While contract storage is only one part of the contract management process, it is crucial for legal teams to get it right for the overall health of your business agreements.
Imagine later this year when not one or two but five new data privacy laws go into effect, and the legal team is hard at work amending contract terms — except you don’t know which contracts need to be changed or how to find them. Your contract storage method can determine whether or not you face massive penalties for non-compliance and how well you enforce your own terms.
Set yourself up for success by following best practices for contract storage. Here are some things to think about when it comes to storing your contracts in 2023.
Centralize Your Contract Storage
One major red flag of poor contract storage is having agreements scattered across digital assets and personal devices. When contracts are all over the place like that, it’s hard to find the ones you need and difficult to tell if the version you’ve found is the most up-to-date. Scattered contract storage makes you more vulnerable to cyber attacks and can make e-discovery more painful than it needs to be.
Avoid depending on emails and communication channels as keepers of contracts. A best practice for contract storage is to maintain a place for centralized storage, like a CLM repository. This allows any team member across the business to quickly and easily locate the agreement they are looking for. 
Make Contract Storage Searchable
Centralizing your contract storage means that theoretically, you should be able to find any agreement you’re looking for. But if your storage doesn’t have search functionality, then users might find themselves scrolling through 56 pages before they come upon the Master Service Agreement (MSA) they were looking for.
While contract storage is largely a practical endeavor, it’s also important that it’s intuitive to use. Otherwise, you’re adding extra work to your users’ plates.
Structure Your Contract Metadata
Not only must your contract repository be searchable, but you need to be able to find important agreements based on metadata that is important to your team.
For example, in addition to naming conventions for the contracts, determine what data fields you need to track and find easily. This includes clauses, contract value, renewal terms, deal close date, etc. This is information that businesses need to keep track of to make data-driven decisions.
Step Up Contract Storage Security
With the frightening increases in cybersecurity threats, digital security is more important than ever. And this goes double for your contracts, where some of your most valuable data lives.
User authentication and verification is one way to beef up contract storage security. Ensure that the people who have access to the repository absolutely need it. Set user roles and permissions to assign levels of access to more sensitive agreements.
If using a CLM tool, ensure that the software uses data encryption and maintains SOC 2 and GDPR compliance for maximum security.
Takeaways
Contract storage might not seem like a big deal, but it’s an important part of having an effective contract process. Following best practices ensures that your contracts are findable, searchable, centralized, and secure – ultimately protecting your business from long-term consequences.
See how LinkSquares’ contract storage can give your business an advantage in 2023. Request a demo today.
