Resources

Contracting is essential for every organization including many departments.  Legal, procurement, sales, operations, finance and others are all struggling with today’s new normal. ...

Contract lifecycle management sounds about as exciting as ... well, ok, it doesn't sound particularly exciting at all. But excitement or not, as a business leader, you know...

Every day, business leaders hear sales pitches for tools and solutions that promise to optimize their business performance. There is a certain appeal to finding a "magic bullet"...

You've heard of contract lifecycle management software, and you like the idea in concept. But now you want to know: what is the best contract lifecycle management software for...

If dealing with contracts is a regular part of your job, then you know just how difficult and time-consuming creating and managing them can be. The good news is that the new...

We're dating ourselves here, but do you remember when the SAT Verbal section had analogy questions? If so, we have a good one for you (and, if you don't, well, then lucky you)....

Let's talk about your business's contract system. By contract system, we mean how your business administers and manages its contracts from inception to termination. Every business...

Contracts play a critical role in the operation of any enterprise, but for some, they represent veritable lifeblood. When doing business revolves around high-volume,...

There is no business without contracting. Binding agreements govern or influence every aspect of an enterprise. If you think of a business as a living organism, then contracts...

Workflow automation software can be thought of as any software that embodies a repeatable business process into software. General benefits of embodying a business process in...

As individuals, we enter into agreements constantly in our everyday lives. The exchange that occurs when we pay for our coffee every morning is in itself an agreement. The party...

For most companies, their operational contracting process can be summarized in 4 (allegedly) easy steps: (1) identify need/opportunity, (2) find vendor/customer who aligns best;...

If your business is like most enterprises, contract data represents a precious but largely untapped resource. If you knew that rich deposits of gold rested just below your feet,...

Friends don't let friends do manual document assembly. And yet, sadly, old-fashioned document assembly practices still persist. According to a survey by Nitro and the PDF...

As technology progresses at hyper-speed, most organizations are maintaining a pretty hefty tech stack. As more and more business functions move towards automation, that stack...

The foundation of all business is the agreement – and our future success is dependent on technology and AI.  In our new “The Future of Agreement” series, ContractRoom talks with...

Companies rely heavily on software applications to help with everyday business and legal activities to facilitate getting done accurately and timely. But many of these...

With so many types of software solutions competing for attention and budget, gaining buy-in for a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution requires a solid business case...

Contract Management software solutions exist to solve contract management headaches. Yet the negotiation process, typically the most difficult and high-stakes stage of the...

   The ability to negotiate and execute contracts is crucial to the success of any business, no matter the size or industry. Contracts don't simply allow companies to complete...

According to PwC, the average number of contracts per organization is between 20,000 and 40,000. Regardless of the size of your business or your industry sector, effective...

  Docusign’s acquisition of SpringCM confirms that eSignature is just the tip of the contract management iceberg. eSignature has become a routine way of executing contracts, even...

International Association for Contract & Commercial Management (IACCM) Provides New Comparison Tool for Contract Lifecycle Management Systems

Congratulations, you’ve finalized your contract! After weeks spent drafting, altering, and negotiating, the terms are agreed, the signatures executed, and the ink is dry...

Welcome to the future of agreement! The ContractRoom.com website has been rebuilt from the ground up, to be more useful for you. Beyond a fresher, more modern look, the site has...

A robust contract management system should be able to handle any type of contract.  However, the value proposition of contract management software differs substantially for...

Contracts vary in their structure, complexity and goals, but they can safely be defined as legally binding agreements between two or more parties made voluntarily.  They are...

Nothing can strike fear into the hearts of attorneys or businesses like “breach of contract.” Which is one reason all parties work so hard on the front end to ensure that the...

It is not uncommon for businesses to focus all their efforts on an initial contract, and then feel that contracting work is done, only to realize there are many activities that...

In a perfect world, business and legal activity would flow smoothly, employee productivity would be peak levels, and work/life balance would be mandatory. Curiously though, none...

While every contract has unique characteristics specific to the commercial transaction, there are certain features that lend themselves to standardization. Indeed, most contracts...

In every society throughout history, legal contracts have played an important role in day-to-day business activity. The concept of a voluntary and binding written or expressed...

So, you’ve taken the plunge and acquired configurable software for your business.  You’re thoroughly convinced that cloud-based software is the future and the future is now. ...

The need for configurable software applications in the large enterprises is becoming more and more of a necessity. Instead of customized solutions, which are essentially company...

With so many options in the market, buying new software to fulfill a specific need in your company can be dream—or a nightmare. So, where to start? What do I need to know? What...

