Category: Business Process Management

The Sourcing Manager’s Contract Conundrum

Posted on October 22, 2012 by - Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

file000661441636Sourcing managers know: Contracts are the foundation of business. They spend a majority of their time reviewing, negotiating, shepherding and gaining approval for pieces of paper that will ultimately help their companies drive down costs, create beneficial alliances and reduce risk.

They handle full portfolios of contracts that range from pending to finalized to executed and work with numerous departments within the company to attain final approval – that’s no small numbers of important negotiations to keep tabs on. One mistake can seriously jeopardize progress, costs and projects.

So why would a sourcing manager rely on email or spreadsheets to handle such an important task? Manual processes = more risks.

With the right software, a sourcing manager can gain greater visibility into a contract portfolio which means:

– Enhanced insight into total time for approval

– Iron-clad audit trains to support compliance

– Establishment of a proven process to manage risk

– On-demand status reports of all outstanding contracts

Here’s how one sourcing manager accomplished this.

How a Simple App Can Increase Sales Revenue

Posted on October 15, 2012 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

Anyone who grew up watching PBS or has kids will probably recognize the Sesame Street jingle “One of these things is not like the others.” The song preceded a visual of several things and the adults would dare the muppets to find the one that doesn’t match.

So here’s our own version of One of These Things is Not like the Other:

  1. Lawyer: I love contracts.
  2. Sourcing manager: I love contracts.
  3. Salesperson: I love contracts.

Did you spot the item that doesn’t belong? Here’s a hint: It isn’t a lawyer or sourcing manager.

Sure, contracts mean the completion of a successful sales effort and a new client. But most sales people would argue that they’d prefer to be working towards new contracts as opposed to being mired in the administration-level efforts of tracking the progress of several existing ones, coordinating with internal stakeholders and pounding the pavement for the most updated copy.

That’s where Onit comes in. With the Onit ReviewAI and Approval App, sales managers can easily get a contract reviewed and approved. This means:

  1. A quicker sales cycle
  2. Automated handling of review and approval from inception to close
  3. Advanced and automated notice for contract renewals
  4. Enhanced insight into contract performance and intelligence
  5. Improved communications with clients and external parties throughout the process

Let’s see how this sales manager did it.

How Excel and Outlook Kill Contract Transparency for Legal

Posted on July 20, 2012 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

When corporate legal departments shut down at night, I bet Excel and Outlook catch up. They poke their iconized heads out of computer screens, look both ways, step out slowly and start gossiping. The conversation probably goes something like this:

Excel: Did you see my latest spreadsheet? One thousand lines tracking the contract for the new client. I’m working on blinding the attorney cell by cell.

Outlook: Totally saw that in her in-box. Five hundred emails about it and counting!


[Cue the maniacal laugh from them both.]

So maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, but if you’re a lawyer in a corporate legal department this conversation may strike a chord. You may spend all day drafting, negotiating and executing licensing and contract agreements. Hey, it’s your job to minimize risk and exposure. You turn to the tools to help you accomplish this and coordinate with the necessary departments to finalize the contracts be it sales, IT, HR, sourcing etc. But while it is natural to turn to everyday tools such as Excel, Outlook or even a collaborative tool, your old friends may fail you when it comes to handling this process.

For one, they’re not efficient. Chances are you’ve seen an uptick in the amount of contracts coming in the door. And chances are your company has had staff reductions. Doing more with fewer resources demands that the correct tools are introduced for efficiency’s sake. What tools are you currently using for contract review? Do they help eliminate confusions such as which version is the most current or if it reflects the customer’s requirements? Can you easily pinpoint where you are in the process?

Also consider that manual processes can’t provide contract transparency. Less transparency equals greater risk. The review process is often too complex in today’s corporations to be accurately recorded with manual processes. This means important questions such as “Where is that contract?, “How long has it been there?” and “Is the correct party reviewing it?” – are difficult to answer. Manual processes, such as tracking with email or spreadsheets, break down the contract automation and management process. This means your company is vulnerable to more risks for errors and control gaps that slow down or sideline contract review.

So what tool do you need? Is it time to go to enterprise systems?

