Did you know that your £20K and £2m deal can carry the same amount of legal risk?
There’s a common, yet dangerous, perception that larger deals involve higher risk than smaller ones. However, risk in a contract is rarely determined by its value. Here are just a few reasons why your £20K business deal could cost you as much as your £2 million deal.
Even low value projects can be complex
The level of complexity in an IT project plays a significant role in determining its risk, regardless of the contract value. Even a comparatively small-scale IT project can involve intricate technical requirements, customisation, integration challenges, and potential scope creep. These complexities can lead to cost overruns, delays, and unsatisfactory outcomes, all of which could cost you.
Intellectual Property (IP)
Inadequate protection of IP can bankrupt a business.
Did you know that some people unwittingly hand over the rights to their own IP by not understanding the contracts they’re asked to sign?
How can you effectively reengineer your know how in IP if you’ve given it away to another business without any rights to reuse?
Even a small deal, handled poorly, can kill your business.
Data Protection
If you are managing any type of personal data, the risk is the same and the potential for legal issues isn’t affected by the value of the deal. A smaller contract opens you to the same liability as a big contract.
Resources
While it’s often true that smaller value deals need fewer resources, there are also cases where a £20K IT deal might require the same level of attention, expertise, and effort as a £2m deal.
Risk can also arise if you fail to allocate sufficient resources. Inadequate resource allocation can lead to project bottlenecks, quality issues, missed deadlines, and ultimately, unsatisfied clients.
Compliance
Failure to address contractual obligations, intellectual property rights, confidentiality, data protection, and other regulatory requirements can result in legal disputes, financial penalties, reputational damage, and project disruptions.
Reputational loss
A business owner prioritises the high value deals at their peril – they risk losing much more than money, they risk their reputation!
Start off all your business relationships with a robust contract and get off on the right foot. Your £20K customer today could be your £2M customer in years to come.