TABLE

 OF  CONTENTS

02 Introduction

03 Analyst  Insight:  Gartner  on  Contract  Lifecycle  Management

04 The  Impact  of  Contracts  on  Your  Business

05 Navigating  the  Contract  Lifecycle

06 Key  Terms  and  Contract  Process  Flow

14 CLM  for  Any  Type  of  Contract

15 Easing  the  Pain  of  Contract  Management

16 5  Common  Contract  Pain  Points

18 Effective  Contract  Lifecycle  Management  Accelerates  Deals  and  Eliminates  Risks

19 4  Steps  to  Achieving  Contract  Management  Excellence  

22 CLM:  The  Backbone  of  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash

23 Why  Partner  with  Apttus  for  Contract  Lifecycle  Management

24 Real  Stories  from  Real  CLM  Customers

25 Conclusion

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INTRODUCTION
Building  a  Strategic  Advantage  with  Contract  
Lifecycle  Management

You  might  see  contract  management  as  something  that  only  

pertains  to  legal  or  finance.  But  if  you’re  responsible  for  closing  
deals,  you’re  more  involved  with  contracts  than  you  realize.  Every  
business  should  care  very  much  what’s  inside  its  contracts,  
because  they  are  binding,  and  they  govern  over  80%  of  
transactions  and  value.

Contracts  are  the  lifeblood  of  companies.    They  outline  the  rights  
and  obligations  of  the  company  and  its  customers,  vendors  and  
partners.

If  your  Contract  Lifecycle  Management  (CLM)  isn’t  integrated  

within  a  full  end-­‐to-­‐end  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  process,  you  are  missing  
opportunities  to  streamline  sales,  standardize  terms,  increase  
efficiency,  and  eliminate  risk  across  the  organization.  

This  guide  will  outline  the  steps  of  the  contract  lifecycle  and  show  
how  you  can  maximize  the  value  of  your  deals  with  effective  
Contract  Lifecycle  Management.

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 “CLM is evolving from an operational record-keeping system,
primarily used for legal audit purposes, to an enterprise-level
core system addressing business risk, costs and the pursuit of
revenue maximization. CIOs and line-of-business management
need to identify the right solution for their needs.”
Gartner,  Market  Guide  for  Contract  Life  Cycle  Management,  
Nigel  Montgomery  and  Deborah  R  Wilson,  16  July  2015

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THE  IMPACT  OF  CONTRACTS  
ON  YOUR  BUSINESS
Contract  Data  Determines  Revenue  and  Costs

Contracts  are  the  roadmap  to  your  business  deals.  They  define  
what  someone  is  paying  you,  how  long  they’ll  be  paying  you,  if  you  
are  responsible  for  replacing  broken  products,  when  the  customer  
is  free  to  leave  and  much  more.  Any  mistakes  in  this  process  can  
increase  your  liability  and  have  a  significant  impact  on  your  
bottom  line.

The  clauses  within  contracts  are  inundated  with  business-­‐critical  

legal  terms.  Start  and  end  dates,  payment  terms,  service  levels,  
customer  support  levels,  warranty  periods  and  agreement  values  
are  all  conveyed  in  your  contracts.  Having  insight  into  these  terms  
is  not  only  critical,  but  can  dramatically  simplify  everyday  business  
for  your  legal,  finance,  sales  and  executive  teams.

4  WAYS  CONTRACTS  SIMPLIFY  YOUR  BUSINESS

Contracts  Simplify  Business
Contracts  outline  explicit  expectations  and  instructions  for  both  
parties  involved  in  the  deal.  Companies  with  the  right  amount  of  
visibility  and  foresight  can  use  the  data  in  their  contracts  to  their   1. Establish  clear  expectations  for  all  parties
advantage.  Benefits  of  greater  contract  visibility  include  more  
accurate  revenue  forecasting,  trend  analysis  to  improve  selling  and   2. Ensure  control  of  resources
negotiation,  better  risk  management  and  better  coordination  of   3. Optimize  revenue  and  cost  streams
sales  and  legal  teams.  When  you’re  managing  your  contracts  
appropriately,  it’s  easy  to  find  places  to  streamline  and  optimize   4. Streamline  business  processes
both  in  your  sales  cycles  and  your  revenue  management.

