Four ways to achieve better contract management outcomes

With contracts essential to any business, it’s remarkable how many companies are underprepared to understand and comply with contracts once they have been drafted and signed.

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Utilising good contract management software can save your company potentially expensive breaches of contract and takes some of the strenuous manual labour out of contract management. In the meantime, check out our top tips to achieve better contract management.

1.) Start on the same page

A contracting relationship should be entered into the same as any other business partnership: find the right partner, set clear goals and expectations. Creating a mutually beneficial agreement will make any contract easier to uphold as everyone is committed.

2.) Focus on results

The best management approach to contracts are results oriented rather than spending all your time and energy on risk mitigation.

Of course, everyone wants to protect themselves from legal responsibility should things go wrong, but creating a contract which focuses more on blame placement than the desired outcome can lead to a relationship built on conflict rather than a proactive partnership.

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3.) Be proactive

Leading nicely on, ensure all parties show a commitment to get in front of potential problems before they arise. This should help minimise breaches of contract by fixing problems early on, or better yet, considering how to avoid them in the first place.

Utilising contract management software specialists such as Contractwise can assist in creating a productive and organised system.

4.) Communication

The importance of communication in contract and relationship management cannot be overstated. Particularly when considering the vast majority of contracting disputes which end up in court could have been avoided had sufficient communication taken place between the parties at an earlier stage.

Best practice is to ensure communication occurs in all areas and at all levels as well as externally. This should be clearly set out early on in the contracting process to ensure that everyone understands the appropriate route of communication depending on the issue which has arisen – for example, who needs to know if there’s a delay in delivery or payment, and how early should this be notified?

As we know, life doesn’t always run smoothly. Ensuring you take this into account at the contracting stage should avoid disputes and enable parties to swiftly resolve issues as they arise.