But as simple as a contract may seem, ensuring there is a safe and secure way to easily approve, sign and store contracts is something many organisations are still behind on, creating unnecessary risk within the enterprise.
Contracts should create, store and protect value. Yet, often, they strangle productivity and choke growth. What should be the connective tissue of value creation, is in fact the cholesterol that chokes the arteries of businesses.
The days of physical filing cabinets and archive rooms are gone, and contracts stored in desk drawers or emails become ticking time-bombs. With the enormous effort that goes into drafting, negotiating, approving, and signing contracts, they should be stored securely, but remain easy to find when needed.
Many in-house Legal departments combat this issue by using contract management software to draft, approve and sign contracts, manage risk, and generate revenue. Moreover, top Legal departments have paved the way for their whole business to realise the benefits of contract management software.
Take New Zealand energy provider Powerco for example. The Legal team at Powerco originally introduced a contract management system in April 2021 and it has since become a staple across the whole business.
General Counsel and Company Secretary, Jemma Stevenson, used Plexus’ contract management platform to send documents to C‑Suite and Board members from all over New Zealand and Australia during COVID-19 lockdowns.
At the same time, Eric Pullicer, VP of Business Development has his whole team use the Plexus platform for all Commercial agreements and Commercial legal documents noting that “once the Plexus system was put in, we gained efficiency, we reduced our risk around contracts and we improved the way we interacted with Legal.”