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NAVIGATING  THE  CONTRACT  LIFECYCLE
Contract  management  is  more  than  just  taking  care  of  some  documents.  At  its  most  basic  level,  contract  management  software  might be  little  more  
than  an  electronic  version  of  a  filing  cabinet.  But  a  filing  cabinet  doesn’t  help  you  understand  what’s  inside  it—or  help  your  business  get  the  most  
value  from  the  processes  that  fill  the  filing  cabinet  with  agreements.  To  make  the  most  of  your  contracts,  you  need  to  manage the  entire  contract  
lifecycle.

The  contract  lifecycle  is  a  broad  discipline  that  includes  everything  from  managing  your  executed  contracts  in  a  repository  to  requests,  authoring,  
negotiation  and  execution.  Effective  contract  management  requires  an  understand  of  every  step  in  the  contract  process,  including any  process  that  
contributes,  creates  or  utilizes  contract  data.  Here  is  a  more  detailed  look  at  the  key  functions  and  process  steps  a  contract  undergoes  during  its  
lifecycle.

THE  CONTRACT  LIFECYCLE

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KEY  TERMS  AND  CONTRACT  PROCESS  FLOW
1.  REQUEST:  A  business  user  asks  for  a  contract

The  first  step  in  the  contract  process  is  for  someone  in  the  company  to  request  a  new  contract.  In  many  companies,  the  request  process  can  be  
very  informal  and  disorganized.  Templates  are  not  centrally  located  or  accessible,  resulting  in  outdated  contracts  being  used as ad-­‐hoc  templates,  
exposing  the  company  to  financial  and  compliance  risk.  A  casual  contract  request  process  is  also  slow  and  inefficient,  with  the  details  needed  to  
create  the  contract  shared  by  email  or  verbally.

By  automating  the  contract  request  process  with  a  guided  self-­‐service  tool,  individual  business  groups  can  request  the  contract  types  they  need  
and  contract  creators—usually  in  the  legal  department—can  respond  according  to  measurable  service  level  agreements  they  have  with  their  
business  teams.

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KEY  TERMS  AND  CONTRACT  PROCESS  FLOW
2.  DRAFTING:  A  contract  is  created

When  it  comes  to  actually  creating  a  contract,  the  goal  is  to  eliminate  manual  work  and  reduce  the  time  required  without  introducing  unnecessary  
risk.  If  legal  has  to  get  involved  to  create  every  single  standard  contract,  your  contract  management  process  and  even  your  sales  cycles  become  
riddled  with  bottlenecks—not  to  mention  very  costly.  Lawyers  have  a  very  specialized  set  of  skills  and  their  time  is  very  valuable.  It’s  ideal,  
wherever  possible,  to  use  templates  for  everyday  contracts  and  common  clauses.  That  way,  high-­‐value  resources  can  focus  on  the  exceptions  such  
as  complex  or  one-­‐off  strategic  agreements  that  require  significant  negotiation.

With  contract  lifecycle  management,  the  drafting  process  can  be  significantly  automated  with  centralized  templates  that  are  automatically  filled  in  
with  contract  details.  Once  your  lawyers  have  approved  contract  templates  one  time,  software  can  reuse  the  templates  over  and over  with  almost  
no  intervention.  Your  legal  team  lives  in  Microsoft  Word,  so  finding  a  tool  that  will  integrate  with  Word  is  critical  to  their  adoption  of  CLM.

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KEY  TERMS  AND  CONTRACT  PROCESS  FLOW
3.  NEGOTIATION:  Terms  are  agreed  between  parties

The  negotiation  phase  is  what  most  of  us  typically  think  of  when  we  think  about  contracts,  but  you  have  to  be  careful  that  you  aren’t  limiting  the  
scope  of  negotiation  to  price.  Everything  about  the  business  exchange  is  included  in  the  contract:  service  levels,  liabilities,  options  for  renewal  or  
termination,  intellectual  property,  publicity  and  dozens  of  other  factors.  Nearly  all  of  these  terms  are  potentially  open  to  negotiation.  You  need  to  
make  sure  those  terms  offer  the  best  outcome  for  your  business  while  still  remaining  agreeable  to  the  other  party.