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...

With emerging technologies like blockchain ledgers and decentralized markets taking hold, business managers can fully expect the business contracting environment to change...

Contracts can be interpreted in vastly different ways. From verbal contracts, called express contracts, to implied and quasi contracts, project managers need to plan for all...

When you picture a contract in your mind’s eye, you probably imagine a two things: paper and words. Specifically, a lot of paper, and a lot of words. However, with the...

Ensuring the success of a consulting job begins at a very specific point: negotiating the consulting agreement with the contracting party before any official work begins.

Contrary to what might first appear to be the case, long, dense contracts filled with legalese are not necessarily more thorough and do not necessarily do a better job at offering...

Contract standardization has a history that is almost as long as contracts themselves. Due to the complexity of contracts as well as to the legal aspects of contracts, businesses...

Contracts have a well-known reputation for being dense, technical, and even completely incomprehensible–and historically, people expect contracts to be baffling fine print that...

Request for Proposals (RFPs) are, more than anything else, opportunities: opportunities to partner with a new business, opportunities to show you capabilities, and, ultimately,...

A Request for Information (RFI) is utilized by agencies, businesses, and government bodies to better understand the current market conditions and to better grasp the specific...

Most enterprises today suffer from a sub-optimal contracting process.  It is not for lack of a lot of hard working, well intentioned legal and contracting professionals....

We’ve written a few articles about tips for conducting clinical trials and in doing so working with CROs (clinical research organizations or contract research organizations). Here...

How to pick the right people for and foster and manage your in-house legal team I recently considered: * The skills required by today’s GCs - 

In a previous article we considered some of the advantages of working with clinical trial research organizations or contract research organizations (CROs).  There are also some...

I recently wrote an article that considered the skills that are needed for being an effective General Counsel. Now let’s consider some of the ways the role and practice of General...

The different personalities in contract management

5 basic tips for saving time in the contract management process

In a previous blog post, we provided four tips for carrying out exceptional clinical trials, one of which include the assistance of a clinical trial research organization...

Essential Skills for a General Counsel

3 areas to focus on for promoting a productive workforce (part 3)

3 areas to focus on for ensuring the efficiency and productivity of your workplace (part 2)

On the move to Silicon Valley

Kingsley Martin wrote a thought provoking piece on the future of contracting platforms. While it is hard to predict when the dawn of self-organizing, self-reporting contracts will...

Transferring from law to a software startup - what I’ve learned about LegalTech

Planning for Risk and Uncertainty in the Supply Chain: 5 Strategies

Here are two ways that new technologies can assist with simplifying processes involving International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) agreements.  

With the advent of the internet and other technologies, the improvement of transportation infrastructures, and significant developments in trade, the world has gotten much, much...

The third season of HBO's Silicon Valley is now complete and Pied Piper has just released its product to market. Several hurdles have been overcome in the journey to this level of...

The referendum held on 23 June 2016 to decide whether or not the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union caused quite a ruckus when the results came back. The result, 52%...

Lauren Harriman, J.D., CIPP/US, is a technology law blogger for TechTalkTranslated.com, the blog she launched during her final year at the University of San Francisco School of...

 A short history of AI: AI and its growing impact business and law

Famous Negotiators: 5 Things You May Not Know About James B. Donovan (portrayed by Tom Hanks in “Bridge of Spies”) Steven Spielberg has a large list of films under his sleeve:...

In a previous blog we considered how to deal with a situation where a supplier provides a product that doesn’t meet required standards. Now we look at some ways you can monitor...

Download your free eBook on A Short History of Legal Drafting here:

In the past, supply chain management has valued efficiency, accuracy, and economy over all else. However, in recent years, sustainability has gained an increasing amount of...

It's easy to know what the best thing to do is when you receive something something sub-standard which you've ordered online as a consumer i.e. send it back and demand a full...

Download ContractRoom's new free eBook - What the Future Holds for Contract Management:

Analyzing the commercial contracts of the 2016 Olympics: Who are the winners?

How the practice of corporate law is changing (Part 2)

3 industries that blockchain technology and smart contracts are likely to disrupt

15 Ways Big Data Analytics can help improve the Supply Chain and 3 potential barriers

Unless you’re living under a rock you will have heard of Pokemon Go, the new game in the form of an app created Niantic Inc., an American software development, which is also...

Lauren Harriman, J.D., CIPP/US, is a technology law blogger for TechTalkTranslated.com, the blog she launched during her final year at the University of San Francisco School of...

