Effective contract management is critical to the success of your business. If you don’t have the right contract management support in place, your team can end up spending a lot of time and resources on low-impact work, and things can move very slowly.
That’s why more businesses are starting to outsource their higher-volume contracts to an alternative legal service provider, allowing their legal teams to spend their time on more strategic work.
The right contract management company, like Radiant Law, can provide ongoing support, particularly with day-to-day contracts, which often make up over half of the workload of in-house teams. We can do everything from intake and triage, drafting, negotiations, supporting approvals and getting the contract signed.
Benefits of Outsourcing Contract Management
Your workload is high, and your resources are limited, so you might feel you don’t have time to consider bringing in an external provider. But the right contract management company will be experienced in streamlining processes, simplifying templates, and building playbooks, so getting started may take less time than you imagine—and a lot less fuss.
So, what are the benefits of outsourcing?
Access specialist expertise
The right alternative legal service provider lives and breathes contracts. They’ll provide access to lawyers focused on negotiation skills and continuous improvement, but also more than that. You’ll get a whole team of data analysts, legal engineers and software developers, and access to technology such as document automation and analytics: everything you need to make your processes more efficient and effective.
This expertise will allow the provider to swiftly develop robust and positive relationships with your client, taking the pressure off you and your team.
Free up your team
Outsourcing your high-volume contracts to a contract management company frees up your team from repetitive, process-driven tasks, and allows them to spend their time doing more strategic work. This adds value for your employees - allowing them to do the work they want to do and grow in their roles - which in turn adds value to your company, by boosting team morale, increasing retention and growing your in-house technical expertise.
Cost savings
Outsourcing to a contract management company is much less expensive than using a traditional law firm, as well as much faster. What’s more, when you consider the costs associated with your in-house team - salaries, training, infrastructure, pension contributions and so on - it makes sense to have them doing the high-value work, and outsource the rest.
Contract management companies like Radiant Law also offer fixed fees, so you can budget with certainty.
Access to the best technology, without the technology project
Contract management companies use cutting-edge technology and software, making your processes more efficient and cost-effective - without the need for you to invest upfront in new software, or lose valuable staff hours through unwieldy transformation programmes or implementing new systems in-house.
At Radiant Law, we know that businesses often prefer to provide their own case management software, particularly as it’s usually used across different departments and they don’t want to be locked in to one provider. The right contract management company should be happy to use your systems, working flexibly to help improve processes and profitability.
More business value
Outsourcing to a contract management company adds value to your business because contracts will be turned around faster (Radiant Law turns over 75% of matters in half a day), meaning accelerated revenue and more agile procurement.
If you outsource, you’ll also have loads of valuable data to support process improvements and efficiencies in the longer term.
Challenges of Outsourcing Contract Management
Outsourcing can also bring some challenges, particularly if you choose the wrong contract management company. That’s why it’s best to do your research, to make sure you can avoid:
Maintaining control
This is a common concern with any kind of outsourcing, but the right provider will have strategies in place to make sure you can collaborate effectively and retain oversight of your contract management.
For example, at Radiant Law, we encourage you to develop playbooks: documents that capture what to do when you see an issue that regularly comes up in a negotiation. You can use these to specify where escalations are needed.
We also use live data reporting, so you can track the status of all of your deals with a dashboard showing performance against key measures.
Data security and confidentiality
It’s essential that you use a contract management firm that will handle your sensitive contract information as securely as you would.
Alternative legal services providers like Radiant Law are law firms, which means you can expect all the confidentiality and privilege protection that you’d expect from a traditional firm. They’re also experienced at working with major companies and with banks, and meeting their extensive requirements around security and confidentiality, so you can trust that they have robust procedures in place.
Ensuring quality
Outsourcing might be faster and cheaper, but will the work be as good? It’s a valid concern, That’s why you need to choose a reputable alternative legal service provider staffed with experienced lawyers who can check work is done to a high standard and use their judgement, avoiding constant escalations.
At Radiant Law, we have a range of tools to ensure quality standards are met and raised, including standard operating procedures, checklists and playbooks. Document automation is also part of the service, which improves reliability as well as being faster and more efficient.
Good communications
When you’re working with third parties, it’s essential that you can reach them when needed and that you understand each other. Choose a firm with a strong reputation for effective communication and clear expectations.
Radiant Law: Expert Contract Management Company
Outsourcing some of your contracting processes to a contract management company offers advantages: cost savings, access to specialist expertise and technology, and more time for your team to focus on high-value work. While you should also factor in the potential challenges, the right alternative legal service provider will guarantee confidentiality and data security, work with you to ensure you retain control over your contracts, communicate well with you, and match or even exceed the quality of work you could expect in house.
As with every business decision, carry out a thorough cost-benefit analysis before deciding whether to outsource. With the right provider, you’re likely to find that the benefits will far outweigh the downsides.
If you’d like to learn more about how Radiant Law can optimise your legal contract management systems, and drive business growth, please get in touch.
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