Use technology to help

We have already stressed that it is a key responsibility of senior executives to ensure contracts are managed as a process rather than as sporadic events. Just as software has successfully automated many other business processes, contract management is just the sort of thing software is good at.

Aside from in-house developed solutions based on spreadsheets and databases, a wide range of Enterprise Contract Management (ECM) products is available from software vendors. These solutions are provided by a variety of companies including ERP vendors, CRM vendors, e-procurement companies and specialist contract management vendors.