Failure to properly investigate and evaluate the integrity of businesses with which your company has entered into partnership agreements can lead to several negative consequences....

Match made in heaven? Contract Management Practice in relation to Contract Lifecycle Management Software (CLM Software)

Dr. Sascha Theissen is an expert in providing lean and agile business improving solutions. He started his career as an attorney, working for six years in two highly respected law...

3 tips for contract drafting - ensuring you have effective master services agreements (MSAs)

Future terms/concepts in Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) systems software and contract management software

The oil and gas industry is going through a period of massive change.  Many factors have transformed it in recent times and continue to transform it.  These include:

Collecting and analysing data has recently become commonplace in several spaces.  Three of those areas are politics, media and business.  This article considers how large scale...

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...

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,...

Seriously don't. No matter how efficient it may be it is not a good practice. But before the commenting begins, allow me to explain.

How to create a modular framework for your contracts and agreements

What is digital transaction management (DTM), where’s it going and where does online contract management fit in this space?

Future concepts and terms in CLM systems software I recently considered the features Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) systems are likely to have in the next 5 - 10 years.  In...

New wave of Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software making the experience faster, easier and smarter!

There’s no denying it, the entire business landscape is being changed by various factors, and corporate law is not immune from this transformation.  In the past decade or so, the...

Some of the newer technologies available for reducing risk and increasing profits in Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Features that CLM systems are likely to have in the near future

What is the best way to manage the contract management process in the mining industry?

How to manage your contracts logistically for logistics providers

How to ensure you have proper version control when drafting business documents and contracts

Contract Management for Logistics Providers

The Panama Papers and the security benefits of the Cloud?

Eliminate risks in architectural, engineering and construction projects

Fully realize the benefits of technology in your legal practice

Ideas on how to navigate the legal landscape in the Media and Entertainment Industry

Eliminate risks in architectural, engineering and construction contracts

Eliminate risks in architectural, engineering and construction contracts

Download ContractRoom's new free eBook - Essential Principles of Software Selection here:

Innovative approaches to standardizing contracts 

Contracting in large-scale Pharma - regulation, compliance and contract management in the pharmaceutical context

Modern legal language and the future of legal drafting A push towards Plain English language and a push back? Read Parts 1 and 3 of this aricle series here: Part 1...

Ensure good growth and governance in your negotiations and contracting with the right contract management software!

A Short History of Legal Drafting: How modern legal language evolved to what it is today You can read Part 2 of this series...

Leverage contractual data to continually improve your manufacturing processes

There has been a lot of discussion about how new technologies such as online negotiation and contract management software are changing the process of getting deals done - either...

The arguments for and against standardizing contractual language It seems everyone in the contracting world has an opinion about how a contract should be drafted.  We recently...

How contract lifecycle management software can help reduce risks in negotiation!

Email is insecure and impractical

Leveraging reverse psychology in negotiations with the aid of contract management software

If you work in the healthcare industry in a legal capacity your concerns on a day to day basis most properly include the following:

What big data is there in contract management and how may it be leveraged?

Music, ants and contracts seem worlds apart.  However. recently I listened to an NPR ted talk where Professor Deborah Gordon (http://web.stanford.edu/~dmgordon/), a Stanford...

Defining a corporate IT strategy can be one of the most difficult feats undertaken by corporate managers today.  The IT landscape is continually changing with new software and...

'No one ever gets fired for buying IBM’ is a well-known phrase. This brilliant branding tactic suggested that choosing the larger, more established option, was the right decision...

The rise of predictive agreementTM

Our friends at LegalTrek (https://legaltrek.com) have created a fun infographic commenting on current attitudes towards legal technology today and the future of law practice....

How to manage contracts that are important for a large scale event or function

Deal desks for sales teams are found throughout many industries and can range in size and complexity.  Some examples include those for enterprise technology sales and more...

What important lessons about negotiation and negotiation strategies can we learn from the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on Christmas Eve in 1814 (one of the famous negotiations...

In our increasingly technological world contracts are becoming more prevalent and more complicated. Because it often isn’t practical or necessary to hire lawyers, many of these...

Starting a new company or other corporate venture is exciting!  

Where does one start when trying to select the right corporate software to achieve a goal or fulfill a need within a business?  There are currently so many different corporate...

We have all seen the headlines, each week it seems like another major business’s reputation is at stake due to a data breach of some kind, costing thousands  of customers their...

Switch Tracking is a pattern in conversations where one person’s reaction to feedback from the other changes the topic of conversation.  Two people having a conversation start to...