During  the  negotiation  phase,  it’s  important  to  have  the  most  up-­‐to-­‐date  terms  and  then  track  any  changes  the  counterparty  makes.  It’s  easy  
enough  to  track  changes  using  built-­‐in  capabilities  in  Word,  but  these  tools  aren’t  designed  for  documents  that  pass  through  many  hands.  And  it’s  
fairly  easy  for  the  other  side  to  slip  something  into  a  Word  document  without  you  noticing.  With  contract  management  software,  all  changes  can  
be  tracked  in  real  time  with  visibility  to  all  involved  on  your  side,  maintaining  accuracy  and  consistency  throughout  negotiations.  Since  most  of  a  
contract  manager’s  or  lawyer’s  time  is  spent  working  with  Microsoft  Word,  it’s  important  that  your  CLM  system  allow  users  to  perform  the  
negotiation  tasks  directly  inside  the  tool  they’re  most  familiar  with  using  already.

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KEY  TERMS  AND  CONTRACT  PROCESS  FLOW
4.  APPROVAL:  Internal  controls  ensure  the  best  outcome

Part  of  the  challenge  of  approvals  is  finding  the  right  balance  between  too  much  and  not  enough  oversight.  This  is  where  the  speed  vs.  control  
conundrum  is  felt  most  acutely.  Your  sales  teams’  paychecks  ride  on  getting  the  contract  through,  but  depending  on  the  importance  of  the  
contract,  you  may  need  a  high  level  of  legal  or  executive  involvement  to  make  sure  your  interests  are  protected.  It’s  critical  that  your  system  have  
the  ability  to  facilitate  the  approvals  and  controls  needed  to  protect  the  company’s  interests  while  maintaining  the  flexibility to  automatically  
navigate  the  quickest  route  to  executing  the  agreement.

Approvals  must  come  from  all  of  the  appropriate  internal  teams.  With  an  advanced  contract  management  system,  this  can  all  be  done  
electronically  and  even  on  mobile  devices,  dramatically  decreasing  your  contract  cycles.

7  COMMON  PAIN  POINTS  OF  

CONTRACT  MANAGEMENT

1. Speed  vs.  control  tradeoffs

2. Limited  visibility  into  terms,  obligations  and  values
3. Information  and  process  silos
4. Manual  processes
5. Inconsistent  legal  language  used  across  contracts
6. Inability  to  manage  changes  or  monitor  contracts  over  time
7. Lengthy  or  sidestepped  approvals

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KEY  TERMS  AND  CONTRACT  PROCESS  FLOW
5.  EXECUTION:  The  contract  is  put  into  effect  and  placed  in  a  repository

Execution  is  the  stage  where  the  contract  goes  into  effect,  at  which  time  the  terms  become  a  set  of  instructions  for  the  different  parties  who  need  
to  deliver  against  them.  This  is  where  having  a  seamless  process  for  getting  contract  details  to  fulfillment  is  critical.  This  is  also  where  revenue  
recognition  kicks  in.

Once  the  contract  is  executed,  what  happens  to  the  contract  document?  Ideally,  it’s  stored  in  a  centralized  place  where  it’s  easy  to  access  in  case  
of  a  dispute  or  a  need  to  modify  it.  Unfortunately,  for  a  lot  of  businesses,  a  contract’s  final  resting  place  is  a  file  cabinet  somewhere  in  the  legal  
department  or  an  individual’s  hard  drive.  If  you  manage  your  contracts  that  way,  you  are  missing  a  lot  of  the  revenue  growth  opportunity  afforded  
by  contract  management,  and  potentially  opening  yourself  up  to  risk.  You  can’t  manage  what  you  can’t  find.

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KEY  TERMS  AND  CONTRACT  PROCESS  FLOW
6.  OBLIGATIONS:  Ensure  both  sides  meet  their  end  of  the  agreement

At  the  obligations  stage,  it’s  time  to  get  to  work.  Your  sales  contracts  put  you  on  the  hook  to  deliver  goods  and  services,  to  meet  deadlines,  to  
issue  reports  and  to  do  many  other  things.  On  the  flip  side,  your  contracts  also  entitle  you  to  get  paid  if  you  live  up  to  your  end  of  the  agreement.

