Frustrated by your lengthy contract lifecycle?

Does your contract lifecycle look like this? On average, getting a contract signed can take 3 to 4 weeks, sometimes even longer than that!

Business owners, in-house legal teams and sales teams have historically been frustrated, even irritated, by the length of time it takes to finalise legal contracts.

But this timeline is based on old school contract creation, review and management.

This may be what you’re used to if you’ve worked with lawyers on deals in the past:

1. Size matters

   In a traditional law firm, more complex contracts (like Master Services Agreements) take longer to draft, agree and sign. The client is charged based on the time involved, so complex contracts become expensive. The lawyers argue that complex contracts required more in-depth negotiation and review to mitigate risk. More time. More money. It’s easy to understand how incredibly frustrating this can be for the business owner and, maybe even more so, the sales team who are keen to close the deal and meet their targets.

2. Revisions and negotiations

   Reaching a consensus can feel like banging your head against a brick wall, especially if you don’t have everyone at the (actual or metaphorical) table.

3. Version control

   Multiple versions and rounds of revision leaves room for error. Who amended paragraph 3? Who knows? Also, it’s likely that your contract isn’t just a single file. There may be multiple attachments. Where are they stored? Who know how many there are, or should be? And have all the relevant people seen all the relevant pages?

4. Sweating the small stuff

   While it’s important to undergo a thorough review to make sure your contracts adhere to relevant laws, regulations, etc. but compliance is inherently a pedantic, time-consuming and laborious task. The review may flag extensive revisions. All slowing down your deal.

5. How long is the paper trail?

   Nothing kills time (and the planet) like paper! Traditional law firms are filled with the stuff. So many files, so many copies, so many signatures. So much effort.

6. Sign off

   Where is the CFO when you need him? Are you struggling to wrangle your stakeholders to get the deal done? Trying to navigate busy schedules can be challenging. Is your CEO at a conference? CIO on holiday? Is the contract you need them to sign sitting in someone’s spam folder or on the printer?

7. Who’s in charge of getting this contract signed?

   It could keep an octopus busy, all the moving parts in your deal. Do you have a designated person to grease the wheels of your sales cycle? Probably not. Is that you, you wonder? Who is co-ordinating the process so that contracts move quickly from one party to the next? Is your lawyer responding to your calls? Is your customer?

Cloud Contracts 365 doesn’t just grease the wheels of the deal, it puts you in an entirely different vehicle.

• Imagine a world where an MSA doesn't take weeks of legal time and cost a fortune?
• Imagine being able to agree terms with your customer in real-time, with all parties looking at the same document?
• No more paper. We centralise your contract in the cloud. Just one version, that all parties can access. Imagine having the confidence that you’re always working with the most up-to-date version of the contract. You can refer to version history to see who has reviewed the contract and what changes they’ve made. Imagine the space you’ll save with no filing cabinets?
• Imagine being able to e-sign that document, on-the-go while you’re with your customer, or on the beach sipping a cold drink?
• Best of all, when legislation changes, so does your contract, so it’s always compliant.
• Finally, is it time to review the contract? Cloud Contracts 365 will let you know when it’s up for renewal.