Not so fast. That’s a natural progression of thought, but remember that enterprise solutions are often hard to alter or update, normally don’t scale well and require extensive dependence on IT. With the best of intentions that enterprise solutions offer, often its characteristics impede the process more than aid it.

So what’s the right-sized solution for this challenge? Let’s see what Susan has done.

You are not an ENTERPRISE!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

An enterprise, according to Wikipedia is defined as follows: 

“A business (also known as enterprise or firm) is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers.[1] Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit or state-owned. A business owned by multiple individuals may be referred to as a company, although that term also has a more precise meaning.”

Clearly, you are NOT an Enterprise! You likely “work” for an enterprise though, and probably find yourself using “enterprise class” software to do your job, such as:

        • Enterprise application integration
        • Enterprise architecture
        • Enterprise automation
        • Enterprise cloud services 
        • Enterprise compliance management
        • Enterprise content management
        • Enterprise customer relationship management
        • Enterprise legal management
        • Enterprise management software
        • Enterprise resourcing planning
        • Enterprise risk management

Having been built to solve enterprise problems though, many of these systems simply get in the way of the work you have to do and in many cases even create more work.  As a professional trying to get a job done, you likely end up defaulting to email, documents and spreadsheets to manage and keep track of your work. Think about a lawyer whose job is to negotiate contracts.

 

describe the imageThis lawyer spends all day drafting and negotiating licensing agreements and other transactions critical to her company. The enterprise depends upon her to minimize risk and exposure. Her clients, the people she works with, need her to turn work around quickly.

She’s good at her job, is a consummate professional and doesn’t need a lot of help, but it seems crazy that she doesn’t have a simple system that helps her keep track of all the work she’s responsible for, a system that lets everybody she works with know what she’s working on and when to expect it. 

Although the work she does is critical to the lifeblood of the enterprise, any enterprise tool she’s seen doesn’t really help her do it! They tend to be way too complicated and try to do too way too much. I guess it’s not surprising given the years of design and implementation spent to produce these comprehensive “best of breed” solutions. 

In truth, to get her job done, she doesn’t need “best of breed.” She needs something far simpler than an enterprise contract management system, but significantly “better than email.”

She simply wants a tool for the way she works so she can stay on top of work, keep her colleagues informed and update her boss about her workload and priorities.

You are NOT an enterprise and do NOT have to use enterprise tools to deliver quality service to your colleagues and customers.

Learn how an Onit App can be customized to suit your needs – the enterprise of one.

5 Key Benefits of Process Management

Posted on December 16, 2011 by - Business Process Management

In many paper-based offices and departments, process management is defined as just having a system in place: emails, task-list spreadsheets, or even interoffice envelopes that float back and forth between departments.  Some more forward-thinking companies will implement a task list that lets a manager assign items to staff, but overall, it requires a lot of manual input and is not intuitive – and when a new task comes in, the manager and staff scramble to assign it and account for it.  Technology can take the pain out of this process – particularly a system that allows for automatic routing of tasks and creates accountability.  Here are just five ways investing in the technology can streamline difficult processes:

    1. Creates a front office for legal departments. In an organization with a legal department, there is no receptionist, unlike private law firms.  No one is taking messages with information on new cases; often, an email will be sent to someone in the legal department, and work will be expected to commence.  That person may be out of the office or may have to reroute the work.  With process management, that work gets routed automatically.  For example, general counsel may need to review contracts for over $1 million, which the sales department may NOT know.  Process management alerts the general counsel to the need and allows her to get right to work, rather than have it routed through a more junior attorney.
    2. Enables legal departments to track and account for work. In the traditional paper- and email-based project management world, it’s very hard to account for who is doing what.  This leads to confusion and wasted time.  With process management, each task is accounted for by assigning it to the person best suited for the job – which you define.  There is no more of this “I thought Susie was handling the discovery requests.”  Now you know that Bob is responsible, and Bob can update the team of the requests’ status easily.
    3. Enables legal departments to budget for work. In today’s economy, budgets are at the forefront of law offices and legal departments.  For law offices looking at alternative fee arrangements, process management can help them better estimate flat-fee agreements and ensure that they are staying on budget by tracking the hours spent working on matters.  (Yes, it seems counter-intuitive to a flat fee arrangement, but tracking hours is the best way to gauge how much to charge.)
    4. Improves efficiency. This goes back to tracking and accounting for work: a good system definitely improves efficiency across the business.  It automatically assigns tasks and allows the requestor to track how the task is progressing, eliminating the need for multiple emails, phone calls, or trips to the department to get updates.
    5. Allows insight into performance. Let’s face it, the sales force or marketing department isn’t quite sure what goes on behind the curtain of the legal department.  They only know that they need a contract created or a subpoena answered, and Nervous Nellies may call repeatedly.  “Where’s my contract?”  With a process management system, Nellie can check on the status of the contract.  “Oh, it’s gone to General Counsel,” she’ll realize.  “That might take a few hours.”  And she’ll get back to what she does best – selling the company’s product or service – while she waits for the contract.