But  sometimes  the  implementation  of  these  contract  line  items  is  easier  said  than  done.  There  are  a  couple  of  ways  companies  can approach  this  
problem.  Shut  their  eyes  and  hope  for  the  best,  hire  an  admin  to  manage  the  chaos  in  an  incredibly  detailed  spreadsheet—or  integrate  their  
contract  management  system  with  front-­‐ and  back-­‐end  systems,  so  changes  to  the  contract  are  delivered  to  sales,  customer  success,  fulfillment  
and  operations  teams  for  action.

With  strong  obligation  management  tied  into  CRM  and  ERP,  you  won’t  miss  a  deadline  or  lose  track  of  a  payment.

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KEY  TERMS  AND  CONTRACT  PROCESS  FLOW
7.  COMPLIANCE:  Meet  all  reporting,  search,  and  government  requirements

While  you’re  handling  all  the  obligations  created  by  your  contracts,  there  are  plenty  of  other  things  you  need  to  do  with  all your  contract  data.  You  
need  to  provide  regular  reporting  to  internal  and  possibly  external  parties  about  the  contracts  you  have  and  your  performance to your  obligations.  
You  also  might  need  to  locate  specific  contracts  to  comply  with  industry  requirements,  government  regulations,  audits  and  responses  to  lawsuits.

To  meet  all  these  needs,  it’s  important  that  your  repository  have  detailed  search  and  reporting  capabilities.  You  want  to  be  able  to  search  for  
business  terms,  contract  clauses,  performance  to  obligation  and—when  all  else  fails—for  free  text.  Without  a  repository  searching  for  information  
in  your  contracts  can  be  costly,  time-­‐consuming  and  distracting.

The  quicker  you  can  access  the  information  inside  your  contracts  and  take  necessary  action,  the  more  money  you'll  save,  the  more you’ll  reduce  
overall  risk  and  the  less  you'll  pull  the  business  away  from  its  key  activities.

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KEY  TERMS  &  CONTRACT  PROCESS  FLOW
8.  AMENDMENT  /  RENEWALS:  Contracts  are  changed  and  renewed,  and  the  cycle  starts  over

Before  your  contract  expires,  you’ll  probably  want  to  send  a  new  version  to  your  customer  for  a  renewal.  This  will  kick  off  a new  round  of  drafting,  
negotiation,  approvals,  and  so  forth:  in  short,  the  contract  lifecycle  starts  over.  If  you’re  managing  your  contracts  without software,  it’s  easy  to  lose  
track  of  renewals.  You  might  rush  to  get  a  contract  signed  before  the  last  agreement  expires,  or  even  let  a  contract  expire  by  accident.

Sometimes,  your  contract  won’t  get  to  renewal  before  it  needs  to  be  revised—perhaps  your  company  was  acquired  or  a  new  law  came  into  effect  
requiring  you  to  update  your  existing  contracts  with  new  language.  In  cases  like  this  you  need  to  amend  your  contracts  and  notify  your  customers.  

Your  contract  management  software  should  provide  alerts,  reporting  and  search  abilities  that  enable  you  to  stay  on  top  of  renewals  and  handle  
amendments.  Just  like  in  the  compliance  step,  a  manual  system  will  make  renewals  and  amendments  truly  difficult.

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CLM  FOR  ANY  TYPE  OF  CONTRACT
Sell-­‐Side  +  Buy-­‐Side  Contracts

Not  every  contract  is  a  sales  contract,  and  your  contract  management  system  
should  be  able  to  support  any  type  of  contract.  While  the  “sell-­‐side”  contracts  
that  your  sales  team  is  responsible  for  are  important,  “buy-­‐side”  contracts  
introduce  their  own  set  of  needs,  value  and  processes.

Buy-­‐side  contracts  are  important  to  procurement  and  finance  effort  to  closely  
monitor  every  dollar  your  company  is  spending.  With  contract  lifecycle  
management  at  the  center  of  their  buying  process,  these  teams  are  able  to  
reach  agreements  with  suppliers  faster,  negotiate  more  effectively,  and  track  
supplier  compliance  more  accurately.

It’s  important  to  evaluate  solutions  that  can  support  both  buy-­‐side  and  sell-­‐side  
to  avoid  siloed processes  and  duplicate  tools.  For  many  businesses,  the  buying  
process  and  the  selling  process  are  inherently  related  so  it’s  imperative  that  
visibility  into  your  contracts  encompass  ALL  of  your  contracts.  Otherwise  you’re  
just  getting  part  of  the  picture—and  what  you  can’t  see  can  hurt  you.

