Contract management is the process of management of contracts, earlier this work was done manually, but now different software is available in the market which performs the task of contract management. These types of software are called contract management software. Today software has made the process of contract management software easier and faster.
But contract management is a complex process which involves a lot of stages, and hence, there are some essential features in contract management which are necessary to deal with the problems in the contract management process.
Important features in Contract Management
There are numerous features in contract management software, which is necessary for the completion of the contract management process. But some features are a must in every contract management software, whether it is a paid software or free contract management software.
The four most important or the must-have features in any contract management software are-
- Security – Security is one of the most important things which needs to be provided in every contract. Thus security is one of the essential features, which is a must in any contract management software. Security deals with two types of protection. One of the security means security provided to all documents related to contracts.
Today all the records are kept secure by keeping them in the cloud storage, which is much better than system storage. This makes damaging the files almost impossible. The second security deals with access problems. Only people related to the contract must have access to the documents related to the contract. This is provided by particular types of digital locks which are provided by the software. This allows only the company and the customer to have access to the contract tools. - Notification and Automated Alerts – This feature connects to the notifications given by the contract management software. It is essential to notify the customer about the details and dates of the critical times in any contract. Automated alerts also include every progress reports which is provided to the customer by the company about the contract.
This makes the customer alert about any advancements and any updates in the contracts. Customer satisfaction is an important requirement in the contract management process. Thus it becomes vital for the company to make the customer satisfied at every level of the contract management work. This makes the notification feature a must in every contract management software. - User-friendliness – A software must be user-friendly. Usability is not only an essential feature of contract management software, but this feature relates to every software available on the market. This is a crucial feature because customers mustn’t face any problem in operating the software.
User-friendliness is not a feature; it can be called as a collection of features which are provided only for making the software easy for the user. Features in terms of user-friendliness may differ from one software to another. Thus user-friendly is one of must feature in any contract management software, whether it is paid or free. - Auditing Features – Regular auditing is necessary for any of the contracts. Verification is required for providing updates about the work in any contract management process. Thus auditing is one of the essential features in any contract management software. Regular audits make the process of contract management more comfortable and more reliable.
Conclusion
Contract management software has become a need in today’s world. This is because contract management through software has made the contract management cycle easier and reliable. But every contract management software has some essential features which are needed in every contract management cycle. This is the most important features which are required for every contract management software. This includes the security features, auditing features, the user-friendliness in the software etc. There are a lot of features provided in the contract management software available in the market today. But the features mentioned above are must in every contract management functions.
