Welcome

How mature is your contract lifecycle management strategy?

More than ever, business runs on contracts. Handshake deals and verbal agreements are not enough in today’s digital, electronic world. That means a typical business will be creating, executing, and managing hundreds, if not thousands, of contracts every year.

How is your organization navigating this sea of contracts? Take our short self-assessment to find out.

The assessment will yield customized results and recommendations based on your responses and should take no more than 2 minutes to complete.

Questions

Which of the following best describes your company’s current system for managing contracts? (Select one.)

We have a repository of standard contract templates on our department’s server.

We have a contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution that stores contract documents and has standard contract templates.

We have a contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution that stores contract documents and has standard contract templates and reporting/analyzing contracts.

We have a contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution that we use for authoring and negotiating contracts, in addition to storing and reporting on contracts.

Don’t know/does not apply.

1 of 8 1 of 7 1 of 7 1 of 6 1 of 7 1 of 6 1 of 6 1 of 6

Questions

Which of the following best describes your current CLM execution? (Select one.)

We have a contract lifecycle management solution that our legal department uses to generate and manage a wide variety of contracts.

We have a contract lifecycle management solution that our legal and business departments use to generate and manage contracts.

We have a contract lifecycle management solution that is integrated with our procurement, invoicing, and supply chain systems to automatically track supplier compliance.

We have a contract lifecycle management solution that is integrated with our CRM and order management systems.

We have a contract lifecycle management solution that is integrated with both our buy-side and our sell-side systems.

Other (please specify):

We don’t have a software solution for our CLM process.

Other:

2 of 8 2 of 7 2 of 7 2 of 6 1 of 7 1 of 6 1 of 6 1 of 6

Questions

How long does the average contract take from initial creation to sending for signature? (Select one.)

Less than 12 hours

13 to 24 hours

1 to 2 days

3 to 4 days

5 to 6 days

7+ days

Don’t know

3 of 8 3 of 7 3 of 7 3 of 6 2 of 7 2 of 6 2 of 6 2 of 6

Questions

What are your company’s plans when it comes to the following technologies as related to CLM solutions or processes? (Select one per row.)

Not interested

Interested but no plans to implement

Planning to implement in the next 12 months

Implemented, not expanding/ upgrading

Expanding or upgrading implementation

Decreasing or removing

Don’t know/does not apply

Advanced analytics to identify new risks, opportunities, and obligations

Not interested

Interested but no plans to implement

Planning to implement in the next 12 months

Implemented, not expanding/ upgrading

Expanding or upgrading implementation

Decreasing or removing

Don’t know/does not apply

AI-enabled wizard to guide users to the right contract templates and clauses

Not interested

Interested but no plans to implement

Planning to implement in the next 12 months

Implemented, not expanding/ upgrading

Expanding or upgrading implementation

Decreasing or removing

Don’t know/does not apply

Automated capture and metadata clause tagging of legacy or third-party contracts

Not interested

Interested but no plans to implement

Planning to implement in the next 12 months

Implemented, not expanding/ upgrading

Expanding or upgrading implementation

Decreasing or removing

Don’t know/does not apply

Bots for voice or IM user interaction with systems

Not interested

Interested but no plans to implement

Planning to implement in the next 12 months

Implemented, not expanding/ upgrading

Expanding or upgrading implementation

Decreasing or removing

Don’t know/does not apply

Easy integration into business apps

Not interested

Interested but no plans to implement

Planning to implement in the next 12 months

Implemented, not expanding/ upgrading

Expanding or upgrading implementation

Decreasing or removing

Don’t know/does not apply

Real-time analytics into number of contracts in the process

Not interested

Interested but no plans to implement

Planning to implement in the next 12 months

Implemented, not expanding/ upgrading

Expanding or upgrading implementation

Decreasing or removing

Don’t know/does not apply

Robotic process automation for approval of changes to standard contract language

Not interested

Interested but no plans to implement

Planning to implement in the next 12 months

Implemented, not expanding/ upgrading

Expanding or upgrading implementation

Decreasing or removing

Don’t know/does not apply

Semantic analysis AI to identify new issues in contracts

Not interested

Interested but no plans to implement

Planning to implement in the next 12 months

Implemented, not expanding/ upgrading

Expanding or upgrading implementation

Decreasing or removing

Don’t know/does not apply

4 of 8 4 of 7 4 of 7 4 of 6 3 of 7 3 of 6 3 of 6 3 of 6

Questions

Generally speaking, which of the following best describes your organization. (Select one.)

We have clear and open lines of communication across all teams and all levels of seniority.

We have clear and open lines of communication across all teams, but not all levels of seniority.

We have clear and open lines of communication across most teams and all levels of seniority.

We have clear and open lines of communication across most teams, but not all levels of seniority.

We do not have clear and open lines of communication across teams, but we do across all levels of seniority.

We do not have clear and open lines of communication across teams or levels of seniority.

Other (please specify):

Don't know

None of the above

Other:

5 of 8 5 of 7 5 of 7 5 of 6 4 of 7 4 of 6 4 of 6 4 of 6

Questions

Are you interested in a CLM solution? (Select one.)

