Is Out of the Box CLM right for you? 

When you realize you need something better than spreadsheets and email to handle your contract management, and you are getting pressure from senior leadership to explore these “CLM” tools, you may say, “A contract management tool that works right Out of the Box (OOTB) will be the easiest.” You’re probably thinking you want something simple that can make the flow of contracts a much more straightforward process.  But what exactly are you going to automate? 

Simply automating an existing manual process may be the beginning of a whole new set of problems. If you go in with the mindset that a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform will help you design and implement the process you need, you’re missing a great opportunity, and more than that, you’ll be just as frustrated with a broken process inside what you thought was the silver bullet  for fixing your contracting process.  

When you decide to automate, a completely new process will kick off. And it doesn’t start with “which vendor should we go with” or “who has the best OOTB solution.” It starts with a look inward at the process flow as it stands today. If the flow doesn’t work today, it won’t work tomorrow by simply adding a layer of technology.  

How do you simplify your contract process? 

A multitude of factors can slow down the simplification of your contracting process. Contract lawyers are trained to look for possible exceptions and loopholes. Their job is to manage risk, thinking of all the possibilities and taking them into account. And then you have the multitude of departments that want to have their say in defining the process (rightly so) but only seem to make things worse. Don’t allow this to happen. This piece of advice is for all departments leading the charge of purchasing their way out of a contracting process mess: don’t overcomplicate it. Thinking you have to prepare for every scenario can ultimately block a successful implementation. 

You need to think like a CLM implementer. “When you’re designing a process, never really means never and always really means always,” says Toby Butler,Director of Product Management at Agiloft.  

For example, there may be five different ways to get home from work. Focus on the fastest one, or whichever route works best for you. Butler says: “It’s as simple as ‘I can’t come up with every approval, so I really should make sure I have an ad hoc approval process.’  I’ve now solved for them all.” 

You CAN create a simple contracting process that covers your exceptions without being overly complicated. Even the largest corporate behemoths can work effectively with a simplified process. Conversely, the smallest companies can overcomplicate the contracting process just as easily. No matter the size of your company, keep your contracting processes focused and make sure your organization is truly ready for CLM automation because you can’t fix a broken process with a tool; you can only automate what exists. Don’t go down the path that many companies have fallen prey to and blame the technology for the contracting process it can’t fix.  

Is OOTB CLM right for you? 

If you’ve taken our advice, you understand the need for a successful, simple contracting process before beginning the journey of selecting a CLM. You may think, “This is such a simple process now, so an Out of the Box (OOTB) solution is just what we need.” Well, yes and no.  

If someone told you all businesses do the contracting process the same way, would you believe them? Of course not! Companies within the same industry can’t even say that. Contract workflows in every company are bespoke. So, do you really think that CLM vendors have all figured out your unique way of contracting?  

Sure, there may be vendors that can deliver on a simplistic contracting process, and it may work for a little while. But then what? Does your process ever change, or does your business ever grow? How will an OOTB solution handle something beyond what it’s set up for. How flexible is your OOTB CLM solution?  

You need an OOTB solution that’s going to set you up for success no matter what comes down the road.

How to plan for tomorrow 

Don’t let the fancy drag and drop functionality make you lose sight of what the future may hold. Consider the fact that many of the OOTB CLM solutions may have limitations. Then, you have to start all over again, creating a process that your new technology may not support. What you need is flexibility to solve not only your now simplified contracting process, but also the growth that this business decision will allow. You need to future proof your contracting workflow. What this means is having the functionality available to you but not necessarily needing to “flip it on”. When you purchase software, don’t you dream of what you wish it could do? Well, have those dreams in mind and make sure that the software lives up to the future dream state in capabilities. It doesn’t mean you need to use them out of the gate, or spend precious time implementing these capabilities today, but they are there as business grows and circumstances change.  

A few things to remember about OOTB CLMs:  

When the decision has been made that yes, CLM OOTB is the answer, these are the highlights of important things to consider as you start down the path of making the purchase decision: 

• Do an assessment of your contracting process and ask yourself if it really is in its simplest form. 

• Don’t overbuild your contracting process because changing it will become much more complicated. 

• CLM is not a thing, but a collection of capabilities. Your OOTB solution should have multiple components and not all of them need to be visible or engaged. Keep some capabilities behind the scenes until you and the business are ready to use them.  

• If a CLM vendor promises an easy OOTB solution, it may be, but it may not be a robust or flexible enough solution when things change. Make sure your CLM is “future proof” by including scalability in your decision. 

• Don’t think of your OOTB CLM solution as the end game. Think of it as the starting point for greater things.  

If you keep these things in mind, you are sure to make the right decision about the OOTB configuration and abilities that will lead your organization to success! 

Agiloft has helped organizations of all sizes get up and running quickly, solving contracting processes today and leaving them prepared for tomorrow. Start a conversation today.