Below is a Q&A session with Mark Zeise, CEO and founder of Trackado. Mark started Trackado, a simple and user-friendly contract management system, together with Nicolas Warkotsch. Mark and Nicolas both have experience with management positions within IT and finance and are very familiar with the struggles of managing contract portfolios. To combat these struggles, they decided to create a solution that would make managing contracts a breeze.
There are many ways of managing contracts, why do companies need a contract management system?
The main reason a company needs a contract management system is to gain full control over their contracts. A system will provide structure and allow necessary people to have knowledge of where contracts are stored and stay up to date on milestones, deadlines and renewal dates. It will also streamline processes and give you a clear overview of all your contracts, renewal dates, contract values and committed spend.
CEO and founder of Trackado
Without a contract management system, companies often struggle with disorganized contracts, making it difficult to locate and manage important documents, as well as collaborating on contracts can be challenging, which in turn leads to delays and miscommunications.
Compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards may be less assured without a centralized system to track and enforce contract terms. So, by having a centralized contract management tool, you have not only facilitated the way you work, but you have also automatically taken steps toward compliance.
Trackado is especially beneficial for small and medium businesses (SMBs), why is that?
Yes, even though Trackado packs a lot of powerful features, it is designed to make it very easy to get started for small and medium businesses (SMBs). It’s not at all complicated to address the typical use-cases relevant for SMBs, and Trackado has pricing plans that are affordable for smaller businesses.
Clients who come to us usually have a legacy solution, an excel list, or even keep their contracts in paper cabinets. For them, Trackado is a great first step to easily get started with contract management and building a good foundation for how contracts are managed.
As the clients grow and their contract management processes get more mature, they typically start using more and more of Trackado’s features. There are no restrictions on how many contracts can be managed and the tool is used by bigger enterprises as well. We have customers managing less than 20 contracts, while others have as many as several thousand.
How should one use Trackado for the best results?
Trackado should be incorporated as a valuable part of the contract management process, but how to use it for optimal results depends on the specific requirements of the client.
Typically, a process might start with you receiving a contract from a vendor that is pretty much ready to be signed. But before signing, there might be approvals or review processes required. The first step is to put the contract through the approval process. Once internal approvals are done, the next step is the signing process with the external party, this could be done fully electronically with Trackado. You would initiate an e-signing process and when the contract gets back it lands automatically in Trackado.
The contract is then stored in the repository, which is the central database for all your contract information. You can store it there right away, or you might want to tag or segment your contracts based on data or metrics in order to make them easier to track. In the repository, all contracts are accessible to every stakeholder. Trackado will then notify all the necessary people about milestones, obligations or key dates in relation to the contract. It could be ending dates, renewal dates or even project deliveries, anything that is relevant for a person to know about a contract.
Additionally, you can also use Trackado for financial reporting. This function is especially beneficial for people in the sales operation, purchasing or finance department. There, you can see spend- and revenue potential per contract level and in financially agreed terms, and you can also see contract values, revenue potential and committed spend over the whole portfolio.
What are some common pitfalls when it comes to contract management, and how can one avoid them?
The biggest pitfall, especially for SMBs, is not having a structured process. When there is no process in place, a signed contract usually ends up in a private email folder, an excel document or a shared drive. Since many contracts tend to run over a longer period of time, it’s easy to forget about where it was stored and when it will be renewed. And sometimes responsibilities within the company change, and the person who signed the contract may not be working in the same position anymore. In other words, it’s difficult to stay on top of important dates and keep track of all contracts.
It’s really important that there is a structured process to contract management and to store the contracts in a centralized repository. So that even if people are leaving and responsibilities change, you know that all contracts signed by the company are stored in one place accessible to every stakeholder. And if you have compliance processes that you need to pre-approve or legally binding e-signatures, you’ll have it all in the same place.
A contract management system allows you to have all your contracts in one place, and automatically be reminded of upcoming dates so you won’t end up with a renewal or an invoice you didn’t want.
What kind of value does Trackado provide for your customers?
Without a system it’s difficult to keep track of your contracts and you might end up with expensive renewals you didn’t want. We are offering a tool to help provide a structured process for contract management in an easy and manageable way.
For small and medium businesses, it can often feel like a big hurdle to get started managing your contracts, but our system is designed to make the process as smooth and easy as possible. We always offer to help clients with getting started and their data migration, but since the tool is easy to use most of our clients handle it by themselves.
In Trackado you get workflows, e-signing, contract storage in a centralized repository, reminders, all in one tool to help you get full control of the situation.
How is your service different from your competitors?
We are different because we focus specifically on SMBs to fit their needs and wants, hence the very attractive pricing. Trackado is designed to be very user-friendly, it’s basically self explanatory and most of our clients can get started themselves without even needing a training session. A lot of our clients tell us they really appreciate the simplicity of the system, it requires very little effort but has a huge impact on their efficiency.
So, our solution is an easy-to-use system with beautiful user experience that facilitates your contract management processes, compared to larger systems that tend to be more complicated, time-consuming and costly.
When a company decides to use Trackado for their contract management, what can they expect after they sign up?
Trackado offers Software-as-a-Service, which means there is no installation, set up or configuration required. All you have to do is sign up on the webpage and choose the package that suits their needs. As soon as you’ve signed up, you’ll receive all necessary information that will guide you through the tool, so you can get started by yourself right away. You also have the opportunity to see different features based on your specific requirements or get help with the initial import of contracts.
Regardless of whether you would like to work independently or receive guidance, we are here to help you get started with your contract management as smoothly as possible.
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