If you’re considering how technology can improve your processes, don’t hesitate to examine some of the systems out there.  They can improve efficiency and increase internal customer satisfaction, something that can’t be measured.

Driving Value with Legal Technology

Posted on December 7, 2011 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

 
Today’s economy is about doing more with less, period. For corporate legal departments, that means keeping as much work as possible in-house, justifying the use of outside counsel, and managing resources as efficiently as possible. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s (ACC) 2011 Chief Legal Officer Survey revealed that CLOs are affected by this reality, and at the same time, they want to improve their relationships with outside counsel and within their own legal departments.
Technology can be the string that ties these goals of so many CLOs together. It can seamlessly pull together the in-house legal department and outside counsel, as well as streamline processes and keep work in-house – without the legal department staff being buried under piles of work.

Collaborating with the in-house legal department

Unless the legal department consists of one attorney and one paralegal, it’s nearly impossible to know who is working on what at any given time. But technology can change that – a process management system can show, with one click, which attorney is working on the $500,000 contract that Sue from Sales just requested, or which paralegal is compiling documents in response to a subpoena. Tasks can be assigned – and tracked, something that doesn’t happen when emails are forwarded and discovery requests are left in someone’s inbox. CLOs can more easily delegate and manage projects, as well as track the project’s budget.

Freeing up administrative time

Technology also adds value by freeing up “administrative” time – time spent managing to-do lists, emailing colleagues for status updates, or answering emails and phone calls about matters. With a good software package, legal departments can streamline these processes, leaving more time for legal work and less time for distractions – which can mean doing more work in-house, instead of engaging outside counsel.

Justifying outside counsel

Every legal department grapples with outside counsel costs. Most CLOs are getting pressured to keep these costs down, but outside counsel is still necessary in many scenarios. However, the large legal bills for things like phone calls ($50 for a five-minute call with lead counsel on a matter for a status update) are frustrating. Using technology can increase collaboration with outside counsel and allow CLOs to view the status of matters without having to make phone calls, similar to how they can easily view the status of in-house matters. This kind of money-saver adds up, and anything that adds up to more savings pleases the number-crunchers.

It’s no surprise that, for CLOs, it’s all about value, and technology is one of the most important parts of getting the most value from not only their own legal departments but also from outside counsel. With the right technology, it’s possible to do more with less and improve relationships both inside and outside the legal department.

Why You Need a Process Management Tool to Automate Ethics & Compliance Data

Posted on November 1, 2011 by - Business Process Management, Enterprise Legal Management

Ethics and compliance should never be afterthoughts, but all too often in today’s hurried business climate, they get pushed on the back burner. In this day and age of doing more with less, ethics and compliance become another burden, one that is all too easy to just do the bare minimum with to keep operations running. But with the rise of scandals and sanctions bubbling to the surface, no company can afford to ignore them, lest they become the next Enron or Tyco.

One reason why companies may choose to do the bare minimum is because of the time and expense traditionally associated with ethics and compliance. However, with an easy-to-use legal process management tool, ethics and compliance requests can be easily submitted and managed, making the process easier, faster, and cost-effective.