General  Contracts

Finally,  many  other  business  teams  require  contracts  to  manage  employment,  
intellectual  property,  real  estate  and  other  needs.  Such  “general”  contracts  are  
of  interest  to  HR,  operations,  IT,  R&D  and—of  course—legal  departments.  
Contract  lifecycle  management  allows  individual  teams  to  request,  author,  
negotiate,  execute,  comply  and  renew  with  ease,  especially  with  self-­‐service  
functionality.  

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EASING  THE  PAIN  OF  
CONTRACT  MANAGEMENT
If  your  contracts  are  done  faster,  you’re  going  to  be  able  to  collect  on  
them  sooner.  If  they’re  accurate,  you’re  going  to  have  fewer  disputes  and  
fewer  time-­‐wasting  contract  revisions.  Generals  counsel  and  C-­‐level  
executives  will  sleep  better  at  night  because  they  have  confidence  that  
the  contract  management  process  is  working.

The  benefits  of  automating  contract  management  are  real.  But  so  are  
the  pains.  

Here  is  a  look  at  the  5  most  common  pain  points  of  inefficient  contract  
lifecycle  management  and  some  of  the  ways  to  overcome  them.  

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5  COMMON  CONTRACT  PAIN  POINTS
1.  Speed  vs.  Control 4.  Information  Silos  and  Manual  Processes
The  biggest  source  of  friction  in  the  contract  lifecycle  comes  from  the   Managing  all  of  the  necessary  steps  in  your  contract  process  is  hard  
balancing  act  between  speed  and  control.  Because  contracts  are  so   enough  internally  across  several  departments.  The  complexity  of  
critical,  legal’s preference  is  to  examine  contracts  with  a  fine-­‐tooth   managing  contracts  increases  exponentially  when  you  have  to  manage  
comb.  Sales  often  has  a  different  interest,  pressuring  legal  to  get  out  of   contracts  across  several  office  locations,  time  zones  or  languages.  The  
the  way  so  deals  can  close  faster.  The  main  business  challenge   ability  to  have  everything  centrally  located  with  changes  tracked  in  
becomes  moving  contracts  through  quickly  but  with  enough  oversight   real  time  becomes  critical.  Human  error,  bottlenecked  contract  cycles  
to  effectively  manage  risk. and  limited  process  control  can  increase  risk  dramatically  when  
contracts  are  managed  manually.  Automating  contract  management  
2.  Lack  of  Visibility helps  companies  improve  control  and  visibility  and  significantly  
Part  of  what  exacerbates  the  speed  vs.  control  dilemma  for  legal  is  a   shortens  contract  creation  time.
general  lack  of  visibility  into  contract  terms,  obligations  and  value.  If  
you  can’t  see  it,  you  can’t  control  it.  This  becomes  a  major  pain  point   5.  Inability  to  Manage  Changes
because  agreements  outline  the  terms  of  the  value  exchanged,  and  if   Your  relationship  with  your  customer  only  gets  more  valuable  once  
you  can’t  ensure  you  are  getting  the  right  value  for  your  deals,  money   the  deal  is  signed.  It’s  important  to  have  a  mechanism  for  managing  
is  slipping  through  your  company’s  fingers.  Lack  of  visibility  is  an   changes  over  time.  You  need  to  be  up  to  speed  on  renewal  dates,  
especially  serious  problem  for  expiring  contracts  and  renewals. pricing  changes,  emerging  legal  requirements  and  other  events  that  
will  require  you  to  speak  to  your  customer  specifically  about  your  
3.  Inconsistent  Legal  Language contractual  relationship.
It’s  important  to  be  consistent  in  the  use  of  terms  and  language  in  your  
contracts.    Gaps  in  standardized  language  can  introduce  risk  or   If  you  drop  the  ball  on  contract-­‐related  communications,  you  risk  
confusion. blowing  up  your  relationship  with  your  customer—especially  if  the  
contract  language  (or  lack  of  contract  language)  exposes  your  
customer  to  new  risk.  Your  ability  to  manage  the  contract,  particularly  
If  you  can’t  determine  if  your  contracts  contain  accurate  language,  or  
changes  over  time  and  the  renewal  process,  will  have  a  direct  impact  
what  is  different  between  contracts,  lawyers  might  have  to  get  involved  
on  your  customer  retention  rate.
in  every  single  deal.  This  also  increases  the  risk  of  being  non-­‐compliant  
or  leaving  revenue  on  the  table.

