Having operated businesses for many years, I’ve seen my share of technological advances that have both greatly pushed the boundaries and limitations of my business, but also technology that ultimately didn’t serve much of a purpose and was only there to soak up valuable resources like time and money. There aren’t many technological advances in the world that have really made an impact on the businesses I’ve worked with because I stick with solutions that are known and proven to work.
Taking risks is ultimately important, but there’s a difference between embracing a new type of technology because you believe it has value to your company and using it because every other business is. Although it’s a sign that it has value if your rivals and other local businesses are using it, you really have to decide for yourself whether it can fit into your workflow or not.
When it comes to contract management, however, I instantly saw its value and was eager to implement it into my business workflows. I can confidently say that it has indeed become a huge boon to my business, but I can also say that I’ve learned a couple of lessons while using it. In this article, I’ll be sharing 7 things I learned while using contract management software.
- Many of our traditional methods are going to be ported into the digital world
Contracts used to be a purely physical thing, now they’re being ported over to the digital world. In the past, printing out a contract was perhaps the extent of our needs when using technology. As long as our computers could connect to a printer to deliver a physical contract, we were happy and would consider technology to be a successful addition to our business.
Nowadays, we’re constantly porting over traditional methods to digital to make it easier to work with, to make it easier and faster to send to our clients and customers, and to make it more malleable.
- Templates make everything more accessible and easy to work with
I’ve used templates before for things such as business plans in the past and occasionally website designs. However, having templates accessible and editable for contracts makes dealing with future customers far easier than I could’ve imagined. By simply dragging and dropping bits of information across the contract, I can very quickly and easily finish drafting a contracting before sending it digitally.
- Being eco-friendly can really boost your business
Customers nowadays love to align themselves with different businesses. They like to follow the messages and morals that companies have, which makes going green a huge change for your company but one that can benefit you.
- Remote working opportunities are the future
Remote working has always been on the radar. In fact, many businesses have already switched to office-less models and love when their employees can work from home. It’s convenient, it offers more employment opportunities and it allows people from all over the world to collaborate on the same projects.
- More analytics, more control over your business
The importance of analytics cannot be understated. By having more eyes in different places, you’ll be able to track everything from customer behaviour to client mannerisms, ultimately giving you more data and information that can be used to grow your business and improve your products. Contract management software can track many different sets of data and automatically form reports, making it an impressively versatile piece of technology.
- There’s an industry in dealing with compliance and risk
In the modern day, failing to comply with standards and regulations can land you in very hot water. A fine is the least of our problems. Instead, the idea of being ridiculed by the media and having uninformed masses rally against your business is going to be far worse for your company. That’s why I believe that, in the near future, there’s going to be many new business opportunities in helping companies deal with compliance and risk concerns.
- Technology will constantly find ways to surprise us
Technology is growing at an amazing pace, and it’s easy to see just how fast it’s growing when you take a step back and look at how we did things just half a decade ago. The business landscape will constantly change and it’s important to not only adapt to these changes but to also expect them and almost guess how the future will look based on what current technology we have. Not only will this open the way to new business ideas, but it will help you adapt your business in the future.
