Tag: whitepaper

Top 5 Contract Negotiation Strategies

Posted on September 10, 2020 by - Artificial Intelligence, Business Process Management

Negotiation and compromise are a part of our everyday lives; whether it’s at home or a business situation. Contract negotiation is a discussion between parties with the desire to reconcile or resolve conflicting priorities in a written legal document. This can be a challenging task, especially when considering the risk or benefit of being too passive or aggressive in your discussions and how that might impact the bottom line.

Whether you’re an amateur or veteran, here are some strategies to keep in mind when negotiating your next contract:

  1. Set the Scope of Your Negotiation

It is important to be involved in setting the agenda of the negotiation. This could involve the method, forum, location, time, topics and the overall terms. By taking an active role, you can set topics of discussion that can protect and advance your interests.

  1. Understand the Counterparty

It is important to research your negotiating counterpart and consider what issues are important to them before you enter the conversation. Having more information and background allows you to predict what factors will be important and what they’ll likely ask for, so you can be prepared to respond accordingly.

  1. Identify Your Best and Worst Case Scenario

Make sure you have a clear idea of what you want from the agreement. Consider which parts of your contract are the most important to you or your company and identify what is your best or worst-case scenario. For example, ask yourself: which contract terms are non-negotiable for me? Which contract terms would be acceptable to compromise on? Highlight these legal issues in the agreement and work your way through the discussion one issue at a time. This exercise will help you prioritize your interests by keeping your eyes on the prize and avoid getting distracted by issues less important to you.

  1. Find Your Middle Ground

Prior to entering contract negotiations, you should set ambitious goals that you believe the other side will not agree to. This creates opportunities for concessions, showing the other side that you can compromise. For example, typically any first offer will be high and not realistic, so the party will expect that you will provide a counteroffer; this process may happen a few times before you find the acceptable middle ground. This exercise will allow you to make concessions that will not ultimately jeopardize your position and give you space to barter on issues of greater importance to you.

  1. Use Collaborative Language

In order to have productive contract negotiation discussions, you should see the counterparty as a collaborator rather than a villain. It’s a good idea to strike a collaborative tone and always attempt to end discussions on a positive note to maintain a professional relationship. For example, ask questions when reviewing the contract like “What’s the purpose behind this?”, “Could you explain what your intention was here?”, and “What about this alternative?” Showing your proactive efforts to work toward a constructive solution will help close the deal sooner.

Reviewing and drafting contracts take up to 70% of an in-house legal department’s time. With ever-increasing pressure to do more with less, improving contract efficiency through automation represents a significant opportunity to improve business performance. Learn how artificial intelligence can help you automate and manage a contract’s lifecycle.

How to Select a Contract Lifecycle Management Solution

Posted on August 20, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

In the first entry in our series detailing the value of contract lifecycle management solutions, we shared signs that indicate you need a new approach to the contracting process. In this blog post, we will discuss the items your company should consider when deploying the ideal solution for its needs. 

Businesses that implement a seamless contract lifecycle management process compress their time to revenue, mitigate risks by having fewer contractual exceptions and increase customer satisfaction. While the opportunities are plentiful, the path to finding the right solution for your company can be challenging.

With the numerous contract lifecycle management solutions available, how do you determine which one is the best fit?

First, adopt a platform approach. A platform approach combines a set of software and a surrounding ecosystem of resources. Its value comes not only from its own features but also from its limitless ability to connect external tools, teams, data and processes. It offers growth that comes from a highly scalable, seamlessly deployed and continuously updated technology.

One more platform benefit to consider: Timeliness of implementation. Instead of taking months and months, you can employ a quick-start implementation package that streamlines the contract process so you’re using it in less than 30 days.

Second, the most effective solutions make critical tasks easier and more accessible with automation. With this approach, a contract can be requested via an online portal that gives access to standard verbiage and templates. Automation within the system ensures the appropriate people and processes are assigned and notified of the request. It also allows the easy building of configurable workflows, so you know you can change workflows as needed as a company grows.

Third, the solution must provide the ability to sign electronically. This eliminates the need for paper and enables anytime, anywhere signatures. When the contract is signed, it is automatically stored in a central repository that is the single source for all contracts and related documents.

To view more suggested features for a contract lifecycle management solution, download our white paper here.

Final additions

As contract lifecycle management solutions grow in prominence, the discussion has shifted from whether adoption is necessary to the best solution to adopt. If you want to learn more about Onit and these solutions, feel free to read our whitepaper “What to Expect from a Contract Lifecycle Management Solution” or contact us directly.

Five Signs Your Company Needs a New Way to Manage Contracts

Posted on August 13, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

Contract lifecycle management solutions have seen wide adoption over the last five years, so much so that they’ve developed a market capacity worth more than a billion dollars. By 2024, the global market for contract lifecycle management software is estimated to increase to $2.9 billion*.

Why is there such a substantial increase?

Contract lifecycle management solutions offer a significant return on investment. They allow companies to capture, automate and analyze the entire contract lifecycle from initiation through approval, compliance and renewals. By eliminating data silos, automating workflows and reducing the overall time spent, a contract lifecycle management solution drives business value.

In this first of three blog posts, we dissect our latest whitepaper and look at what to expect from a contract lifecycle management solution. The posts will discuss everything from signs that you need one to how to select the right solution for your business.

If you’re the type of person who likes to skip to the front of the line, you don’t have to wait. You can download the entire whitepaper here. For everyone else, let’s begin.

Is it Time to Change How you Handle Contracts? Consider these Indicators.

Contract lifecycle management poses significant challenges, especially when you consider that the process for most companies extends across multiple departments, geographies, versions and external participants. Complex processes that are handled manually can lead to risks and too much time spent on low-yield tasks like following up or locating a contract version. The cumulative impact of these factors can cost your organization an immense amount of time and money.

Here are five signs that your company should explore a new approach.

  1. Inability to Make Changes

How does your company manage changes over the entire lifespan of a contract, from the first draft through renewals? Are the processes and technologies involved flexible enough to anticipate and accommodate renewal data, pricing changes and emerging legal requirements?

  1. Information Silos and Manual Processes

A business can impair contract management progress if it lacks a centralized, accessible location for contract information that tracks changes in real-time. Human error, bottlenecked contract cycles and limited process control – typical in many corporations when it comes to contract management – increase risk dramatically.

  1. Inconsistent Legal Language

Contracts depend on approved and consistent language. Gaps in standardized language introduce risk and confusion. If your contracts consistently have language consistency issues, it may open the door to unexpected risks.

  1. Struggles between Timeliness and Risk

Lawyers, who work to reduce risks, prefer to review contracts in detail. Sales professionals, who have the job of closing deals, have an interest in getting contracts through quickly. If your company is experiencing friction like this, it likely needs a better approach to contract lifecycle management.

  1. Lack of Insight into Contract Processes and Variables

When corporate legal doesn’t have insight into contract terms, obligations and value, it cannot ensure the business is getting the right value for deals, and money may be lost.

The Benefits of Contract Lifecycle Management Solutions

A contract lifecycle management solution – a combination of software and services – gives businesses unparalleled visibility into and control of their contract portfolio without sacrificing speed or time. It illuminates the journey of individual contracts from the initial request to managing obligations. It also applies technology and business best practices to the process to such as financial reporting, operational efficiency and overall contract compliance.

Ready for more information? Our next blog post of this series, coming out next week, will cover how to choose a solution. Until then, here are ways to explore these solutions and how they will impact your company:

 

* Markets and Markets: Contract Management Software Market by Component, 2019