Yes

Don't know

6 of 8

6 of 7

6 of 6

5 of 7

5 of 6

Questions

Please rank the top five most valuable capabilities you would look for in a CLM solution. (Rank up to top five)

Advanced analytics to identify new risks, opportunities, and obligations

12345

AI-enabled wizard to guide users to the right contract templates and clauses

12345

Automated capture and metadata clause tagging of legacy or third-party contracts

12345

Bots for voice or IM user interaction with systems

12345

Easy integration into business apps

12345

Real-time analytics into number of contracts in the process

12345

Robotic process automation for approval of changes to standard contract language

12345

Semantic analysis AI to identify new issues in contracts

12345

Other (please specify):

12345

Other:

7 of 8

7 of 7

6 of 7

6 of 6

Questions

Why are you not interested in a CLM solution? (Select all that apply.)

CLM solutions are too expensive.

My organization is too small to warrant a CLM solution.

We can’t align across business units on a single solution.

We don’t have executive buy-in for a new solution.

Our current CLM processes work well; there is no need for a technology solution.

Don’t see the value

Other (please specify):

Don’t know

Other:

8 of 8 7 of 7 7 of 7 6 of 6

Chart Placeholder

Results Overview

Contracts are the glue that binds today’s business world together. They define who does what, for how much, and when. They also define responsibilities and obligations when things don’t work as planned. Managing contract lifecycles in a simple, comprehensive manner is not just a nice-to-have. It is imperative in today’s business world.

We focused on five primary factors regarding each respondent’s approach to contract lifecycle management:

1. How they currently manage contracts.
2. How well their CLM solution is integrated with processes.
3. How long contract creation takes.
4. What new technology investments they are making.
5. How open the lines of communication are at their organization.

Where is your firm today, and what can you do to improve your contract lifecycle management in the future? Continue to see your personal results and recommendations.

Your maturity result: BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Chart Placeholder

Your score means your contract lifecycle management maturity is only at the beginning stage.

You are primarily using your CLM application as a contract repository and for basic analysis of your contract portfolio’s risks and entitlements.
You have manual processes for importing third-party or legacy contracts and applying the appropriate metadata tags to contract terms and conditions.
Your legal department is using some CLM functionality to draft and manage versions of your contracts but without enabling business partners to initiate contract drafts on their own.
You have some mechanisms for pulling counter-party data from your CRM or sourcing applications, but not full integration.
Your contract data is not integrated into your order management or purchasing systems for automated contract compliance during transactions with customers or suppliers.

Recommendations

Work with legal to set up rules for what contract language should be used in contracts drafted by business users and establish workflow for who would approve changes to standard contract clauses.
Train business users and legal on how to use CLM to allow business users to draft contracts with legal controls on what language can and can’t be changed.
Fully integrate your CLM system with your CRM and/or sourcing apps.

Your score means your contract lifecycle management maturity has advanced to the intermediate stage.

You use your CLM system as the primary method for creating new contracts, as well as a contract repository and a source of reports and analysis on your contract portfolio.
You have some automated tools for importing third-party or legacy contracts and applying the appropriate metadata tags to contract terms and conditions.
You have integrated your CLM system with upstream applications like CRM (lead management) or sourcing, so deals get quickly turned into contracts.
Your contract data is not integrated into your order management or purchasing systems for automated contract compliance during transactions with customers or suppliers.

Recommendations

Integrate your contract data into your order management and/or purchasing and invoicing systems.
Upgrade to automated tools for importing third-party or legacy contracts.
Start to do systematic analysis of your contract portfolio for risks and improvement in contract language.

Congratulations! Your score means that your contract lifecycle management strategy is advanced.

You are using your CLM system to create new contracts quickly and efficiently, with full legal controls over final contract language and integration with upstream apps.
You are achieving increased contract compliance through integration of contract data with your order management, purchasing, and/or invoicing systems.
Your business customer or supplier relationship management teams have integrated contract information into their dashboards for tracking and managing these relationships.
You have full visibility into risks and obligations in your contract portfolio.

Recommendations

Use advanced analytics to identify contract language that is not achieving your business objectives.
Create analytics for your CFO about the future financial implications of your contracts.

View your detailed results

https://go.pardot.com/l/217282/2020-03-18/5clm1p?Forrester_Assessment_URL=

COOKIE ACCEPTANCE IS REQUIRED TO DOWNLOAD DETAILED RESULTS

Next Steps

Download your results

Ready to get started?

Conga has been a trusted partner to our customers for more than 10 years. With nearly 1 million users worldwide, we’ve helped optimize many different business processes to help save time, reduce costs and remove roadblocks. We’re excited to answer your questions or share how we’ve helped solve problems similar to yours. Send us an email at info@conga.com, or call us at:

1.866.502.3334 for the United States
(+44) 20 3608 0165 for Europe, Middle East, and Africa
(+61) 2 8417 2399 for Asia Pacific

Methodology, Disclaimers and Disclosures

Methodology

In this study, Forrester conducted an online survey of 211 respondents in the US, EMEA, and Asia Pacific to evaluate current approaches to contract lifecycle management. Survey participants included decision makers in finance/accounting, operations, IT, procurement, sales, and legal at businesses with sell-side, buy-side, and/or source-to-contract contracts. All respondents issued and/or managed contracts as part of their business’ day-to-day operations and all respondents manage, create, or execute contracts. Respondents were offered a small incentive as a thank you for time spent on the survey. The study was completed in December 2019.

Disclaimers

Although we’ve taken great care to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this assessment, Conga and Forrester are unable to accept any legal responsibility for any actions taken on the basis of the information contained herein.

Disclosures

This interactive tool is commissioned by Conga and delivered by Forrester Consulting.

Required Inputs

Please enter an answer for all of the fields on this screen before continuing to the next.

Choose your country