4 Things to Consider When Implementing Contract Management Software

If your business is planning an overhaul of its contract management lifecycle, then you know finding the right solution is only half the battle. The second half is actually implementing the software. No matter the size of your organization, integrating new contract management software into your existing processes can be a daunting task. After making an initial investment in a new contract management system, the last thing you want is a failed implementation. 

The keys to successful contract management software implementation are ease of use and proper training. When combined, these two elements result in employee adoption, which is how you ultimately reach long term success. While the process may take some time, preparation and planning is the best way to ensure the implementation goes as smoothly as possible. If your team is planning to implement new contract management software, below are 4 things to consider beforehand:

1. Always create a contract management software implementation plan.

Implementing a new contract management software starts with proper planning, as there are key decisions you'll need to make before moving forward with the project.  To help guide you, below are some important questions you’ll want to ask as part of your planning process:

• What is the target date for implementation?

• What is the size of the existing contract library?

• What teams will need access to the platform?

• What is the best way to segment read / write permissions?

• How do I want to label and organize the documents within the contract management software?

Once you’ve determined the answers, you can engage your vendor or support team to help start mapping out the project requirements and working towards your anticipated launch date.

2. Keep things as simple as possible.

When it comes to contract management software, ease of use is a strong predictor of success and employee adoption. Many contract management software solutions come with a variety of bells and whistles, and while some of these features may be enticing, keep in mind, each additional piece of functionality is another item your teams must learn to use. In most cases, the simpler the product the better off you'll be, so your best bet is to only use features that will have a meaningful impact on your business. A larger feature set can result in a more expensive integration, or even increase the chances of a failed implementation. 

3. Proper training among contract managers and the rest of the team is essential.

One of the most important components of contract management software integration is a training plan. Employees will quickly adopt a new solution if they know how to use it, and it ultimately makes life easier. Gaining employee buy-in during the training process is critical to the long-term success of your contract management software.

As a general rule of thumb, the more employees you have using the software, the more robust and detailed your training program should be. If you have hundreds of users, it may make sense to ask your vendor to host some virtual training sessions. For smaller teams, single webinars or tutorials may help be the better route. Every business has a different contract lifecycle, so it's important that your vendor customizes the training session to meet your specific business needs.

4. Lean on the contract management software company.

There is a lot of heavy lifting involved with moving to a new contract management solution. The process of migrating and organizing existing contracts into the new platform can be a massive project. Instead of devoting your company's own time and resources towards the integration process (which ultimately increases the price tag of the solution), rely on your contract management software vendor to do the work for you.

Additionally, your employees will likely need help in the early stages of the launch. Make sure they have easy access to your contract management software vendor's customer support services, so they can get help with trouble-shooting or receive on-demand training.

ContractSafe Makes Implementation Easy

At ContractSafe, our goal is to make implementation as easy as possible for our customers. We’re focused on creating a seamless user experience within our contract management software, as ease of use is a top priority. Instead of building out an abundance of features, we focus on making the business-critical tools as easy to use as possible. Our [AI]ssistant uses artificial intelligence to automatically import contract fields and categorize documents. This tool makes the onboarding experience as smooth as possible.

We also understand the importance of employee adoption, which is why our support team will work with you to put together a customized training package that include virtual sessions. As part of our onboarding process, we help new clients migrate existing contracts into the platform and provide ongoing multi-platform support to ensure your business is successful.

Implementing new contract management software is a big project, but the end result should be significant savings, more automation, and better business outcomes. To get there, it’s important to take the right steps. By starting with a platform like ContractSafe, you can be sure you’re partnering with a vendor that will do the heavy lifting.