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“Ineffective contract management costs
businesses up to 9.2% of revenue.”
Tim  Cummins,  CEO
International  Association  for  Contract  and  Commercial  Management

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EFFECTIVE  CONTRACT  LIFECYCLE  MANAGEMENT  
ACCELERATES  DEALS  AND  ELIMINATES  RISKS  

+47% +45% +43% +42%

Faster  Audit  Reports Improvement  in  Contract Increase  in  Contract Faster  Contract  Processing
Accuracy Compliance

+42% +23% +17%

Increase  in  Contract   Reduced  Amendments   Increase  in  Contracts  
Processing  Volume After  Signature Auto-­‐Renewed

Average  Percentage  Improvements  Reported  by  Apttus Customers

Source:  Apttus Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  Impact  Study  conducted  June  2017  by  an  independent  third-­‐party,  Satmetrix on  200+  Apttus customer  contacts  randomly  selected. Response  sizes  per  question  vary.  
Performance  metrics  are  intended  as  a  guideline  based  upon  historical  results  from  a  sample  set  of  customers.  Results  are  dependent  upon  many  different  factors  that  are  customer-­‐specific.  
Therefore,  actual  results  will  vary.  Response  size  per  question  varies.

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4  STEPS  TO  ACHIEVING  CONTRACT  
MANAGEMENT  EXCELLENCE
We’ve  broken  down  an  effective  contract  management  strategy  into  four  universal  steps.  As  you  roll  out  
your  strategy,  each  step  will  compound  your  success,  capturing  more  value  for  your  business  and  getting  
more  of  your  company  on  board  with  the  benefits  of  contract  management.

Be  sure  to  select  a  contract  management  provider  that  has  the  capability  to  help  you  achieve  excellence  
across  all  four  phases.  Don’t  just  focus  on  tool  functionality.  Your  provider  should  be  able  to  guide  you  
through  each  step,  with  the  experience,  service  and  peer  community  to  make  sure  your  company  is  
successful  not  just  in  its  implementation,  but  also  for  many  years  to  come.  

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4  STEPS  TO  ACHIEVING  CONTRACT  
MANAGEMENT  EXCELLENCE
STEP  1:  Get  Your  Contracts  in  One  Place
Contract  management  at  its  most  basic  level  is  getting  your  contracts  in  one  digital  location  so  you  can  
start  to  unlock  their  value  for  obligations  and  compliance.  Even  though  this  isn’t  all  of  contract  
management,  it’s  a  great  starting  point.  So  make  your  first  milestone  to  get  your  contractual  ducks  in  a  
row,  centralizing  and  standardizing  your  contract  content.

Once  your  contracts  are  in  one  place,  you’ll  be  able  to  search  and  report,  control  access,  get  alerts  for  key  
events  and  more.  You’ll  have  gained  a  business  advantage  from  your  contracts—and  you’re  still  only  
getting  started.  

STEP  2: Define  Process  and  Performance  Metrics

For  most  companies,  the  next  step  is  to  automate  the  process  of  how  each  person  in  your  company  
interacts  with  the  contract  lifecycle.  Set  up  workflows  for  contract  requests  and  approvals.  Create  and  
enforce  service  levels  and  other  commitments  for  your  company’s  teams  to  work  together  on  contracts.  
Your  goal  is  to  get  the  organization  comfortable  with  contract  management  software.

This  step  offers  big  gains  in  contract  cycle  times,  which  leads  to  more  closed  business  and  more  efficient  
time  use  for  all  parties  involved,  including  sales,  legal,  finance,  and  executives.

With  these  two  steps  complete,  you’ll  have  implemented  a  positive  top-­‐line  effort  for  your  company.  This  
is  where  some  companies  stop—but  there’s  much  more  benefit  to  be  had.

