Gaining insight and oversight with Contract Management links

Feature article by VendorPanel

Gaining Insight and Oversight with Contract Management

Contracts account for a significant amount of an organisation’s revenue yet managing them can be seen as an administrative task, rather than a strategic function for a business. But the contract management landscape is evolving, and organisations are starting to seek innovative ways to streamline their procurement lifecycle and manage their contracts more efficiently.

And with organisations turning to technology to help streamline so many other aspects of business operations, it poses the question – why have legacy contract management processes been allowed to remain in place for so long?

The Ongoing Challenges

Missed milestones & deadlines

Missed milestones or deadlines can result in delays in project delivery, significant financial losses and unnecessary agreements remaining active.

Lack of approval

Inadequate or incomplete contract approval processes can result in non-compliance and lost value on agreements. The higher the value or the complexity of a contract, the more challenges that can arise.

Misplaced contracts

71% of companies admit to losing at least 1 out of every 10 contracts, with an average sized organisation spending $3.5 million on average each year just on searching for or recreating contract documentation.

In addition to the financial implications, data breaches and compliance issues can be a direct result of misplaced contracts.

Inaccurate and non-compliant data

Due to the ongoing risk of human error, contract information can be incorrect from the outset when manual data input is required. If key data is inaccurate it can result in a contract being void without an organisation’s knowledge – this can cause serious and ongoing issues for both organisations and their suppliers.

Poor Supplier Relationships

As outlined above, when an agreement between a supplier and buying organisation is inaccurate, mishandled or lost it can result in knock-on implications for the business, but it can also result in a breakdown in your relationship with the supplier. Supplier relationships are a key part of successful delivery and once they become frayed it can make doing business much more difficult.

The Solution: VendorPanel’s Contract Management Tool

VendorPanel Contract Management module is a full featured contract management system that gives you end-to-end visibility to pro-actively manage contract deliverables and performance.

It allows you to create, review and manage individual, multiple-award and panel contracts, while ensuring full risk mitigation.

Unlocking Benefits

Contract management technology offers numerous benefits to organisations and suppliers. By implementing a contract management solution, organisations can streamline their procurement lifecycle and improve their contract management processes.

Increased efficiency and productivity

Contract management module automates manual tasks, such as contract creation, approval workflows, and document storage. This frees up valuable time for procurement teams to focus on strategic activities.

Enhanced visibility and control

Contract management solutions, like VendorPanel’s, provide real-time visibility into contract status, terms, and performance. Research has shown that organisations that use contract management technology increase visibility on contract related data by as much as 80%. Increased visibility allows more forward-planning, improved negotiation opportunities and better business outcomes.

Improved compliance and risk management

VendorPanel's Contract Management software helps organisations maintain consistent compliance with contract terms and regulatory requirements. It enables organisations to track key milestones, deadlines, and KPIs, reducing the risk of non-compliance and legal disputes.

Cost savings

Using contract management software has been shown to reduce contract-related administrative costs by as much as 30% for an organisation.

By automating contract management processes, organisations can reduce contract cycle times, minimise errors, improve efficiencies and leverage data analytics for more meaningful reporting and decision making.

Integration with other systems

The Contract Management software is increasingly being integrated with other systems, such as ERP and CRM platforms, to streamline end-to-end procurement processes. This integration improves data accuracy, reduces duplicate data entry, and enhances collaboration between departments.

VendorPanel’s Contract Management module can be fully integrated with all other products in the VendorPanel suite. And VendorPanel's open IP can integrate with most other platforms outside of their offering, further increasing efficiency and visibility across procurement, projects, finance and more.

A Force for Good

With businesses implementing technology to help staff manage everyday tasks, projects and communications, contract management has now been cast into the spotlight as a priority for executives in 2024.

In a time where rising costs of doing business, increasing competition and hybrid working models are a given, organisations need to look inward to ensure they are getting the most from every part of their operations. Contract management technology takes the guesswork out of improving how you manage your agreements, ensuring reduced risk, increased compliance and better value on contracts.

Local Buy’s Procurement Technology Program provides a fully funded Contracts Lite solution to all Queensland Councils. If your Council would like to access this contracts solution, please contact Local Buy’s local government procurement technology team via nexgen@localbuy.net.au for details.