Here’s how a good process management system would work for ethics and compliance: the form would sit on the company’s intranet. Any employee would be able to submit requests online, using a fully customizable form. The request could be done anonymously, not requiring the employee’s name and email address. All data would be captured at the source and populated by the company’s system of record. Depending on the type of request selected in the drop-down menu, it would be routed efficiently to the appropriate attorney and could be dealt with accordingly. The requestor could even attach documents that would help the legal department investigate the matter, such as expense reports that seem doctored or suspicious emails.

Compliance and ethics could be simple, economical, and speedy. By adding an online form, companies can enhance existing ethics hotline programs, or do away with the hotline altogether. Whistleblowers would still have complete privacy and anonymity when they submit their requests, protecting them from retaliation and backlash. Best of all, the request would be sent to the attorney best suited for dealing with the request, eliminating the need to send emails or involve a middleman. The attorney could get right to work on the matter, reviewing attached documents and formulating a plan of action, eliminating any lag time that might tip off a violator.

Extending legal process management to ethics and compliance is the next logical step in the “doing more with less” environment. It eliminates the need for a call center to collect data, allows attorneys to begin working on the matter immediately, and protects the anonymity of whistleblowers. Customizable forms make it easy to tailor the information collection process to a company’s particular needs.

Ethics and compliance don’t need to be complicated, and by using legal process management tools, they don’t have to be. Ethics and compliance can become a natural, integral part of the business process, thereby ensuring that companies avoid scandals, sanctions, and PR nightmares by promptly investigating issues.

The screen shot below shows a dialog box an employee would fill out to report an ethics violation or compliance request. In the example below, the violation was a breach of confidentiality. Once the employee submits the request, it is automatically routed to the appropriate attorney in the legal department.

 
Ethics screen shot 1024x720 resized 600

For more information on how to automate your ethics and compliance requests, contact us today for a demo.

Five Must-Have Features of Legal Process Management Software

Posted on October 18, 2011 by - Business Process Management

When considering a legal process management software package, a lot of companies get overwhelmed by the features available. On one hand, it is very important the software is robust enough to truly automate processes that previously were done manually. On the other hand, there are key features that every organization needs the software to have in order for the legal department to function at its highest productivity level. Here are five must-have features:

    1. Process Automation. Legal process management software needs to be able to automate different processes. Manual process management wastes time that can be spent on legal work, but by automatically routing tasks to the correct person in the legal department and creating an easy-to-follow to do list, the right software will reduce the chance that something will get lost in an email inbox.
    2. Customization. Every company or organization’s legal department is different and handles different types of matters/projects. One size fits all solutions do not take that into account, and they force the legal department to rethink their processes – something that will slow down the legal department and be met with resistance. By choosing software that can create custom legal forms, the legal department has control over the software, not the other way around.
    3. Legal Front Office Features. In an organization, the legal department is part of the back office. It does not have a receptionist to route calls or deliver documents dropped off at the front desk. A legal process management software package should have a front office interface that other departments within the organization can call, perhaps on the company intranet, to request legal work, such as contract review or drafting.
    4. Collaboration. The legal process itself is full of collaboration, and the legal process management software should be no different. The package needs to allow the department requesting the legal services to see where the legal team is on the project, as well as allow the legal team to update the requestor.
    5. Resource Management. Some tasks can be delegated, and some should go directly to more senior members of the legal department. The software should be able to simplify how the legal work is initiated within the department by routing the tasks appropriately. For example, a variable specified in the software could route contract requests over $1 million directly to a general counsel, while a simpler contract review could be automatically sent to a more junior member of the team.

In the end, the software package chosen should allow the legal department to interact seamlessly with the rest of the organization so that the sales force does not worry about contracts not being prepared and the legal department does not have to search for work or re-route tasks within the department. These five features ensure that the right processes are automated and that the entire organization, not just the legal department, can work collaboratively and increase productivity.

How to Turbo Charge Your Legal and Business Processes Using Technology

Posted on October 14, 2011 by - Business Process Management

In the current climate of “doing more with less,” many organizations have seen layoffs across multiple departments, leaving those still standing to shoulder more responsibility with less assistance. Organizations that are still relying on the old methods of communicating and sharing work should consider project management software, a way to collaborate across departments using technology that can turbo-charge not only the legal department but the rest of the organization.

