An integrated CLM platform to break down silos – Unifying Enterprise Contracting

From crumbly, torn, and barely legible contracts stuffed inside manila folders stacked together on dusty shelves to connected, intelligent and smarter contracting through a single, integrated CLM platform, we’ve come a long way.

Undeniably, Brexit-consequent trade-specific agreement changes have been a major driving force behind all that is changing in the world of contract management. That being said, one cannot rule out the disruptions that the outbreak of the pandemic, discontinuation of LIBOR rates, and such other regulations continue to have to that effect, till date. To make matters worse, the fragmented nature of contracts impede managers at the helm of contract management functions to oversee a sprawling network of buy-and sell-side relationships.

Siloed contracts, non-standardized processes

Consider the case of Vodafone, a telecommunications major which, much like any other player in the industry, has been witnessing a remarkable shift in consumer preferences. With data-first products rapidly outdating conventional voice services, they were forced to innovate and diversify their portfolio of offerings. As their network of customer and supplier partners grew, their manually driven contract lifecycle management (CLM) practice proved challenging to scale in tandem. The telecom major’s expanding geographical footprint increased contracting complexities in terms of multiple currencies and variances in terms of regulatory requirements, tax laws and performance indices.

This scenario, however, doesn’t typify just the telecommunication sector. A sufficiently mature enterprise that operates at a global scale and procures a complex mix of services through multiple third-party vendors could find that its existing contracting process:

• Offers limited visibility into its portfolio of past and present commercial agreements
• Authors contracts using a decentralized body of non-standard legalese and templates, which could be incompatible with current company policy and regulations
• Relies on disjointed IT systems such as ERP, P2P, and CRM to store and manage contracts
• Lacks an intelligent, and possibly automated legal review mechanism to discover and remediate missing clauses and clause deviations

Fragmented contracts, operational non-viabilities

Often, with conventional systems in place, businesses don’t know where their contracts are stored. This lack of visibility, coupled with incomplete understanding of terms and conditions and regulatory requirements that need to be met, put the enterprise at high risks. Not only do they face impending challenges of compliance failures down the line but with consequential financial and reputational loss, the question of business continuity also sets in.

Since growth – and subsequently profitability – rests squarely on the ability of an enterprise to scale operations sustainably, a manually-driven contracting process might be counterproductive. Since innovation is the key to survival, enterprises should aim to automate as much of their contract management practice as possible and reinvest their financial and human capital to address strategic goals – through a single, integrated CLM platform

Smarter contracts, better outcomes – The importance of a single, integrated CLM platform

As a unified CLM platform, SirionOne has been quick to respond to this specific need. With its wide range of AI-led capabilities in place, businesses can mitigate risks associated with a fragmented contracting practice by enabling their legal, finance, sales, and procurement teams to connect, collaborate, and craft smarter contracts using intelligence mined from their existing contract portfolio.

Empowered by SirionOne, businesses like the telecommunications major cited above can author, negotiate, execute, store, and manage contracts till renewal or expiration from a single platform. Since our platform’s design goal has always been to offer value beyond the execution stage of a contract, our customers have been able to use SirionOne’s deep supplier and invoice management capabilities to monitor post-signature compliance, plug value leakage, strengthen relationships, and take a data-driven approach to dispute resolution.

In essence, SirionOne has the power to connect pre- and post-signature contract management phases, allowing rich performance insights and risk analytics to be fed back into the contract creation process. As a result, enterprises can create a holistic CLM practice that allows them to progressively build stronger contracts, mitigate prospective risks, and negotiate more favorable terms for better business outcomes.

If you’d like to know more about how we leverage AI to transform enterprise contract management, leave us a comment below or drop us a line at [email protected].