When I hear the word hacking, I imagine someone chopping or hoeing into something roughly.  Or, I think about a software nerd breaking through internet firewalls to steal data or...

Wired, Tired and Expired methods of signing in the digital world

How the new wave of contract management software is reducing time spent negotiating Is it possible to use data analytics and clause standards to make the contract negotiation...

Planning for smooth transition of arriving and departing employees

Automating Collaboration: Expired, Tired and Wired Methods for Multi-party Drafting Expired

Current contract management processes are lacking proper rules and controls. Why is that a bad thing? Well, serious consequences typically arise from lack of oversight during the...

Wired A track changes tool with the following features: Tracks changes without requiring you to remember to turn track changes on; Provides a format for viewing changes that is...

It may be a slight exaggeration to claim e-Discovery could ever really be easy. The tremendous amount of information created and stored electronically makes complying with rules...

Compliance is expensive and time consuming—keep abreast of regulations can be a full-time job in and of itself, let alone ensuring your company is in compliance. Can automated...

Manage and Capture Your Unstructured Data! In 2012, IDC conducted research on the digital universe in 2020. Based on the outcomes of that research, IDC estimates the world’s...

There is a trend we’ve seen building over the last few years, and we think it’s one whose time has come. It’s the rise of operations within in-house legal departments. It’s an...

If you have some concerns about your business’ contracting practices, you are not alone. Huron Consulting Group, conducted a survey with legal technology professionals, and more...

  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...

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...

As a business leader, you know you can’t control every aspect of your business. That’s why you hire good people. However, there are some things you should be able to control, and...

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...

Collaborative editing tools for agreements/contracts (also, referred to as “redlining”) have been used for decades by contract negotiators (both attorneys and business people)....

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

Had to share an email received this past weekend as an example of how the message of "happy contracting" is beginning to spread... We've had a huge uptick in our inbound traffic...

Late-January is still plenty early to make a New Year's Resolution. How about resolving to end the monkey business with contracts? That’s right, if you’re like us, then you...

ContractRoom launches new corporate website... major upgrade to look and feel. We’re pleased to announce the release of our revamped corporate website, which has a totally new...

From their PR release, "53 Cloud Companies that Matter in 2014"... and "the Business Intelligence Group’s Stratus Award winners represent all that is right in the Cloud"

Written by Matt Faustman on Jan. 8 2014 and published under General Counsel Corner on UpCounsel

ContractRoom has been shortlisted in the 2013-2014 Cloud Awards Program in the category, Most Promising Start-Up.

ContractRoom is excited to share that COO, Peter Thomson's, article, "Technology can boost smarter collaboration if you understand the process" is featured in IACCM's Contracting...

Recently, the CIO of a large media company said he could only use software that was hosted on his company’s servers (this is called a “client server” system). When asked why, he...

In Wired magazine's most recent issue (October 2013), Ev Williams, the founder of enormously huge internet successes Twitter and Blogger, reveals the secret formula for getting...

Holy Grail versus Paper Trail: Over the past 12 months, we have spoken to a lot of businesspeople, from the C-level suite, to the sales front line, to the legal team. Everyone...

ContractRoom Co-Founder & CFO, Peter Thomson shares solid advice for anyone trying to raise start-up money from friends and family in his recent post in StartUp America's blog....

  Nathan Feldhacker

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/the-starting-gate/2013/08/contractroom-surpasses-12-million-in-investor-funding-.html

  Emil Stefanutti - ContractRoom's CEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciFTursuctQ 

After reading, Erik Sherman’s piece: “Trendy Start-ups are Hot – Until They’re Not” in Inc. Magazine (1), I agree that entrepreneurs should “consider a B2B play” as suggested by...

See "Pushing Through the Tough Stuff" by Inc. Magazine's Rene Siegel. She talks about how to get started when you're stuck or can't seem to tackle business challenges. What helps...

While price is still high on a buyer's wish list, read "6 Things Every Customer Wants" by Geoffrey James, Inc. Magazine. You'll be surprised to find that a little homework, some...

Great article on Venturebeat by Jeetu Patel. The ABCs of Enterprise SaaS demonstrates how the enterprise user wins with an easy-to-use and implement solution, simple front end,...

Check out this blog from TechCrunch about SaaS software solutions like ContractRoom fueling worldwide 2013 software growth ... to $59 Billion USD for SaaS solutions alone! Click...

When Peter Thomson, CFO at ContractRoom, heard a high-level software exec’s assessment of ContractRoom, he knew he was involved in something big.