Contracts Technology
Everyone wants to find ways to do their jobs more efficiently. Technology helps, of course, as portions of a job that are ripe for automation are the first places where technology can step in. I’ve argued in the past that we, however, are in a unique position – that the jobs we typically do aren’t really attuned for automation. It might be time to start rethinking that argument, at least a little.
As with any work, to determine how best to automate, you first must break the job down into its component parts and identify those that you can automatize. So, for a contract negotiator, you may perform any number of the following tasks (and I’m going to paint broad strokes on this one). For each area, then, here are some of the tools now available to help with those tasks. Note: I make no editorial comment about any of these tools at this time… I’m just providing them for your benefit/reference.
RFP Issuance and Management
Contract Review and/or Negotiation
Contract Drafting or Template Creation
FirstDraft – can’t find them anymore, but they used to be out there 
Contract Management – not comprehensive, just the folks I’ve heard about
Blueridge Software (Contract Assistant)
Ecteon (Contraxx)
The current economic situation is encouraging many organizations to reconsider their current contractual relationships. Contact me before your opponent does to find out how to make the most of your renegotiations. The Licensing Handbook Blog is the companion site to the Software Licensing Handbook. Covering licensing topics on a regular basis, Jeffrey Gordon attempts to offer advice, add humor and sometimes even a bit of wit to a practice that most people find abhorrent – namely, reading a contract from start to finish.
Comments
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"an invaluable guide to one of the software’s industry’s most maddening and, at times, controversial topics..."
-Rick Chapman, Editor Soft*Letter
"I would endorse Jeff's book. It is so great I wish I wrote it myself!"
-Jim Geisman, Owner Marketshare, Inc. -
