At the end of October, members of the International Association of Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM) convened in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida for the annual IACCM Americas Conference. The warm Florida weather would normally draw visitors out to Florida’s white-sand beaches and turquoise waters, but the enthusiasm around this conference kept the attendees flowing through the conference center, discussing the future of contract management.
Below are some of the key takeaways from the 2018 IACCM Americas conference, provided by Agiloft staff in attendance.
1. Most businesses need a better CLM system
Of the approximately 300 attendees, 60 percent surveyed by IACCM event organizers indicated they are actively looking for a new CLM system. Our sales and marketing staff also confirmed this sentiment and were in the Agiloft booth to meet contract professionals, provide answers to CLM questions, and conduct demos of our award-winning Contract Management Suite.
MaryJane Skjellerup, Partner Development Associate at Agiloft, answers questions from attendees
2. Everyone is talking about AI
One common theme from talking with conference attendees was the interest of artificial intelligence (AI) in contract management. While most conversations were not specific as far as the desired capabilities of AI in CLM, attendees realized the powerful implications of this emerging technology.
Agiloft has begun to roll out AI-based meta data extraction from PDF files and scanned images with plans for more AI features coming in 2019. See more details in our fall release webinar.
3. Salesforce integration is now table stakes
One thing is for sure after this conference: Salesforce integration is an expected feature in CLM software.
Agiloft has offered a Salesforce integration for a while now, but we recently added new features to it in the 2018 fall release. Read more in the November 2018 release notes.
4. Florida is amazing
You probably knew that. But we just had to emphasize how much we loved jogging along the water and watching the sun go down over the palm trees.
5. IACCM knows how to plan an event
From the exhibition hall layout to the event schedule, IACCM put on a fantastic conference. The quality and quantity of conversations we had were far superior to some larger and more costly conferences out there. At the end of the day, we thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people, hearing their stories, and chatting about the rapidly changing technology in contract management.
