Contract Automation Software for the Win

Contracts touch every dollar going in and out of an organization, every partnership, every hire, and every idea. But you and your team can provide so much more value than shuffling papers between departments or chasing down signatures through email.

Contract automation systems let you connect the people, processes, and data involved in business contracts without time-consuming, hands-on effort.

Imagine all the little tasks you do to take a contract from idea to reality and renewal—like sorting through template versions and asking for a key piece of information (again). Now, imagine a tool that does the work for you.

Contract automation software organizes and completes tasks across the entire contract lifecycle, like generating contracts, alerting signers, and storing versions.

Is contract automation software the same thing as contract lifecycle management (CLM)? Not exactly. Contract automation is built into a CLM platform to organize workflows, enabling legal teams to move faster with fewer errors.

Contract automation platforms help you manage work across the entire contract lifecycle and then store everything in a single place.

What’s that look like in action? Imagine you need an NDA for a new contractor. With a contract automation system, you could generate a customized NDA using your preferred template, route it to the right stakeholders for e-signature, and store the signed version in a searchable archive.

Contract automation can help with super simple contracts or complex negotiations through components like:

• Template and clause libraries. Contract automation tools store all of your up-to-date templates and preferred clauses in a single place.
• Structured intake. You can set up automated workflows, rules, or intake forms to generate contracts without searching for scattered information.
• Workflow automation. Contract automation workflows let you set up rules about which contracts are created at what points and who needs to interact with them and when. Basically, workflow automation moves contracts from beginning to end without managing them by hand.
• Version control. Automatically store updated versions of agreements in a single place instead of searching for doc.final.reallyfinal in your inbox.
• Integrations. Integrations with contract automation software automatically move important information between tools, like sales or procurement software.
• Signing. Contract automation systems either have built-in e-signing or integrations that let you dictate what order you need signatures (and sends a reminder when someone has stalled the process).
• Contract storage and repository. Automatically store completed contracts in a centralized repository.
• Insights. Built-in dashboards in contract automation software show you what contracts are in progress and where there are issues like stalled progress.

Mary O’Carroll, currently the Chief Operating Officer at Goodwin Procter, brought her two decades of legal experience to her Ultimate Guide to CLM. In the guide, she explored the problems that have plagued the contracting process in the past.

Mary shared that, historically, contracting workflows have been covered in R.U.S.T:

• Rigid: Traditional contracting processes don’t fit into modern workflows or exist in the tools and spaces where everyone is already working.
• Underperforming: Deals are delayed or lost due to contracting bottlenecks, forcing legal teams into the positions of “office of no” and the “blocker to revenue.”
• Static: Contracts are put into a box somewhere and only revisited if there’s a problem or a disagreement later on, and all the information that is contained within those contracts is completely untapped.
• Time consuming: Business users are constantly frustrated by the lengthy and opaque approval processes, while legal teams are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of contracts they need to review and manage.

Over the last few decades, CLM systems have helped to various and increasing degrees.

The first iteration of what would become contract automation was the highly customizable document management systems of the 1990s and 2000s. These tools were glorified databases where contracts went to be stored.

In the 2010s, tools emerged to manage different parts of the contracting lifecycle. It was a scattered era—a document generation tool here, an e-signature app there.

Moving into the 2020s, companies realized buyers don’t want a disjointed collection of SaaS apps that are a burden to configure, and the modern CLM was born. Now, the expectation is that CLMs manage the entire contract process and support collaboration. Automation and integration make the work feel cohesive, and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal tools is the next wave of development.

If your organization uses a contract (across any department), you can probably automate it. Some teams choose to start simple, like a standard NDA with limited signers. The sky’s the limit with contract automation systems, though. You’re in charge of what goes into a contract, who needs to approve it and when, how to handle redlines, and whether you need to review it before it renews.

