Most general counsel and procurement officers would probably agree that collaboration in contract negotiations is a challenge even when all parties are in the same room. So what happens in our virtual world where the new normal is that people are spread across multiple locations and time zones? What does virtual collaboration look like?

Request for Proposals (RFPs) are, more than anything else, opportunities: opportunities to partner with a new business, opportunities to show you capabilities, and, ultimately, opportunities to grow your business. In fact, without the ability to submit accurate and engaging RFPs, you lose the ability to be a successful business.

Last week we wrote about 3 of the ways the supply chain has changed in the last 20 years.  This week we continue this article series with a further 3 ways and consider what supply chain management will look like in the future.

The basic tenants of supply chain management have remained static throughout time and will not change in the foreseeable future: it will always involve the flow of goods, services, and information from the supplier all the way to the consumer. It will always rely on analysis to increase efficiency and quality. It will always thrive on innovation, logic, and logistics.

Most general counsel and procurement officers would probably agree that collaboration in contract negotiations is a challenge even when all parties are in the same room. So what happens in our virtual world where the new normal is that people are spread across multiple locations and time zones? What does virtual collaboration look like?

At ContractRoom, our mission is to make contracting easy and efficient. I recently came across an article by Cindy Cox in Inside Counsel about making the contracting process more efficient. The article, Contracting efficiency for your legal department in 3 easy steps, is a good read. And Cox’s advice dovetails perfectly with what ContractRoom offers.

Compliance simply isn’t fun for most people. Time consuming, tedious, confusing? YES… Fun? NO.

Have you ever uttered the words painless – or better yet, happy – and contracting in the same sentence? Probably not, and you wouldn’t be alone. Even the savviest business and legal minds know that getting to a signed contract is a tedious, friction-oriented process. Additionally, the legal landscape is constantly evolving, meaning that business owners, corporate execs and their legal counsel (GCs) need stay current with the regulatory environment as well as staying on top of current industry trends and emerging technologies. Sound painful?… Doesn’t have to be.

Collaborative editing tools for agreements/contracts (also, referred to as “redlining”) have been used for decades by contract negotiators (both attorneys and business people). The question is, are the current tools really suitable? Redlining has all the appearances of a wonderful collaboration tool, letting people see exactly what changes the other party is proposing and accepting or rejecting them. Therefore, on the surface, the answer may be, “Yes”. However, looks can be deceiving… and after reading on, you’ll probably quickly change your answer to, “No Way”.

It’s Time to Create a Contracting Resolution/Revolution… with the right way to collaborate, contract & comply.