Best practices for contract management with HighQ

A client asks you to create a standard contract for them. It is something you have done before at your firm, and the process is straightforward. But is it as seamless as it could be?

Do you spend time digging through old emails to find the last version of the contract? Do you comb through files, standard clauses, books, and online tools to make sure the contract is completely up to date? Are you making multiple checklists to ensure everyone who needs to sign off on the contract does so at the right time?

Creating contracts doesn’t need to be this hard. If you follow best practices for contract management and use the right tools, you can streamline the process, save time, and reduce costs.

Automate your processes

Every firm has a unique process and best practices for creating contracts. There may be certain people who need to sign off on the work before it goes to the client or there could be a specific place you store templates of contracts for future use. However, even with the best of intentions these processes can be difficult to follow if the work is all done manually—and steps can get missed.

This is where automation can help. Thomson Reuters® HighQ allows you to create a workflow based on the unique process at your firm, and you don’t need a developer to do it. Workflows are easy to set up for your contracts and your files can be shared in one place for streamlined collaboration with colleagues and clients alike.

Speed up your drafting

Carefully going through a long-form contract can take hours. You need to ensure every field is customised to your client and every clause is up to date.

What used to take you hours can now take you minutes with HighQ document automation powered by Thomson Reuters® Contract Express. Using templates and document automation, you can upload the contracts your firm uses most frequently. Then, when you need to create a contract, you simply fill out a questionnaire and the corresponding fields in your contract will populate.

Track your time and the cost of each contract

Contract work requires you to understand cost and how it relates to your bottom line. In today’s challenging economic times, clients are increasingly concerned about their own costs and ways that you can save time or reduce costs can help you bring more business to the firm.

Reporting in HighQ can help you keep track of costs. In HighQ, you can set up dashboards and metrics at the client level or at the firm level. This will give you quick visuals on the cost of your work so you can take action if you need to take corrective measures.

Ensure data security

Data privacy and security are essential to your business; your clients expect nothing less. You need to be sure the tool you use to collaborate with colleagues and clients takes security as seriously as you do.

The security of your data is our top priority. HighQ has state-of- the-art infrastructure that monitors security 24/7, so you can focus on your clients and not worry about security issues. When you collaborate with clients on contracts in HighQ, those documents are only visible to that client and you can set up permissions on client work so that only the colleagues you choose can see the client’s files.

Regularly review your process

No process is perfect and the way your firm works will change over time. But at some point, you will need to change your contract management process and adopt new best practices.

You can proactively monitor your firm’s performance with reporting in HighQ and easily change your workflows to make improvements. Doing this on a regular basis will help you catch issues before they become costly problems.

HighQ can make your contract management process easier and speed up the time it takes to get work done. Learn more in a free demo of HighQ.