Did you know that on average 9.2% of annual revenue is lost due to contract mismanagement?1 Good control and governance is therefore essential to ensure effective and secure contract management. At the same time, reports from the Journal of Contract Management show that 71% of businesses fail to win one in nine contracts as a result of poor contract management.2. In this article, you can read what benefits contract management in Microsoft 365 has for businesses.
Advantages of Microsoft 365 for Contract Management
In today’s dynamic business environment, effective contract management is essential to ensure agreements are fulfilled and risks are minimized. By implementing contract management on Microsoft 365, organizations can benefit from a range of advanced features and integrations that improve both the security and efficiency of contract management.
With the possibility of seamless integration to a number of tools, this not only provides better functionality, you also get an intuitive user experience in handling your contracts Employees can work in familiar environments, which reduces the need for training and increases productivity. Overall, Microsoft 365 provides a comprehensive and secure contract management platform that can help organizations achieve better control, visibility and efficiency in their contract management.
Data storage
Data storage in the ShareControl Contract is designed to be both secure and user-friendly by leveraging the power of Microsoft 365 and SharePoint. All contract data is stored centrally in SharePoint, which provides a structured and easily accessible database for all your agreements. This centralized storage system ensures that all documents are organized in a logical manner, leading to improved searchability and reducing time spent locating specific contracts.
Companies with 1,000 employees spend about $2.5-3.5 million to search for or recreate lost documents.
Procurement Tactics “Contract Management Statistics 2024 – 55 Key Figures”
Security from Microsoft
By adopting Microsoft 365 for digital contract management, organizations can gain a number of benefits that can improve the efficiency and security of any business. The platform offers advanced security features such as two-factor authentication, data encryption and regular security updates that protect sensitive contract data against unauthorized access and potential cyber threats. Microsoft 365 is also designed to comply with global privacy and security standards, including GDPR, ensuring your organization’s data handling is legally secure.
Security is a cornerstone of Microsoft 365, and this is especially true for contract management. With ShareControl Contract integrated into Microsoft 365, you can be sure that your contracts will not disappear. The platform offers comprehensive data protection mechanisms such as regular backups and data encryption. These features ensure that the contracts are always available and protected, whether due to technical failures or cyber threats.
Security from Microsoft
Security is a critical factor in contract management because contracts often contain sensitive and confidential information that can have significant financial and legal consequences if compromised. Unauthorized access to contracts can lead to data leaks, financial losses and damage to the company’s reputation.
Furthermore, failure to comply with privacy and security standards, such as GDPR, can result in severe fines and legal sanctions. Ensuring that contract data is protected from cyber-attacks and unauthorized access is therefore essential to maintaining the integrity and reliability of business agreements.
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Integration possibilities in Microsoft 365
The integration with other Microsoft tools is another significant benefit of the Microsoft 365 environment. The platform includes applications such as SharePoint, Power Automate, Power BI and Excel, all of which can be seamlessly integrated with the contract management system. This makes it possible to automate workflows, set up alerts and create detailed reports without the need for manual intervention. For example, you can easily create automated alerts for important contract deadlines using Power Automate, or generate tailored reports and visualizations in Power BI to gain better insight into your contract portfolio.
The seamless integration with these tools not only provides better functionality, but also a more intuitive user experience. Employees can work in familiar environments, which reduces the need for training and increases productivity. Overall, Microsoft 365 provides a comprehensive and secure contract management platform that can help organizations achieve better control, visibility and efficiency in their contract management.
Read also: How to benefit from digital contract management?
Effective organization and access to contracts
Effective organization and easy access to contracts are essential to ensure that the business can handle its agreements in a structured and proactive manner. By using ShareControl Contract for contract management in Microsoft 365, organizations can take advantage of a number of features that improve both the organization and availability of contract data.
Create automated notifications
With automated notifications, you can always be prepared for important deadlines and milestones in your contracts. Using Power Automate, you can set up alerts that send emails or messages when contracts are approaching renewal dates, payment deadlines, or other critical times. This reduces the risk of missing important deadlines and ensures that necessary measures are taken in time.
Customized reports
Another key feature of the ShareControl Contract is the ability to create customized reports using Power BI. This integration gives users access to not only standard reports, but also the ability to customize and visualize contract data according to specific needs.
With tailor-made reports, you can easily analyze data across different dimensions, identify trends and patterns, and gain deeper insight into your contract portfolio. An example of reporting and insight is “what are the total costs and liabilities of your contracts?“. This makes it possible to make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date data, which strengthens the strategic management of the business.
ShareControl Contract for Microsoft 365
ShareControl Contract is a software solution for the administration of contracts, designed to give businesses full control and overview of their agreements. The application is built on Microsoft 365 and integrated with SharePoint. This gives users of ShareControl Contract a user-friendly platform for efficient storage, administration and signing of contract data. With its robust security framework based on Microsoft 365, the solution protects sensitive information from unauthorized access and ensures that all data is handled in accordance with GDPR and other privacy laws.
Using Microsoft 365 for contract management gives businesses the ability to create and manage a central contract library. This makes it easy to organize the contracts in a structured way, which improves searchability and accessibility. The integration with Microsoft Power Automate also makes it possible to set up automatic notifications for important deadlines, such as renewals and payment dates, so that no critical deadlines are overlooked.
The solution allows users to create customized reports and visualizations with Power BI, which provide deeper insight into the contract portfolio and help with strategic decisions. This is how you secure and improve financial reporting by ensuring an accurate overview of cash flows, cost forecasts, risk and compliance.
With its robust security framework based on Microsoft 365, the ShareControl Contract protects sensitive information from unauthorized access and ensures that all data is handled in accordance with GDPR and other privacy laws.
World Commerce & Contracting. “Poor Contract Management Continues To Costs Companies 9% Of Their Bottom Line” . ↩︎Entrepreneur, 2008. “Do You Know Where Your Contracts Are?”. ↩︎