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4  STEPS  TO  ACHIEVING  CONTRACT  
MANAGEMENT  EXCELLENCE
STEP  3:  Build  Contracts  Smarter
Next  you  should  automate  the  drafting  and  negotiation  processes  using  electronic  templates,  legal  
playbooks,  self-­‐service  contract  portals  and  integration  of  Microsoft  Word  with  contract  management  
software.  This  step  offers  further  gains  in  cycle  times,  and  also  gives  companies  a  leg  up  in  negotiations.  

By  doing  this,  you  will  see  fewer  errors  and  reduced  contract  risk,  and  will  maximize  the  impact  of  
guidance  from  your  legal  team.  This  will  also  help  alleviate  the  tension  between  speed  vs.  control  and  
will  further  align  the  goals  of  your  legal  and  sales  teams.  Good  news;  but  there  is  still  one  last  step.

STEP  4: Integrate  and  Accelerate  Contracts  with  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash

Finally,  you’ll  want  to  extend  the  value  of  contract  management  to  other  related  systems.  Contract  
management  on  its  own  offers  a  solid  ROI,  but  the  investment  gets  even  more  impactful  as  part  of  an  
integrated  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  solution  that  encompasses  Configure  Price  Quote,  Revenue  Management,  
Incentives,  and  E-­‐Commerce.  This  way,  you  can  ensure  that  efficiency,  visibility  and  control  extend  from  
the  start  of  your  sales  process,  through  your  contract  lifecycle,  and  into  your  revenue  recognition,  
allowing  data  to  seamlessly  and  intelligently  flow  from  step  to  step,  from  department  to  department,  and  
from  your  CRM  solution  into  your  ERP.  

To  attain  this  last  step,  you’ll  want  to  make  sure  your  contract  management  software  is  part  of  a  single  
and  intelligent  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  solution.  You  also  want  to  know  that  your  provider  is  experienced  with  ERP  
and  CRM.

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CLM:  THE  BACKBONE  
OF  QUOTE-­‐TO-­‐CASH
While  contracts  are  important  in  their  own  right,  they  are  even  more  
important  when  you  consider  their  role  in  the  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  process.

What  is  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash?

Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  is  the  end-­‐to-­‐end  business  process  between  the  buyer’s  
interest  in  a  purchase  and  the  realization  of  revenue.  It  includes  
creating  a  quote,  responding  to  RFPs,  submitting  a  proposal,  
negotiating  and  managing  a  contract,  fulfilling  orders,  recognizing  
revenue,  ensuring  compliance  and  tracking  payments—all  within  
visible  and  controlled  workflow.  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  solutions  include  
Configure  Price  Quote  (CPQ),  Contract  Lifecycle  Management,  Revenue  
Management,  and  Behavior  and  Intelligence  applications  to  drive  and  
optimize  sales  performance  over  time.

Why  Contracts  are  a  Critical  Part  of  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash

If  you’ve  taken  on  an  initiative  to  streamline  and  optimize  your  Quote-­‐
to-­‐Cash  process  and  you  ignore  contracts,  you  are  seriously  risking  the  
success  of  your  initiative.  The  contract  is  the  physical  output  of  your  
deal.  All  of  the  deal  terms  established  using  CPQ  are  stored  in  your  
contract  and  drive  both  your  customer  relationship  and  revenue  
management.  When  your  CPQ  process  feeds  directly  into  your  
contracts,  you  achieve  significant  efficiency,  accuracy,  revenue  velocity  
and  customer  satisfaction  in  a  process  that  is  typically  manually  
intensive  and  riddled  with  bottlenecks  and  compliance  risks.

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WHY  PARTNER  WITH  APTTUS  FOR  CONTRACT  LIFECYCLE  MANAGEMENT
Contract  Management  software  from  Apttus  brings  visibility  and  control  to  the  contract  management  process,  so  that  your  legal agreements  become  a  
strategic  advantage  instead  of  a  burdensome  cost  center.  Built  on  the  Apttus  Intelligent  Cloud,  Apttus  delivers  intuitive,  comprehensive  and  robust  
contract  lifecycle  management  across  all  your  contracts  while  ensuring  complete  governance.  Apttus Contract  Management  software  is  a  key  
component  of  the  Apttus Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  solution,  allowing  sales  organizations  to  speed  time  to  revenue,  prevent  revenue  leakage,  and  reduce  risk.

