Contract management software is all the rage and for good reason. Most companies have executed contracts stored across a smattering of email inboxes, shared drives, internal SharePoint sites, files cabinets, and office drawers. BUT just because a particular contract management software product has some exciting features it doesn’t mean that is the RIGHT product for your organization. For more on key features read our blog post: “The 7 Features You Need in a Contract Management System”. Here are 8 reasons why your contract management software isn’t being adopted:

  1. IT ISN’T USER-FRIENDLY OR INTUITIVE. If software isn’t user -friendly, no matter how great it is, it won’t be widely adopted. There’s a reason why your grandparents can use an iPhone but can’t figure out how to stream content to their TV.

  2. THERE WASN’T ENOUGH OF A DIVERSE GROUP IN VETTING OR SELECTING THE CONTRACT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE. The contract management software you selected may be great for the commercial contracts team but does it work for the intellectual property group? Does it work for the colleagues outside the U.S.? Does it work for the sales team? Does it work for the procurement team?

  3. YOU DIDN’T IDENTIFY YOUR REQUIREMENTS BEFORE VETTING AVAILABLE CONTRACT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE. What does your organization REALLY need? Is it just storage? Is it data and analytics? Is it a space for drafting and negotiation (contract awareness and transparency)? Electronic signature? Contract compliance? Who is ACTUALLY going to use it? Are there current software systems that you want to link to the contract management software?

  4. YOU BOUGHT WAY MORE THAN YOU NEED. Similar to #3. You bought a contract management software product that has some slick negotiation and analytics features that you’re paying for but your organization never uses them. Did you examine what software you currently have and if it can meet your current needs (even if for the short term)?

  5. YOU DIDN’T SPEND ENOUGH TIME TRAINING. You can’t roll out one session of training and expect all of your users to just take it from there and run with it. It might be days or weeks before they have a need to use it and they’re not going to remember. Offer refresher training. Offer on-demand training.

  6. YOU DIDN’T CONDUCT CHANGE MANAGEMENT. Change management often receives moans and groans when you use those words. So use something else. Just don’t fail to tackle this head on. It’s one part marketing campaign to get your organization to accept that this new system is coming and the other part is counseling those that don’t like change and helping them get over that hurdle. If you fail to address both parts, your new fancy piece of contract management software will not be adopted.

  7. YOU DIDN’T USE A PILOT GROUP TO WORK OUT THE BUGS BEFORE ROLLING OUT THE SOFTWARE TO THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION. A pilot group of users helps work out bugs or process gaps and helps perfect the process and the system before rolling it out to the entire organization. Too many problems equals lack of adoption.

  8. THE SOFTWARE WORKS PERFECTLY BUT IT’S CREATED ADDITIONAL STEPS AND WORK INSTEAD OF LESS. Software is supposed to make everyone’s job easier. If it doesn’t. If it ADDS EXTRA WORK, it will not be adopted.

Need help with legal technology selection or implementation? Nimble has helped multiple organizations with legal technology selection and implementation.