While it’s true that you can’t manage every aspect of your business with cloud based technologies, contract management is one area you should consider the benefits.

It’s also true that many parts of a business run on its contract. Given the high turnover of projects, prevalence of contracted resource and business criticality of the department, this is particularly true of vendor management.

What makes cloud based document management systems a great fit for vendor management teams? Here are four good reasons to adopt a solution:

1. Implementing Your Vendor Strategy Effectively

Some business departments have the luxury of not requiring a document management strategy.  For businesses with complex indirect spend, however, this is a core priority. Whatever your specific strategy, maintaining tight control and oversight of your vendors is vital. Your approach may be to implement tight limits on your vendors by minimizing overlap and working only with specific, trusted partners.

The key to this strategy is tracking who does what, what they cost, and their ongoing performance.

On the other hand, you may be looking to benefit from competitive arrangements with your chosen partners. In this case, you have the same requirements but rather than making sure you have a minimal number of vendors in place, you’re instead looking to introduce multiple vendors in each category.

Any variation of these strategies will require those categories to be tightly controlled and monitored.

This is one of the key functions of a cloud vendor management solution.  Why is cloud technology specifically useful in this scenario? Vendor relationships are naturally collaborative and have to function across different internal departments, different external businesses and potentially multiple geographies.

This can be made simpler by adopting cloud technology and allowing access via the web.

2. Gaining Maximum Value from Signed Agreements.

It has been proven that, very often, contracts fail to deliver the expected financial benefits.  There are several different reasons for this and they can’t all simply be solved by having a technological solution in place.

Having clear procedures in place that ensure contract details such as value, key dates & contacts, vendor compliance status and obligations are captured systematically, then the technology can be deployed to manage the processes effectively. This facilitates automation, timely reminders for actions such as periodic reviews, vendor scoring. and or preparation for upcoming renewals.

3. Easier to Implement

The cloud based approach vs On-Premise argument has been compared often.  Over time, the case against using cloud technology has declined as the resilience and security offerings of the cloud have .

One consistent fact throughout though has been that cloud based technology is quicker and easier to implement.  With the average on-premise deployment taking anywhere from 12-24 months, there’s plenty of headroom for a cloud based VMS document management solution to work in when it comes to rapid deployment.

It is important to note that easier implementation does not mean instantaneous deployment. There will be a necessary implementation period where a billing optimization audit is completed, and data must be assembled and uploaded.  There is also a period where configuration of the system and related training need to be performed. .

However, these activities can still be completed in a fraction of the time of the alternative on-premise deployment.  The quicker you can get up and running, the sooner you can start benefiting from superior vendor management, reduced supplier costs and better ongoing compliance.

4. Central, Accessible, Auditable Record Keeping

Having contract information easily accessible not only allows for good decision-making it also saves significant amounts of time that would otherwise be spent on contract administration.

Using permission-based access will allow for the appropriate vendor stakeholders to securely access the information that they require in order check vendor details or updating compliance status.

As well as sharing the details of vendors across the business, this same delegated access is useful for sharing costs and financial information with relevant departments such as Procurement and Finance, and at  the executive level. 

About Limitless Technology

Limitless Technology, LLC has been managing complex indirect spend and vendor documentation since 2006 for some of the largest companies in the USA saving them millions in costs.

Through our Billing Optimization and Vendor Management Solutions proprietary platforms we utilize technology, processes, expertise, time, and resources to improve our client’s bottom-line.

Limitless Technology manages your vendors, so you can manage and grow your business.

For Additional Information Contact us at:

Phone:             407.330.4466

Todd, bandwidth needs, capability and scalability are all fine and dandy until we run into a situation where the system shuts down, whether due to a natural disaster or a deliberate attack on the Internet.

And this is not a matter of “if” but “when”.

To gloss over this fact, is shortsighted… and the IT based industry is abound with those who are taking the short term, save a buck approach.

Posted by David Kleber

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David,

I understand your concern…but those things happen “shut downs, equipment failure, inability to afford the appropriate redundancy, attacks,viruses and more with IT inhouse also.

I hope you didn’t misconstrue my intent on the inevitable, and truly seen my point on the expected. Nor am I saying the cloud is there now with a “plug and play, no worries and walk away deliverable”…that you an afford.

But it will be.

So then you must know that if you can afford it, it is there.

Now it comes down to why would you put it in the cloud if you can do it cheaper yourself?

Which is one very big reason why the cloud is so attractive….COST. People, time, developed expertise, network redundancy, multiple delivery mechanisms and state of the art facilities and equipment CAN’T be afforded by most companies. And is not looked at close enough in the business planning and development phases of a business. People and companies forget all the “soft” and hard costs associated with being “state of the art”

Again…people are looking for perfect answers in a world that is not perfect. If its technology…it is not a matter of if it will break it when? And then…who is there when it does.

The cloud is coming. Know it, understand it, and use it where and when it makes the best sense for you.