For legal teams

• Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
• Master service agreements (MSAs)
• Service level agreements (SLAs)
• Liability waivers
• Enterprise service agreements
• Franchise agreements
• Indemnity agreements
• Partnership agreements
• Joint venture agreements

Sales

• Sales agreements
• Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
• Order forms
• Service level agreements (SLAs)
• Clickwrap agreements

Procurement

• Vendor agreements
• Service level agreements (SLAs)
• Master service agreements (MSAs)
• Scope of work (SOWs)
• Purchase orders

IT

• Software licensing agreements
• Service level agreements (SLAs)
• Vendor agreements
• Data processing agreements (DPA)s

HR

• Employment agreements
• Non-Disclosure agreements (NDAs)
• Employee Invention Assignment and Confidentiality Agreements (EIACAs)
• Offer letters
• Onboarding documents
• Non-compete agreement

Marketing

• Influencer agreements
• Sponsorship agreements
• Advertising agreements
• Clickwrap agreements
• Photography release

Watch: How L’Oréal Accelerates Brand Ambassador Agreements

Contract management is the process and policies you use to move a contract from creation to completion, and contract automation is the tool to get the job done more efficiently and effectively.

Let’s look at a few examples.

Intake

• Contract management: Creating a spreadsheet to log requests that come in through email
• Contract automation: Self-service forms to collect information and generate contacts from templates

Negotiation

• Contract management: Noting redlines in a document and then emailing it to the counterparty
• Contract automation: Collaborative redlining in a single platform that manages versions

Storage

• Contract management: Storing contracts within folders on a digital storage platform (or in old-school filing cabinets)
• Contract automation: Contract automation software automatically saves contracts and tags metadata for searchability and analysis

Comparing contract automation software can quickly get confusing, especially if you’re new to the tools and every option has different names for the same thing. Here are the seven main features of contract automation software that you need to streamline the entire contract lifecycle from creation to renewal.

AI-powered drafting and analysis

What it is. AI-powered drafting and analysis generate drafts based on your templates or review third-party papers to find where they deviate from your standards. Some can even recommend alternative clauses from your library to make redlining easier.

How it helps. It dramatically cuts down the time legal teams spend on repetitive contract reviews. Surfacing risks early and aligning terms with your contract playbook creates consistency, reduces bottlenecks, and minimizes exposure to unfavorable terms.

Also called contract AI, AI contract review, machine learning contract analysis, intelligent contract drafting, or smart drafting.

Watch: How Smoothie King Uses AI to Draft & Review Contracts Faster

Template libraries and clause management

What it is. A centralized library of approved contract templates and clauses that legal teams can manage and update. Business users can generate contracts from templates by filling out simple legal intake forms, while legal controls the language behind the scenes.

How it helps. It reduces the need to start from scratch or track down past versions. Legal teams can maintain compliance and control without blocking business, and contracts get out the door faster.

Also called clause library, contract templates, pre-approved language, fallback clauses, or legal playbook.

Workflow automation and approval processes

What it is. Custom workflows that automatically route contracts to the right stakeholders for review, approval, and signature based on contract type, value, or risk.

How it helps. Keeps deals moving by cutting out confusion about who needs to approve what. Everyone knows where a contract is in the process, and legal can build workflows that reflect real-world business logic.

Also called contract routing, legal workflows, approval chains, dynamic workflows, or business process automation.

E-signature integration

What it is. Built-in e-signature functionality that lets users send and sign contracts within the same platform instead of jumping between tools or downloading new apps.

How it helps. Speeds up contract execution, reduces errors, and guarantees all signed agreements are automatically tracked, filed, and searchable.

Also called electronic signature, embedded signing, digital signature, e-sign, or DocuSign integration.

Contract repository and search functionality

What it is. A searchable, centralized system of record for all your contracts and related metadata. Often includes full-text search and customizable filters or tags.

How it helps. Teams can instantly find any contract, clause, or key date without digging through email threads or shared drives. It also ensures nothing slips through the cracks post-signature.

Also called digital contracting repository, contract database, centralized archive, or smart search.

Analytics and reporting capabilities

What it is. Dashboards and reports that track contract volume, turnaround times, risk indicators, clause usage, and more.

How it helps. Helps the legal team use numbers to see how well they are doing. They can find ways to work better and spot things that could cause problems. It also helps show everyone how important the legal team is to the company.

Also called contract analytics, legal ops reporting, performance tracking, or lifecycle insights.

Integration capabilities with other business systems

What it is. Built-in integrations with tools like Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft 365, procurement platforms, and more let contract data flow between systems. .

How it helps. Teams can initiate, approve, or track contracts from the tools they already use. Reduces double work and keeps everyone aligned through a single source of truth.

Also called CRM integration, ERP sync, connected legal workflows, or cross-platform automation.