Process management is not just legal process management. It offers complete project planning capabilities, including document management, enterprise-class security, and communication features that make it easy to keep team members inside and outside the organization updated on the status of various matters/projects. Collaboration becomes easier using technology, and as the project becomes more complex (as is common in many organizations), team members can stay abreast of developments without having to dig through emails or waste time making phone calls, only to get voice mail.

Imagine being able to manage tasks, set due dates, and schedule reminders from one interface. With the same software, team members can also update their status on a project as quickly and easily as updating their Facebook status, share documents with the team and track document versions, create and share budgets, receive regular budget estimates, and “nudge” other team members to update their status or cost estimates.

Those big projects become more manageable as information flows across the organization and to team members outside the organization. The ideal process management package allows users to log in using their regular web browser so that no extra software needs to be installed on workstations and allows for Microsoft Outlook integration, giving users the option of emailing directly to their projects. The system is easy to use so that the process management interface is actually used, instead of reverting to the old way that wastes time and creates unnecessary stress.

Users tag their projects, tasks and documents, providing other users with the ability to view exactly where they are on the project and what documents have been uploaded. The interface is so seamless that everything from a simple task request to a large contract is viewed with just a few clicks.

If that sounds like the perfect solution, it is. To keep the IT and compliance departments happy, the ideal process management solution also has enterprise-class security with SAS Type II certification. That is the most secure certification available, and it ensures that only those with authorized access can view their projects, preventing prying eyes from stealing trade secrets and protecting confidential information.

This is the new, turbo-charged organization, using technology to collaborate across departments and even with outside vendors, allowing for fast, simplified project management. Imagine that for your organization, and then make it a reality.

Sign up for a trial today. All you need is an email address to get started.

The Time-Saving Benefits of a Legal Process Management System

Posted on October 12, 2011 by - Business Process Management

Many organizations grapple with integrating the legal department with the rest of the company. Often, other departments only interface with the legal department when they need legal help, which makes perfect sense. What doesn’t make sense is the way the legal department is contacted: via email, which can get lost in an already full inbox, or with a phone call, which can end up in the voicemail labyrinth. Legal process management can change the way the legal department works with the rest of the organization, saving time for all departments in the process.

Here’s how it works: instead of calling or emailing someone in the legal department and hoping that he is the right person, a salesperson instead requests a contract for, say, a $3 million, mission-critical sale through an easy-to-use intranet interface. Using a customized portal specific to the company, the salesperson enters the amount, when the contract is needed by, and who the parties are. The salesperson can also select items such as terms of the contract from a menu. The salesperson then clicks “OK,” and the request is routed to the appropriate person in the legal department.

Since this hypothetical contract is $3 million, and the legal department has already specified that contracts for $3 million or more should be sent directly to the general counsel for review, the general counsel then gets the notification to review the contract. He can then update the status of the request, allowing the salesperson to see that he is working on it, and review the contract.

Compare that with the old way, which would involve the salesperson sending an email to, say, a more junior member of the legal department. That junior attorney would then either forward the email immediately, assuming that he read it right away, or the email would sit in his inbox until he got around to reading it. Then he would forward it to the general counsel, perhaps hours later. The salesperson would be sitting on pins and needles because he wants to close the sale, and he would most likely send another email or call the legal department, only to be slowed down while the junior attorney was searching for the email. Meanwhile, the general counsel is sitting in his office, working on something important but not as critical.

Using legal process management cuts through that convoluted process and allows the general counsel to immediately begin work on reviewing the contract. He can keep the salesperson updated, delegate tasks through the legal process management interface, and have the contract ready in a timely fashion while not sacrificing quality.

Legal process management saves time, period. It makes everyone’s job easier, allowing them to focus on what they do best: for the junior attorney, working on smaller contracts; for the salesperson, snagging more business for the company; and for the general counsel, reviewing large matters and efficiently running the legal department.

Watch this short video to see how a tool like Onit can help your legal department reap the time-savings benefits of a legal process management system.