Switching from spreadsheets and other manual contract management solutions to software can be a powerful change agent for organizations. An end-to-end contract management software solution can help you to eliminate bottlenecks, reduce the risk of missing important contractual milestones, and help your organization realize the full benefits of its agreements.

Though they’re designed to reduce risk and maximize profit and opportunities, it takes more than just signing and then filing away a contract to realize these benefits. Poorly-managed contracts can be time-consuming, creating backlogs and bottlenecks for legal teams. They can also be expensive: according to the International Association of Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM), nearly 40 percent of contracts don’t deliver the financial benefits they were intended to. On the flip side, IACCM also found that good contract management can help businesses grow their bottom lines by nearly 10 percent annually.

In recent years the rise of cloud-based technologies in corporate culture has become undeniable, and by now, it should be clear that legal departments need to take full advantage of technology in order to maximize their productivity and efficiency.

Companies actively engaged in the contracting process must become familiar with requests for proposal (RFP), as many businesses and particularly government agencies utilize these documents to solicit contracting partners. The key to winning many government contracts, which can prove to be quite lucrative especially for smaller businesses, is putting together a strong response to an agency’s RFP. Here are some tips for understanding a typical RFP for a contract bid:

Drafting a strong, airtight non-disclosure agreement is a crucial skill when working with an outside partner. Good NDAs ensure that your innovations, secrets, designs and data will remain confidential, even when shared with someone external to your company.

Most business transactions, including the execution of a contract with another firm, subject a company to risk. With contracts in particular, there is always the risk that one side to the agreement will not perform as stipulated, causing a great deal of harm or loss to the other side. Although there is no way to completely eliminate the risk associated with contracting, there are certainly a number of steps that companies can take to mitigate the likelihood, as well as the impact, of a breach or other misfortune. Here are the top tips for successful contract risk management:

Contracting is one of those necessary albeit rather pesky aspects of running a business. The contracting process can be a seemingly never-ending cycle of negotiating, drafting, and re-negotiating, and the ongoing management of a company’s contract portfolio requires constant oversight. Granted, there are some one time contracts that are quickly executed and perfectly performed, but those are likely the exception rather than the rule. One of the reasons that contracts even exist is to help ensure that parties perform as stipulated and to provide for recourse in the all too likely event that something does go wrong. Although there is a growing movement to rely on outcome-oriented contracts, the primary focus during negotiations and drafting continues to be risk mitigation and allocation. For this reason, here are five contract terms business leaders must know:

For many companies, providing goods and services to other firms by virtue of a contractual relationship is central to the heart of their business, and it is often quite lucrative. Of course, companies cannot always make their products or provide their services without the help of subcontractors. Companies with a high volume of contracts often enter into subcontracting agreements with other firms to manufacture goods or deliver services in a faster, cheaper, and/or more efficient manner.

Companies of all sizes enter into contracts for various reasons. These contracts may exist with individuals and firms who are external to the company, but they may also exist internally between the company and its own subsidiaries or employees. Certain types of contracts are routinely executed, whereas other kinds of contracts are only needed every now and then or perhaps even just one time during a company’s existence. Although some businesses are likely familiar with the usual suspects, for those who are still learning the ropes, here is a rundown of some of the most common business contract types:

Most companies likely conduct a majority of their affairs in a virtual manner, with less and less reliance on the need for physical copies of forms and documents. Although some industries or firms may still prefer an inked signature on the final version of an important contract, there is really no reason to mandate this outdated practice anymore. With the right cloud-based contract management solution, it can be faster, cheaper, and safer to manage a company’s contract portfolio. And, this is not restricted to just drafting or saving a batch of contracts but includes the signature phase of the contracting lifecycle as well. Here are five reasons to use electronic signatures for contract management: