5 Steps for Ensuring CLM Implementation Success

If you've ever sat through a well-executed demo for a contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution – especially in the age of artificial intelligence -- you've probably left the experience certain that the software in question includes anything and everything you could possibly need to improve your legal operations. Why, then, do many CLM implementations fail to lead to customer satisfaction and actual ROI?

Do you know the adage, "Failing to plan is planning to fail?" This applies directly to your legal tech rollout.

Legal teams often fail to properly plan for CLM implementations. Below, we lay out a process for ensuring success in your CLM implementation by making sure you pick the right CLM solutions and deploy them correctly.

Define the problem you're trying to solve

Do you need to close deals faster? Do you need to manage legal resources? Are you trying to simplify the variety of language that appears in your agreements? Until you know specifically what you want a CLM solution to accomplish, you can't pick the right software, let alone set it up for success.

Define the metrics that will show you're solving the problem

Now that you know what you want your CLM platform to do for your business, you need to define how you'll measure its impact. Ideally, the software will have its own reporting features that can do a lot of the heavy lifting, but you still need to plan to capture, analyze, and report on the KPIs that will validate your CLM adoption.

Identify the data you want to ingest

In most cases, adopting a CLM solution also means uploading some or all of your contract repository into the system. Where do those contracts currently live, and in what format are they currently stored (paper files, old scanned PDFs, modern word processing files, or some combination of the three)? Do you want all contracts to be reportable, or just sales deals? These decisions need to be made before your adoption, not during.

Identify who needs to be trained before you roll out the software

Yes, your legal team clearly needs to be brought up to speed on your CLM solution, but what about everyone else who interacts with contracts in your business? Sales has a say in deals, as does finance, procurement, marketing, and human resources (employment agreements are contracts). If you're using CLM to make it easier for non-legal staff to draft and/or analyze contracts, they need to be accounted for in your rollout plan.

Plan a phased rollout

We just laid out a lot of work in the steps above; don't try to do it all at once. Your CLM partner should help you devise a phased implementation plan that walks you through the process of configuring your software, training your staff, uploading your data, and then measuring success in stages. Work the kinks out when only the legal team is using the software, then bring other departments on board. That way, everyone has a good experience, and your legal team isn't overwhelmed or, worse, seen as forcing bad software on the business.

If you're looking for a CLM solution that's easy to implement -- not least because it includes a world-class customer success team to help you through your rollout -- then contact LinkSquares today.