I have a company that specializes in placing high-level technology talent at large-scale technology implementations or software development commissions. One of my clients, Jim, said he was using ContractRoom, a new contracting process automation solution and he wanted me to review his MSA with this software.
I asked if ContractRoom was contract lifecycle management or contract management software, because I have seen a lot of them and frankly, I am not that impressed. It seems like all they do is provide a contract repository and help with the alerts AFTER the contract is completed.
In my case, my biggest pain point is during the negotiation. All the phone calls, emails, redlines, and meetings that go on during a negotiation are time-consuming and produce a lot of mistakes. Jim, said that ContractRoom automates the entire contracting process, from preparing the offer, all the way through archival. He said the entire transaction is digital too, so I can integrate with Salesforce, or another CRM system, on the front-end, and my billing system on the backend. So, that sounded pretty cool. But best of all, since my client was paying for the software, I got to use it for free.
So, even though ContractRoom sounded different, I actually expected the same old thing: an email with the contract attached that had be discussed by phone, or that required never-ending email discussions, and then had to be redlined. To my surprise, ContractRoom didn’t work like that at all!
First, I received an email from ContractRoom. It told me that Jim had invited me to review his company’s MSA in ContractRoom. All I had to do was click on Review Now from the email and I was directed to what’s called a Contract Room. All of the business terms are negotiated in one area and the Preview allows me to see the whole document and request text changes. If my colleagues and I disagreed with or wanted to change any of the terms, we click on a Not Okay button -- the fields unlock and I can change term details, like price per hour, duration of the agreement, and more. Then I just click Send Now and ContractRoom tells Jim I’m done reviewing his agreement and to go see my changes. He then accepts the changes, or counteroffers back. We can also send comments to each other, so we know why we’re making specific changes. In fact, I couldn’t believe how easy it was to use.
As you can see, the entire negotiation process is completely automated, I never have to leave ContractRoom for a phone call, to send an email, or to comment on the document. ContractRoom calls this a singular negotiation platform. I call it a lifesaver.
Most important, ContractRoom is fast so it saves me time. From the time Jim sent me his first offer, he got my counteroffer back in less than 15 minutes. Jim and I usually spend at least 30 minutes just reading the agreement together! Then, I spend a lot more time redlining or notating … So, ContractRoom saved me at least 45 minutes, just on the Counteroffer alone.
I thanked Jim for introducing me to ContractRoom, the system really reimagines the whole contracting process with a great user experience.
