Comments on: Contract Lifecycle Management—Some Preliminary Thoughts http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/ Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:55:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: AdamsDrafting » Blog Archive » Contract Lifecycle Management: A Q&A with Harry Angel of Symfact http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/comment-page-1/#comment-84841 AdamsDrafting » Blog Archive » Contract Lifecycle Management: A Q&A with Harry Angel of Symfact Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:30:34 +0000 http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/#comment-84841 [...] written before about contract-lifecycle-management (CLM) software. (Click here for some general thoughts on CLM; the ACC Docket article I co-authored also discusses CLM.) [...] [...] written before about contract-lifecycle-management (CLM) software. (Click here for some general thoughts on CLM; the ACC Docket article I co-authored also discusses CLM.) [...]

]]> By: Ken Adams http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/comment-page-1/#comment-7609 Ken Adams Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:56:02 +0000 http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/#comment-7609 E: I don't think it's a question of pitfalls or negatives, although any given product might have glitches. Instead, I think the question is whether a given product fits your needs. And the greater your contract volume, the more likely it is that a CLM solution could work for you. Ken E: I don’t think it’s a question of pitfalls or negatives, although any given product might have glitches. Instead, I think the question is whether a given product fits your needs. And the greater your contract volume, the more likely it is that a CLM solution could work for you. Ken

]]> By: E Richardson http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/comment-page-1/#comment-7605 E Richardson Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:29:36 +0000 http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/#comment-7605 Are there any pitfalls or negatives to contract management now? Are there any pitfalls or negatives to contract management now?

]]> By: Jim B http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/comment-page-1/#comment-4498 Jim B Mon, 14 May 2007 12:25:26 +0000 http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/#comment-4498 Jeff, not sure how long ago you looked at some of these tools, but there's been significant advancement. We recently completed an RFI/RFP process and looked at 12 vendors and selected Upside, and the key reasons included their tool's ability to auto draft contracts. The tool can look at the type of contract, risk levels, which juridiction you are doing business in, monetary levels and other data, including product specific data, and select the right clauses from the right template, and creates a draft contract. The ability to help narrow down and also pick the sections/clauses that need to be in the document and then also offering suggestions on alternative text is something that would ordinarily take a drafter several hours. This now takes less than 1 minute. There's definitely been some great innovation and evolution in these tools. Jeff, not sure how long ago you looked at some of these tools, but there’s been significant advancement.

We recently completed an RFI/RFP process and looked at 12 vendors and selected Upside, and the key reasons included their tool’s ability to auto draft contracts.

The tool can look at the type of contract, risk levels, which juridiction you are doing business in, monetary levels and other data, including product specific data, and select the right clauses from the right template, and creates a draft contract.

The ability to help narrow down and also pick the sections/clauses that need to be in the document and then also offering suggestions on alternative text is something that would ordinarily take a drafter several hours. This now takes less than 1 minute.

There’s definitely been some great innovation and evolution in these tools.

]]> By: Jeff http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/comment-page-1/#comment-4494 Jeff Mon, 14 May 2007 11:15:13 +0000 http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/05/14/clm-preliminary-thoughts/#comment-4494 As a heavy user of these tools, I think that lumping them together and calling them by the CLM moniker is a bit much. Some organizations simply do not need the drafting portion of these types of tools, so comparing them at a holistic level may not be appropriate for all users. As of today, there's not enough intelligence in the drafting logic of any of the tools (Upside, Procuri, Emptoris, Nextance or any others that I've seen) to really take the burden out of contract drafting for truly unique deals. These tools are all good for helping a sales person put together a template agreement that's term-dependent on product types, geography or other predictable variables. But if you introduce any real unpredictable variability (as happens in most real-life contracting situations that I've ever been involved in), the tools quickly fail to produce valuable results. [My personal disclaimer: I am a long-term CMSI (now Procuri) user who dislikes their "Deal Manager" component to their "Total Contracts" solution for exactly the reasons stated above. On the flip side, I love the Contract Manager piece.] As a heavy user of these tools, I think that lumping them together and calling them by the CLM moniker is a bit much. Some organizations simply do not need the drafting portion of these types of tools, so comparing them at a holistic level may not be appropriate for all users.

As of today, there’s not enough intelligence in the drafting logic of any of the tools (Upside, Procuri, Emptoris, Nextance or any others that I’ve seen) to really take the burden out of contract drafting for truly unique deals. These tools are all good for helping a sales person put together a template agreement that’s term-dependent on product types, geography or other predictable variables. But if you introduce any real unpredictable variability (as happens in most real-life contracting situations that I’ve ever been involved in), the tools quickly fail to produce valuable results.

[My personal disclaimer: I am a long-term CMSI (now Procuri) user who dislikes their "Deal Manager" component to their "Total Contracts" solution for exactly the reasons stated above. On the flip side, I love the Contract Manager piece.]

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