It’s not the clause, it’s the chaos: Why regulatory compliance starts with finding the right contracts 

Here’s the honest conversation we’ve been having with legal and compliance teams lately: it’s not that they don’t know what should be in their supplier or customer contracts. The problem is that no one can consistently locate the right information, in the right document, exactly when they need it. 

This challenge becomes especially overwhelming when: 

• You’re juggling NDAs, MSAs, DPAs, SOWs, SLAs, BAAs—plus a stack of local amendments for each. 

• Half your contracts are buried in a shared drive folder charmingly labeled Q4_cleanup/old_templates/archive.  

• You’re operating across 15 countries, 8 languages, and 12 different regulatory frameworks. 

Does this sound familiar?  

That’s the reality for most global companies today—and it’s exactly why some Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platforms (or the lack of one altogether) are falling short. The complexity of today’s contract environments isn’t just anecdotal. According to research cited by Aberdeen Group, 42% of enterprises identify risk mitigation as a top driver for improving contract management, underscoring how widespread and critical this issue is. 

Let’s talk contract types 

Here’s where things get messy—fast. Most global businesses aren’t just managing a few neatly labeled supplier agreements. They’re navigating a complex, layered web of contracts, including: 

• Master Service Agreements (MSAs) that vary by region, business unit, or subsidiary, 

• Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) tailored to evolving GDPR, AI Act, or other regional privacy laws, 

• Statements of Work (SOWs) with unique obligations, deliverables, and timelines, 

• Customer contracts hiding rebate terms, warranty carve-outs, or obscure pricing models, 

• Partner agreements that span legal entities and include reciprocal obligations, 

• Child agreements and amendments that override or localise core contract terms, and 

• Joint venture or franchise contracts that don’t clearly fit into any single category. 

Now toss in new EU regulations, like CSDDD, DORA, or the AI Act and suddenly every one of those documents becomes a potential compliance risk.  

In a recent contract workflow technology survey by Bloomberg Law, more than two-thirds of in-house legal professionals indicated that they manage a high volume of contracts, and 43% of respondents said contracts-related tasks represent at least half of their daily work. 

Why contract visibility matters (a lot) 

Regulators aren’t asking whether your templates could include the right clauses—they’re asking tougher, more specific questions: 

• “Which signed agreements don’t include the required clauses?” 

• “Where’s the audit trail?” 

• “Which suppliers failed to comply—and what, exactly, did you agree to in writing?” 

Meanwhile, your executive team wants clear, immediate answers. They’re not concerned that the clause in question is buried on page 47 of an amendment signed five years ago in a different jurisdiction. You either have the data, or you don’t. As Gartner emphasizes, CLM platforms must support governance and compliance across the full contract lifecycle—from initiation through renewal—not just serve as a static repository. 

Why legacy CLM systems struggle 

While many CLM platforms can store contracts and offer clause libraries, that is often where their core functionality ends. Today, the market includes hundreds of CLM solutions, ranging from lightweight tools designed for small teams to enterprise-grade platforms. However, a significant portion of these systems focus primarily on document storage and clause standardization—offering limited support for the dynamic, cross-functional requirements of global organizations. 

Consider scenarios where organizations need to: 

• Compare an MSA and its amendments across multiple subsidiaries, 

• Identify vendor DPAs that lack required data residency clauses, 

• Locate AI-related sales agreements requiring updated risk disclosures, or 

• Generate comprehensive reports on sustainability-linked obligations across all suppliers. 

In many situations, many CLM systems are inadequate. This is due to several structural limitations: 

• Contract hierarchies are overly rigid, or not supported at all. 

• Search capabilities are restricted to file names or limited metadata. 

• Reporting tools are cumbersome, particularly when spanning business units or legal entities. 

• Workflows lack the flexibility needed to accommodate varying contract types, jurisdictions, and compliance requirements. 

To effectively manage risk, ensure compliance, and support strategic decision-making, organizations require a more advanced approach. A robust CLM solution must offer centralized contract intelligence, advanced search, configurable workflows, real-time alerts, auditability, and compliance-ready reporting—capabilities that legacy systems often lack. 

What sets modern contract management leaders apart 

The organizations that are successfully navigating today’s regulatory and operational complexity—particularly in light of evolving EU regulations and expansive global contract portfolios—are not relying on traditional, static CLM systems. Instead, they are investing in platforms that deliver end-to-end contract intelligence and adaptability. 

These forward-looking enterprises leverage CLM solutions that offer: 

1. True flexibility without custom code  

• Designed to adapt to specific contract types, legal entities, industries, and workflows,  

• Fully configurable clause libraries and templates—without requiring developer involvement,  

• Dynamic responsiveness to evolving legal and regulatory frameworks. 

2. Built with intelligent data models 

• Supporting full contract hierarchies, master, child, addendum, and local amendment 

• Understanding contextual relationships between agreements, 

• Enabling search and filtering not just by contract name, but by clause content, obligations, party, date, or risk. 

3. Structured for real-time visibility and insight 

• Automatically tagging clauses and obligations across thousands of contracts 

• Surfacing gaps and inconsistencies across entities, geographies, and vendors 

• Providing audit-ready compliance dashboards, even for contracts signed years ago 

4. Seamlessly integrated across your ecosystem 

• Pulling in data from ERP, CRM, procurement, and third-party risk systems, 

• Synchronising updates so you’re not managing compliance in a silo. 

Alongside these capabilities, many legal departments are prioritizing investments in automation and AI to handle increasingly complex contract portfolios. The shift toward generative AI is being driven not just by efficiency, but by the need to ensure compliance and agility at scale. In fact, Gartner finds that over 70% of legal leaders plan to adopt generative AI in CLM by 2026, signaling a broader modern transformation in how legal and compliance functions operate in the digital era. 

Closing the gaps in risk 

In 2025, the conversation isn’t just about getting contracts signed faster. It’s about staying compliant, globally, across every subsidiary, every document, and every regulation that lands on your desk. 

If you’re managing contracts across regions, product lines, and risk categories, it’s not just about having a CLM. It’s about having one that understands the real shape of your business and lets you act on it. 

And the best solutions? They don’t force you to change how you work. They adapt to how you already do. 

Modern CLM in action 

With the right CLM platform in place, organizations move beyond reactive guesswork and manual intervention. 

Instead of hearing: 

“We think we’re covered…” 

You hear: 

“We’ve already identified 42 vendor contracts requiring updates, and remediation workflows are already underway.” 

Instead of: 

“Legal is digging through the archives…”, 

You hear: 

“Compliance flagged the issue, and the relevant contracts were updated and resent for signature the same day.” 

This is the level of operational agility today’s business environment demands—and it is only achievable with a contract management platform architected for configurability, structural hierarchy, and deep searchability from the outset. 

 Want to see how this works in practice? We’re happy to share lessons learned and ideas—no pressure, just a conversation.