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REAL  STORIES  FROM  REAL  CLM  CUSTOMERS

Achieving  Contract  Lifecycle  

Management  Excellence
Apttus customers  have  achieved  real  business  
benefits  with  contract  lifecycle  management.   Maximized  Efficiency  &  Sales  Volume

A  large  technology  company  had  a  slow  and  complicated  

Here  are  stories  of  a  few  Apttus customers. contracting  process  before  it  bought  Apttus  Contract  
Lifecycle  Management,  with  new  contracts  taking  more  than  
100  days  to  close.  After  setting  up  its  contract  lifecycle  
management  system,  the  company  found  that  its  new  global  
Accelerated  Sales  Processes contracting  system  far  exceeded  efficiency  goals.  New  
contract  time  was  reduced  to  less  than  25  days,  and  
An  information  services  company  was  using  different  systems   approval  cycles  were  reduced  from  days  to  minutes:  an  
and  manual  processes  across  its  global  operations  when  it   improvement  of  99.9%  in  approval  cycle  times.  
purchased  Apttus Contract  Lifecycle  Management  as  part  of  a   Standardization  of  language  and  centralization  of  storage  
Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  solution.  With  a  worldwide  implementation,  this   enabled  reporting  that  generates  valuable  business  
company  was  able  to  streamline  its  sales  contract  processes  in  a   intelligence.  
way  that  met  the  needs  of  sales  reps.  The  company  achieved  
faster  contract  cycle  times,  accelerated  sales  processes,  and   With  such  efficiency  and  time  savings,  the  company  saw  its  
added  revenue  due  to  accelerated  sales  and  renewals.   sales  proposal  volume  increase  by  49%.
.
After  three  years,  the  company  found  its  cost  of  
sales  was  reduced  by  20%.

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CONCLUSION
Drive  Business  Benefits  with  
Contract  Lifecycle  Management

Contracts  are  essential  to  your  business.  To  compete  in  the  21st   ABOUT  QUOTE-­‐TO-­‐CASH
century,  an  effective  contract  management  system  is  now  essential.  
Contract  management  involves  a  series  of  steps  that  create  a  full   Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  is  the  vital  business  process  that  connects  a  customer’s  
lifecycle,  and  contract  management  software  can  offer  massive   interest  in  a  purchase  to  the  realization  of  revenue.  It  includes  creating  a  
benefits  at  every  step.  As  you  roll  out  contract  management,  you   quote,  responding  to  RFPs,  submitting  a  proposal,  negotiating  and  
can  set  milestones  at  steps  to  deliver  ever  greater  value  to  your   managing  a  contract,  fulfilling  orders,  recognizing  revenue,  ensuring  
business.  Contract  management  software  increases  the  speed,   compliance  and  tracking  payments—all  within  visible  and  controlled  
visibility  and  control  of  your  contracts,  allowing  your  business  to   workflow.  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  solutions  include  Configure-­‐Price-­‐Quote,  Contract  
streamline  sales  cycles,  effectively  manage  revenue  and   Lifecycle  Management  and  Revenue  Management  applications.  
relationships—and  ultimately  achieve  more  revenue  and  greater  
competitiveness  in  your  industry.

For  more  details  on  how  Contract  Lifecycle  Management  can  drive  
business  benefits  and  contribute  to  strategic  business  outcomes,  
visit:    apttus.com/solutions/contract-­‐lifecycle-­‐management/ ABOUT  APTTUS
Apttus,  the  category-­‐defining  Quote-­‐to-­‐Cash  software  company,  drives  
the  vital  business  process  between  the  buyer’s  interest  in  a  purchase  and  
the  realization  of  revenue.  Utilizing  a  patented  combination  of  SaaS-­‐
based  applications,  the  Apttus  Intelligent  Cloud  maximizes  the  entire  
revenue  operation  by  driving  behavior  and  providing  prescriptive  data  to  
company  decision-­‐makers.  Apttus  offers  enhanced  Configure  Price  Quote  
(CPQ),  E-­‐Commerce,  Contract  Lifecycle  Management,  Incentives,  
Renewals  and  Revenue  Management  solutions  on  the  world’s  most  
trusted  cloud  platforms,  including  Salesforce  and  Microsoft  Azure.  Apttus  
is  based  in  San  Mateo,  California,  with  additional  offices  located  across  
the  globe.  For  more  information  visit:  apttus.com.

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