#improvingcontractmanagementworkflow

Making the shift to remote contract management is a big step for your business. It’s one that many businesses have had to make quickly in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Properly managing your contract pipeline is critical to keeping your business flowing smoothly during this period. You want to make sure your contracts move smoothly down the contract pipeline with remote access features. A smarter contract management system can help, often without the in-person touches that usually help your business manage those tasks. To manage your contract pipeline with remote access, try some of these important steps. 

1. Make sure all employees have the right access.

When you're in the office, things are simpler. An employee who doesn't have access to the right contract documentation can simply walk down the hallway and find someone who does. Unfortunately, when your employees are working remotely, they might not have access to others who can get them into those documents. As you prepare your contract pipeline for remote access, make sure your employees have the right access. Make sure logins are current, that all employees know their passwords, and that they can access contract data remotely. This is also a great time to remove old logins for employees who have left the company.

2. Create contract processes that include automated checks and reminders.

When working remotely, it's important to include automated reminders for your employees. This can help ensure that they take care of all of their obligations with regards to your contracts in a timely, effective manner. Your employees are out of their familiar element. They’re away from the office and struggling to adapt to new and changing circumstances. Make sure your contract management software offers the reminders they need: Reminders That Action Needs to Be Taken on a Contract Has a contract been allowed to sit too long in a particular queue or at a particular stage of the approval process? Make sure you issue a reminder that will let your employees know that action needs to be taken.  Contract Scoring  Automatic contract scoring can help you identify any potential challenges with a contract before it moves further through the approval process. Remote work can mean longer approval times and fewer connections between members of your team. This can make it easier for potential errors to fall through the cracks. With automated contract scoring, on the other hand, you'll be able to more easily identify any potential challenges with the contract before they become more serious.  Renewal Reminders  Do you have contracts coming up for renewal during this period of remote work? Make sure employees get reminders well ahead of time so that they can begin negotiations. This can ensure they will have time to take into account current events and how they may impact future contracts with a given partner. 

3. Automatically move your contracts on to the next phase in the contract cycle.

Once a specific stage of the contract process has been completed, it needs to move on. Set up your contract management system to automatically send the contract on to the next stage in the process. You may, for example, need to move it straight from the sales team to approval. Alternatively, a smart system can move it through the stages of approval. Make sure it automatically moves to the next person who needs to see it. Then your team can accomplish their tasks remotely and easily. 

4. Make sure you have a remote signature option in place. 

Connect your contract management software with a remote signature platform. This will allow both your team and your contractual partners to sign your contracts without having to be in the same place. These e-signatures are just as binding as physical signatures on a document. But they don't require team members to leave the safety of their homes or expose themselves to potential infections. A contract pipeline with remote access to e-signature options will also ensure that the signed version of the contract is stored online, where your team can easily access it.

5. Institute virtual contract compliance monitoring.

With many businesses making an abrupt shift to remote work in light of the current pandemic — or even if your business has decided to offer remote options for employees for other reasons — it has become increasingly important for employees to be able to access contract records from anywhere they are. Employees who cannot access contracts cannot complete many of their daily work responsibilities, including negotiating and approving contracts. So you want to be sure they have the tools they need to be successful, including systems so they can access contracts at home.

1. Make sure all your contracts are stored in one place.

Finding a contract that could be in any of several repositories is frustrating enough when you're in the office and can easily ask others around you where that information is stored. Finding that information remotely, on the other hand, can prove much more challenging. As you make the transition to remote work, make sure all your contracts are stored in one place. You should also check your naming system to ensure that employees can easily locate the contracts they need within those systems. Ideally, your naming system should be intuitive and easy to understand. 

2. Use cloud storage that employees can access contracts at home.

With a cloud-based contract management system, you don't have to worry about the servers at the office going down when no one is in the office. Instead, employees can easily access contracts from anywhere, whether they're at home, in the office, or on the road. Cloud storage also provides an additional layer of security that can help protect your vital records, including your documents and internal systems, when employees access contracts from home. 

3. Check your security and your permissions so employees can access contracts at home.

Many employees are shifting to remote work in a hurry. But you still need to carefully consider how your contract management solution keeps your contracts as secure as possible. As you make the transition to remote work for your business, make sure that you: Clearly assign permissions based on the files employees across the company should be able to access.  You don't want remote employees to be able to access contracts they don't have permission to access, especially when it comes to private information. At the same time, however, you may need to carefully check your permissions to make sure that each employee has the permissions needed to accomplish his job responsibilities. As access issues arise, make sure you address them at the source. Don’t rely on complex workarounds so your employees can access contracts at home. Make sure you have strong security in place.  You can't control the security of the networks and devices employees are using to access work accounts when they work remotely. You can, however, control the security on your end. This is the ideal time to update your security. Ensure that you don't have any holes that could allow access to your confidential documents.

4. Make sure you can easily identify the latest version of the contract.

Since employees aren't gathering together in person, it may be more difficult to pass on information about your business. For example, say you've recently modified a contract while working with coworkers in the office. Then, you might mention that it's been updated in your next meeting. You might even share it with other team members in passing. While working remotely, on the other hand, it can prove more difficult to keep up with that information.  Use a numbering or naming system that clearly designates the latest version of a contract. Alternatively, utilize a contract management system that allows you to easily track the latest versions of each document. That way, you'll know that everyone is on the same page and accessing the same version of the document. 

5. Don't forget about signatures.