Contract Challenges #1 – Signed contracts are easily forgotten
So, you have just signed an agreement or a contract. You spent days and days working on it, putting in the final touches and finally getting the signatures on the dotted line.
Time to pat yourself on the back and move on? Actually, no.
What is done with the contract after signing is as important as the actions prior to it – or, from a risk management perspective, post-signing actions might be even more important. If signed contracts are not properly managed, they can even turn into liabilities!
This blog series introduces TOP 5 challenges for post-sign contract management.
Common problem – contracts are seen as passive documents
A lot of time and energy is spent first drafting a contract and then discussing each separate clause with the counterparty. Typically, there’s a lot of back-and-forth and revisions.
Finally, after an intensive negotiation period (and maybe some hefty bills from both parties’ legal teams), a reasonable compromise is reached and it’s time to put some ink on the dotted line.
What happens next to this valuable document? Most probably it is saved in some shared folder, perhaps a printed copy is placed in some binder in the office cabinet. In the very best case, the new contract might even be stored in some document management or CRM system.
However, archiving a contract does not mean that the process is complete. There are often important dates, actions and scenarios in the future directly related to the contract that must be acknowledged by the contract owner.
If your contracts are lying in a shared folder or just as printed copies in some filing cabinet, your contract management process becomes reactive (“oh boy – now this useless SaaS service just automatically renewed for another 12 months”) instead of proactive (“Just got a reminder about that SaaS contract’s autorenewal. Let’s check if we still need it and if not, terminate the contract in good time!”).
How does Zefort solve this challenge?
In Zefort, each contract can have an unlimited number of activities with reminders attached to them. Activity may be about options related to the contract, price check points, termination, autorenewal – pretty much anything.
With activities, you turn your contract management from reactive to proactive.
See how it works:
