Contract management is one of the biggest responsibilities for businesses of all sizes. Efficiently managing your contracts has a direct positive impact on your financial performance, your relationships with third parties, and your organizational reputation.

 

 

Here are five of the most important traits and skills for contract managers:

 

1. Time Management

 

Contract management is inherently a time-consuming process  .

 

The stages of contract management include:

 

● Research and strategic planning

 

● New contract requests

 

● Data capture

 

● Contract authoring

 

● Negotiations

 

● Reviews, approvals, and signatures

 

● Contract execution

 

● Monitoring, amendments, and revisions

 

● Housekeeping and tidying up

 

With so many different tasks and moving parts, it’s essential for contract managers to have excellent time management skills.

 

2. Risk Management

 

Every contract has risks involved for the parties who engage in it. Missed deadlines, failed obligations, or the exposure of sensitive information can result in a variety of negative consequences, from financial penalties to legal action.

 

The best contract managers understand both the risks of contract management and the most effective ways to mitigate these risks. Learning how to close loopholes and keep risk at a manageable level is an essential skill for contract managers.

 

Risk management plans and qualitative and quantitative risk assessments are crucial tools for contract managers. And having an understanding of the contents of your contract portfolio, down to the specific details of individual agreements, clauses, and terms, should also help mitigate contract risks before they develop into significant problems.

 

3. Understanding the Compliance Landscape

 

The relationship between contract management and compliance is a very close one; both processes have a great deal of overlap and intertwining. Both contract management and compliance seek to ensure that the organization performs its obligations under a given agreement to the best of its abilities.

 

Compliance is especially important for organizations who are in industries such as healthcare, finance, and retail. These industries are subject to strict regulations (such as Stark Law, Sarbanes-Oxley, and PCI DSS, respectively) that must also be adhered to, above and beyond the requirements of the contract itself.

 

4. Attention to Detail

 

Business contracts are often as much about the tiny details as they are about the big picture. Even seemingly minor issues can have a “domino effect,” spiraling into huge problems that affect the viability of the project as a whole. And then there’s the story of a missing comma that cost a company $5 million!

 

Contract managers must have a detail-oriented mindset, understanding the ins and outs of the organization in order to execute the contract successfully. Remaining meticulous about deadlines and other concerns is a critical skill for contract managers. For this reason, many contract managers rely on contract management software that can send them reminders and bring greater consistency to the process, but the need to pay close attention to all details of a contract remains.

 

5. Tech-savviness

 

With potentially tens of thousands of contracts on your plate, effectively keeping track of all of them is a superhuman task. That’s why so many companies, small, medium, and large, make use of dedicated contract management software that can help regain control of the contract management process

 

To find the best contract management software for their situation, contract managers need to be tech-savvy and stay on top of the industry’s technology landscape. Some of the contract management software features to look for include:

 

● Security and compliance

 

● User access restrictions

 

● Logs and activity tracking

 

● Customizable monitoring and alerts

 

● Excellent customer support

 

Final Thoughts

 

The role of contract managers, like the role of contract management itself, is becoming more and more important as businesses engage in a growing number of contracts.

 

Fortunately, contract managers can rely on dedicated contract management software to help them better manage their time and stay on top of the contract lifecycle.

 

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