Read More: Adding Contract Tools to Your Company’s Tech Stack

Any department that touches contracts at any time feels the positive effects of easier and faster workflows.

Legal teams: Risk reduction, standardization, time savings

Legal teams and legal ops managers will probably spend the most time with contract automation tools and see the biggest impact on their day-to-day lives.

• Risk reduction. Pre-approved templates and clause libraries create consistent and compliant language automatically—even in compliance-heavy industries.
• Standardization. All contracts follow uniform workflows and structure, reducing variability and human error. Legal intake is a breeze, too.
• Time savings. The most direct impact of contract automation is time savings. Ironclad’s professional services team cut SOW creation time in half.

Watch: How Fortune 500 Company Hormel Cut Contracting Time by 75%

Sales: Faster deal closure, reduced bottlenecks

Contracts are a (highly negotiated) non-negotiable element of every sales deal, but contract automation helps remove some of the friction from the process.

• Faster deal closure. Reps can generate contracts themselves using self-service tools and then finalize contracts faster with built-in e-signature and approvals. A one-woman legal team at Demostack reduced time spent by 90% for the sales cycle.
• Reduced bottlenecks. Minimize legal involvement for low-risk deals and track contract status to spend less time wondering whether it’s time to follow up.

Procurement: Vendor management, compliance tracking

Procurement teams need clear, fast, and compliant contracting processes to manage vendor relationships and enforce accountability across the supply chain. Otherwise, obligation tracking can overwhelm even the most organized teams.

• Vendor management. A centralized contract repository makes it easy to track vendor relationships, terms, and expiration dates. Automated workflows guarantee every vendor agreement follows the same review, negotiation, and approval process, reducing risk and rogue spend. Bonus: contract automation tools help procurement teams, like the one at Intercom, cut their contracting process from days to hours.
• Compliance tracking. Metadata tagging and clause-level tracking help surface key terms like SLAs, liability limits, and termination rights. Dashboards and renewal alerts keep teams ahead of critical dates and audit deadlines.

Watch: Maximizing Procurement Value with Contracts

Finance: Obligation management, payment tracking

Contracts are a gold mine of information that finance teams can use for forecasting, tracking obligations, and finding ways to control costs.

• Obligation management. Track financial terms like payment schedules, renewal dates, and termination clauses across all contracts from a single source of truth. Automated alerts prevent missed obligations, such as pricing adjustments or performance milestones tied to SLAs.
• Payment tracking. Finance can connect contract data to invoicing systems, helping reconcile actual payments against agreed terms.

“Adding fields [to retrieve billing information] may not sound like a big deal, but it was for our finance team. Now, instead of all that manual work, all they have to do is pull a report.”
Lorena Alfaro, Senior Manager, Legal Operations, PubMatic

HR: Streamlined onboarding, policy management

Any document, policy, or set of information that you need someone to acknowledge is a candidate for contract automation.

• Streamlined onboarding. Offer letters, NDAs, and other onboarding documents are generated and sent automatically, giving everyone fast turnaround without HR chasing signatures. Built-in e-signature means candidates can sign from any device, and completed agreements are automatically stored in one place. The HR department is Bitmovin’s biggest contract automation user, and they’ve reduced contracting costs by 75%.
• Policy management. Easily update and distribute policy agreements, handbooks, and compliance docs across your organization. Then, let the contract automation software track who’s accepted what, reducing legal exposure and getting everyone on the same page.

Modern contract automation connects the people, processes, and data involved in business contracts. Departments across your organization, like legal, sales, procurement, IT, and beyond, can benefit from contract automation features like AI-powered drafting and analysis, workflow automation, and contract repositories.

If you’re ready to explore contract automation tools:

• Get clear on your priorities. Talk to people in your organization about where contracts get stuck and what they’d like to change so you can make sense of the features you need to have.
• Build an internal team. Generating buzz (and getting buy-in) before you choose and implement a tool makes your future work easier.
• Assess your readiness. Even the most intuitive contract automation tools require some change management and setup. Make sure your contract processes are defined enough to automate and consider your bandwidth for implementation.

As you start to consider upgrading your workflows and legal tech stack, getting a demo can help. Seeing tools in action and learning what they can and can’t do gives you an idea of how to prepare or make the jump to contract automation.

You can request time to talk to a contract automation expert to learn how it can help your organization.