Contract Lifecycle Management: A Guide to Boosting Your Company’s Efficiency

A Framework for Deciding If You Actually Need CLM

Before evaluating vendors, it's worth working through the actual business case:

1. Audit your current process. A cross-functional review of your existing contract management, manual or otherwise, surfaces the real gaps, not assumed ones.

2. Know what you're solving for. A 2021 EY Law Survey found over half of surveyed organizations said contracting inefficiencies had directly cost them business. Get specific about which inefficiencies apply to you.

3. Assess contract complexity and risk. Not all contracts carry the same exposure. Classify what you manage by risk and compliance complexity before deciding what a solution needs to handle.

4. Factor in growth. Contract risk scales with contract volume. A system that works today may not hold up as the business grows.

5. Bring in the right stakeholders. Input from legal, procurement, and business teams surfaces pain points a single department won't see alone.

6. Run the numbers. A real cost-benefit analysis, weighing implementation cost against revenue leakage prevented, is what turns this from a nice-to-have into a funded decision.

The Legal Department Technology Gap

Legal teams are under real pressure here, and most know it. The Thomson Reuters Institute's Legal Department Operations Index found 65% of legal teams reported increased workload over the past year, while nearly 60% saw flat or shrinking budgets. Despite that, 71% are prioritizing time-saving technology, though 47% feel their department's actual pace of tech adoption is slow. Over 20% believe their existing legal technology, including contract management specifically, is underutilized.

The gap between potential and captured value is stark: legal teams estimate 55% of their work is automatable, but expect to capture only 30% of the potential benefit from contract management investments by 2025. Adoption is lagging behind capability, not the other way around.

What a Modern CLM Solution Should Actually Deliver

Beyond the core features already covered in our guide to choosing a CLM tool, a solution worth adopting should also give you:

• Real risk management built into the workflow, not a bolt-on report after the fact

• Better visibility into vendor and partner relationships, not just internal contract status

• An audit trail that holds up to scrutiny without manual reconstruction

• Reduced contract cycle times without sacrificing the accuracy of what's being signed

Ready to make the business case? Talk to a CLM consultant about evaluating your current process, or start with our guide to choosing the right CLM tool once you're ready to compare options.