DocuWare for Contract Management
Contract management can be a messy business. Keeping track of many different drafts and versions, getting the signature done, managing queries over the contract period and making sure you’re ahead of expiry and renewal dates is difficult and time consuming. But there is another way.
Using a document management system can simplify – even automate – the process dramatically, ensuring the right versions are sent out, signatures are received quickly, cutting retrieval times and increasing your renewal rates.
Contract Creation & Version Control
Contracts can be written outside of DocuWare and simply stored or they can be created within DocuWare using specially configured forms. Additionally, if you have contract templates, DocuWare’s merge form function allows you to fill out that template with just a few data entries.
Whichever method you choose, DocuWare’s built in version control allows you to track any changes and ensure only the latest version is the ‘live’ one.
Should a contract require internal approval before being sent to the customer a workflow is easily created to raise a DocuWare Task for the appropriate person, automatically chosen based on contract type or value or manually chosen from a list.
Once approved, the contract can be sent from DocuWare via email to the customer for a fully legal and compliant digital signature.
Esignatures
Digital signatures – often referred to as esignatures – make the signing of contracts and other documents incredibly fast and easy. DocuWare has a preconfigured solution for digital signatures, giving you the choice of DocuSign or Validated ID for your esignatures.
When a contract is sent to a customer via DocuWare it goes through the esignature workflows to the digital signature provider of your choice, out to the customer for signature and straight back into DocuWare for storage. The whole process takes just minutes once a contract is approved to send and once received back it can be simply stored along with the customer information and, most importantly, the expiry date of the contract.
Contract Retrieval
It’s often the case that contracts have to reviewed during their lifetime. Anything from a customer query or a serious issue with the service being provided can raise the need for a contract to be found and checked. With a paper-based system this can cause a problem if a contract has been wrongly filed, damaged or lost completely.
With DocuWare, however, a quick search for the customer name and contract type will bring it up in just a few seconds. It can then be read, printed, downloaded or emailed – whatever is necessary to answer the query or resolve the issue.
Super fast document storage and retrieval is the hallmark of a document storage solution like DocuWare.
Expiry & Renewal
It’s one thing getting a contract signed, but the real value for many businesses is getting the renewal. Tracking the expiry dates of contracts in a paper-based system is often left to the sales or admin teams and, naturally, they can be missed, leading to loss of service, unhappy customers and missed opportunities.
With DocuWare you don’t need to rely on strong administration skills or good memories. When you store a signed contract you can record the expiry date. DocuWare monitors each contract and can be configured to alert you or your sales team when a contract is expiring – months in advance if you want. This allows you to start on the renewal process with plenty of time to spare.
You will see your renewal rates climb, your staff will be a lot happier knowing they won’t miss an opportunity and will have plenty of time to work with the customer. It’s win-win all round.
From end to end your contract process will be faster, more reliable and more successful when you move from a paper-based system to using a document management solution like DocuWare. As a Gold Partner Keeley Travis are well placed to help you transition to a digital solution, not only in this area but almost any other part of your business that currently relies on paper.
