features like electronic signatures, work orders, reminders, personalized contracts, and so much more. These features allow your business to streamline the management process while minimizing human error through set check ins and reminders. Ensuring compliance and keeping strong business relationships has never been easier.
Whether your business tackles complex contracts or is simply looking for an effective contract management system, odds are that adding one of these softwares to your business will greatly help your overall success. Some important features to look out for in your search can include:
- Credit Card Payments
- Custom add ons
- Customizable Dashboard
- Good Payment Features
- Electronic Signature
- Additional Software Integration
- Good Reporting Features
- Work Order Management
10 Benefits of Contract Management Software
Contract management software comes with many awesome benefits to help your company succeed. Some of our favorite are:
1. Standardizing your Contracts
Standardizing your contracts can help cut down on wasted time spent on creating new contracts for every customer, or having to tweak existing contracts available to you. With softwares like ServicePad you can create customized contracts that can be saved for future use. Software allows your business to personalize every contract with a few clicks rather than rewriting and checking contracts for every customer you handle. Additionally, this feature can help cut down on human error that might occur with sending out the wrong version of a contract or forgetting to format it based on a specific customer.
2. Streamlining the Approval Process
With management software you can stop wasting time trying to figure out who needs to approve what and when. Instead, software allows signed contracts to glide through the approval workflow and be sent directly to your approval team for speedy and error free approval. This saves both company and customers time, making for a happy and successful business.
3. Set Contract Alerts
Sometimes remembering to do everything that has accumulated on your task list can be hard, and you may forget. To avoid this from happening, management softwares comes with alert features that automatically remind you of tasks that need to be completed. Whether that be checking in on contract compliance or renewing with a customer, it’s now easier than ever to remember but also complete those tasks quickly with your online system.
4. Electronic Signatures
This may seem like a small thing, but think of all of the people that have been required to sign a contract at some point in time for your business. It adds up quickly. With e-signing technology software like ServicePad minimizes the time you may waste tracking people down for something as small as a signature. Not only is it safe and secure, but it allows you to speed up the approval process for both your employees and customers. If someone isn’t quite ready to sign, there is always the option to send a delayed signing form.
5. Data Syncing and Reporting
Keeping up to date with the success of your business is crucial to success. Luckily, management softwares usually comes with reporting features that can keep you up to date on all things numbers. From inventory to contracts, the reporting featured offer can give you a comprehensive look at your company all on one page. Additionally, most softwares comes with secure data syncing and storage in the cloud that keeps your business and contract safe. The risk of losing all of your paperwork in an accident has been reduced to zero thanks to technology and the security of the cloud.
6. Customer Relations
Management software improves business-to-customer relationships by forming an easy-to-access bridge for communication and problem resolution. With these softwares employees can easily stay up to date on pending contracts, questions, work orders, and so much more. Enhancing this relationship will not only make things run smoother, but also give your customers more satisfaction with their experience with your company.
7. Minimizing Human Error
As we talked about earlier, human error is a natural consequence of mountains of paperwork. While some mistakes may be able to fly under the radar, some can be incredibly costly to your company. Using management softwares to help eliminate these errors can guarantee that you not only run into fewer problems in the future, but also save time and money. Since these softwares come with customizable templates, it’s easy to catch a mistake when something is missing. Additionally, you can use set contracts for your customers which can ensure there are no typos or issues with contract terms or signatures.
8. Seamless Integrations
Integrations are ways to customize your interface with add ons that can help your business specifically. Integrations can include anything from 3-D modeling to inventory management and so much more. Many softwares, like ServicePad, have been designed to work with a plethora of other services to better help your business succeed, regardless of the tools you need. These integrations can further help you save time and money, while also proving to your customers that you are there for them.
9. Quickly Capture Sales
With a safe and secure point of sales system contract management software can help you complete more sales at a faster rate. Cutting down on time a customer has to spend thinking about a purchase before completion means that more of those sales will reach the end point. Additionally, a strong POS system ensures that your customers never have to worry about security with their purchases. With ServicePad tax integrations allows for you employees to never have to worry about calculated state-specific sales tax again, as the software does it accurately automatically based on location and legal requirements.
10. Save Time and Money
In any business setting, your time means everything. By switching over to a contract management software your company can condense time-consuming tasks into one easy-to-use area, allowing your team to spend their time on more important things. Not only can this help you save money, but these softwares can help you grow as a business, build stronger relationships with your customers, and have an overall better workflow.
Improve Your Contract Management Process with ServicePad!
To streamline your business using ServicePad simply reach out to our team here and we will help you through every step of the process until your company is running efficiently to reach its goals. We look forward to providing your company with superior contracts and seamless management systems.
You can schedule a demo or get started immediately. If you have questions, our excellent team of support staff is here to help. For general inquiries, you can access our helpdesk or call us directly at (888) 618-1315.
