A leading enterprise learning company Skillsoft had inefficiencies in contract management. They faced challenges including slow processing times, lack of standardization, and manual workflows that created bottlenecks. They needed a fully digitized, automated solution that improved contract visibility and accelerated approvals across the entire organization. By partnering with Ironclad, they were able to cut contract processing times from days to just 18 minutes while standardizing processes across global teams.

• Map your process first. Before implementing a CLM system, spend some time doing some prep work to document your existing workflows, consolidate contract templates, and map processes. Skillsoft reduced their contract templates from 35 to 10, creating a clear roadmap for digital transformation.
• Align your stakeholders for success. Successful implementation requires buy-in from legal, sales, and revenue operations teams. Identify a champion who can coordinate across functions and plan implementation around each team’s business cycles.
• Define clear success metrics from day one. Identify a few core metrics that matter most to your stakeholders like contract turnaround time, self-service contracting, or exceptions requiring legal review. Measure your baseline before implementation so you can demonstrate concrete improvements.
• Plan ahead for accelerated contract processes. Faster contract processes may impact other business areas–in Skillsoft’s case, areas like fulfillment. Planning for scaling and supporting that increase across the organization can help prevent potential bottlenecks before they occur.

To dive into the full story on how Elger Sergiacomi, Vice President of Digital and IT at Skillsoft got it done, read on! 

Skillsoft, a global leader in corporate digital learning, knew its contract management process wasn’t built to scale. Teams worked in silos, passing agreements from one to the next with little visibility. Coordinating approvals and tracking changes meant chasing information across emails and file shares. They needed a centralized system to streamline the end-to-end contract lifecycle.

“We were in a position where each of the areas were operating in kind of a batch process. They batch up the work they have and hand it off to the next group, hand it off to the next group in a kind of a siloed environment explained Elger Sergiacomi, VP of Digital and IT at Skillsoft.

Following the data breadcrumbs

Skillsoft began its CLM journey with a comprehensive needs assessment. Through what they called a “North Star” evaluation, contract management consistently emerged as a major pain point. Sales, legal, and revenue operations each flagged the need for simpler workflows and more self-service capabilities. With executive sponsorship from the business unit leader overseeing those key functions, Skillsoft built the alignment to move forward.

“So we started on our transformation a couple years ago, and we did this North Star evaluation to look at the portfolio of applications that are out there, our processes. And one thing that came up, you know, over and over again was a theme of contracts, customer contracts, getting them through the process. And a lot of the functions had pointed back to that as a major pain point.”

Small wins, big momentum

Skillsoft leveraged data from existing systems to quantify contract volumes, processing times, and manual effort. Benchmarking against industry peers using data provided by Ironclad helped contextualize their current state and define the
opportunity.

“The data that we did have was harvested from, obviously, some of the manual processes, but our legacy solution did have some process metadata around it because it was a what we call a mid office solution, not a full CLM. So we’re able to get you counts of how many we do per year, what we think the average throughput is, what we think the number of hours is per person trying to manage one of these contracts…Looking at the benchmarks in context to what Skillsoft is doing were very valuable. It gave us a frame of reference, whereas before, we were just kind of wide open.”

Implementation focused on quick wins to build momentum. Skillsoft began automating nondisclosure agreements to improve a common workflow while allowing users to learn the new system. They then expanded to more complex sales agreements integrated with Salesforce CPQ. Prioritizing business-critical use cases and providing dedicated training ensured strong adoption.

“The first quick win in the rollout was nondisclosure agreement because it was the simplest document from Ironclad. And it was not an integrated document that would go against CRM or ERP. So we deployed that first. Not only did you have the building of a new template, deployed on a new platform, but then you have users who are actually in there using the
platform. So it became something somewhat familiar to the individuals who are on the project.”

18 minutes: the speed of business

With Ironclad, Skillsoft transformed its contract management function. Streamlined workflows and the Ironclad Salesforce integration eliminated manual data entry. Self-service capabilities like launching contracts directly from within Salesforce empowered teams to generate and execute routine agreements without legal review. Pre-approved templates and a clause library ensure compliance while reducing cycle times. The impact was immediate–within a month of launching, Skillsoft routed an agreement from Salesforce to signature in just 18 minutes.

“We saw a turnaround from the point an agreement was generated in Salesforce down to booking in 18 minutes, and that was a world record. Whereas before, it would have taken days to get an agreement through.”

A look through the process window

Beyond efficiency gains, Skillsoft was able to build a foundation for continuous improvement and global growth using Ironclad. With full visibility into contract data and workflows, they can now identify bottlenecks, refine processes, and optimize performance. Business units worldwide are adopting the global standard, accelerating an enterprise-wide transformation.

WWe see we’re seeing the transactional efficiency right now through the organization and three functions. Now we’re gonna get into the more of that what you talked about the cycle time and ensure that we’re looking at what is in the contracts and what is in what else is in the process that we haven’t found yet that we can go up and try to optimize.”

The appetite for transformation is spreading

Looking ahead, Skillsoft plans to expand its CLM deployment across the enterprise. Procurement has expressed interest in managing vendor agreements within Ironclad, recognizing the benefits of a centralized repository. The project’s success has generated organic demand for contract lifecycle management.

“Once we put CLM in, we’ve had other functions come to us. So, obviously, legal with customer contracts. There’s other portions within Skillsoft for their business units that want to leverage customer contracts or training agreements with us. Procurement was one that came to us, looking at our purchasing system to say how could we integrate purchasing into the into a solution like this. Really having that repository is really valuable, especially for vendor contracts.”

Lessons from the contracting frontlines

Reflecting on the project, Sergiacomi emphasized the importance of process optimization, stakeholder alignment, and judicious risk-taking. Skillsoft’s story illustrates the transformative impact a modern CLM solution can have when paired with a strategic approach to change management.

“You have to improve process in order to get the full efficiency out of a contract system because you’re putting in a tandem system that works in parallel to your CRM.”

“When you do get to the point of deploying, try to find quick wins. We ran with risk. We came in and said, we’re gonna get a quick win off the NDA. Then we’re gonna go into some of our more complex customer contracts. We’ll start with the most complex one first, which is really in the hierarchy. That’s how contracts are kinda set up in a hierarchy. We’ll run with risk on the timeline, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Skillsoft’s CLM transformation exemplifies the strategic value of a well-designed contract management program. By simplifying workflows, automating routine tasks, and enabling data-driven optimization, Ironclad empowered Skillsoft to turn a critical business process into an engine for global growth.

Interested in seeing how Ironclad can help you speed up your procurement contracts? Talk to one of our digital contracting specialists and get a custom demo.