Contract Lifecycle Management News - Week of Oct 12th

16 Oct 2020: Hyperautomation Services Provider Vuram announces Contract Management System

• Founded in 2011, Vuram is a hyperautomation services company that specializes in low-code enterprise automation.
• Their technology stack consists of business process management (BPM), robotic process automation (RPA), optical character recognition (OCR), document processing, and analytics.
• Vuram is based in Chennai, India, and has about 500+ employees worldwide. 
• The company was recognized as a Hot Vendor by HFS in the integrated and intelligent automation services space. 
• In 2020, Vuram ranks 10th among the top 50 Great Mid-Sized Workplaces in India certified by Great Place to Work® institute.
• Their contract management solution offers a contract repository that provides a single view of all contracts including relationships between master and sub-master contract types, plus configurable workflows for contract creation, approval, execution, and termination.

12 Oct 2020: Volody Launches Contract Management Software To Support LIBOR Transition

• Founded in 2014, Volody is cloud-based enterprise software product Company that offers Contract LifeCycle Management Software, Compliance Management Software, Insider Trading Compliance Management Software, and a Board Meeting Management Software 
• The New York-headquartered company has less than 50 employees, 14 of which are based in Mumbai, India. 
• The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) is a measure of the average rate at which banks are willing to borrow wholesale unsecured funds. It is administered by ICE Benchmark Administration.
• LIBOR was introduced in 1986, and more than $370 trillion worth of notional contracts reference LIBOR.
• In July 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Chief Executive Andrew Bailey announced that the FCA would no longer compel banks to submit data to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) after 2021.
• LIBOR is supposed to be replaced by a new rate i.e. the Secured Overnight Funding Rate, or SOFR.

Contract Lifecycle Management News - Week of Oct 5th

05 Oct 2020: Deloitte announced the spin-off of its CLM software offering, Arteria AI

• Arteria AI (formerly known as dTrax) is now a standalone business. The standalone unit will be led by Shelby Austin, who led Deloitte’s Omnia AI business in the past. 
• Arteria AI is a contract management solution that offers CLM capabilities such as contract creation, negotiation, digital execution using DocuSign, an NLP-based extraction module to convert contracts into searchable, structure information, a contract repository, and an analytics module to track data throughout the contractual process. It also supports alerts for contract milestones such as expiry.
• For more information visit Arteria AI website here.

06 Oct 2020 - Onit gets recognized as a fast-growing company by Houston Business Journal

• Houston Business Journal 2020 Fast 100 list features fast-growing companies that are headquartered in the Houston area.
• Onit has been listed at #9 on its Fast 100 Awards and #3 on its Middle Market 50
• For Middle Market 50 list, the company revenue needs to be between $28 million and $1 billion for their most recent, completed fiscal year.
• In the past, Onit has been listed amongst 500 Fastest-Growing Companies in the Americas 

06 Oct 2020 - ContractPodAi wins 2020 Legal Innovation Award in Supplier Innovation Category

• ContractPodAi has been recognized for its role in enabling the successful legal digital transformation of a large petrochemicals company
• For more information visit Law.com here

06 Oct 2020 - SirionLabs enables customers to access CATS CM® methodology within its CLM software

• CATS stands for Contract Administration and Tracking Scenarios. It's known for setting standards on how contract management should be approached within a company to realize the intended contract management objectives.
• For more information on CATS CM® visit their website here.

Buy-Side vs Sell-Side Contract Management - CLM Fundamentals Blog Series - Post I

Are you planning to buy a contract lifecycle management software for your organization and are feeling a little overwhelmed due to long and complex lists of vendors available across various research portals? If yes, you've come to the right place. 

This is our first blog post in the contract lifecycle management (CLM) fundamentals series. The aim of this blog series is twofold:

1. Plug the gaps in the general understanding of contract lifecycle management
2. Make it easy for you to identify the right contract management system for your requirements

What problem are you trying to solve?

Any good purchase decision goes back to answering one simple question - what problem are you trying to solve?

Would you buy a pair of sports shoes when planning to attend a formal business conference?

Wish software purchase decisions were as easy as that. In most cases, they aren't. 

They are like buying a pair of running shoes that not only fit you well and offer good cushioning but should be suitable for basic training, light sports, walking, cycling, and whatnot.

Corporate purchase decisions being group purchase decisions, many a times businesses end-up asking for a wide range of features (at times unrelated features) to meet the requirements of various stakeholders.

This happens in the case of contract lifecycle management software purchases when a chief procurement office (CPO) and a chief sales officer (CSO) both get involved in the purchase decision with significantly different objectives.

Buy-Side vs Sell-Side Contract Management 

Depending on the industry you are in, the majority of your contracts are likely to be buy-side contracts (procurement-related) or sell-side contracts (sales-related).

Buy-side contracting is focussed on buying or procuring goods and/or services from various suppliers. 

Sell-side contracting is focussed on selling goods and/or services to various customers.

Common CLM features that business look for in both these scenarios include:

• A centralized contract repository 
• Contract search and retrieval
• Contract authoring
• Contract negotiation and approvals
• Reporting and analytics (metrics may vary depending on buy-side vs sell-side focus)
• Contract amendments, renewals, and/or termination management

Features expected in buy-side CLM systems: 

Buy-side contract management software are aimed at enabling procurement professionals to effectively manage their relationships with good and services suppliers in both pre-contract and post-contract phases. 

• This translates into the ability to negotiate better prices with suppliers, manage supplier evaluation and selection processes, ensure that contracted goods and services are delivered and paid for as per the contracted terms and conditions, manage overall expenses, and track, assess, benchmark and improve supplier performance. 
• Integrations with supplier networks, e-sourcing, spend management, supplier management, ERP, supply chain management, etc. are desired in buy-side CLM systems. 

Features expected in sell-side CLM systems: 

Sell-side CLM systems are aimed at streamlining the contracting processes for sales and delivery of goods and services. It helps sales teams to ensure consistency in contract clauses across various clients, and speed up the contracting process by reducing contracting delays. 

• This translates into the ability to create compliant contracts quickly using template libraries, etc.
• Ensure that sold goods and services are delivered and paid for as per the contract terms 
• Avoid revenue leakage that may occur due to under billing 
• Integrations with CRM systems, Configure Price Quote (CPQ) systems, and revenue management systems are desired in sell-side CLM systems.

Can a single software serve CLM requirements of both the buy-side and the sell-side stakeholders?

Clearly, CLM vendors have an incentive in selling to both sides. And given the amount of overlap in the requirements, it makes sense for the buyers as well to go with a single system. 

But the question is whether it's a good idea to do so, and what are the pros and cons of using a common system vs a dedicated system for the two sets of requirements. Well, that's a topic for another blog post.

For now, if you are looking for CLM systems that serve your requirements, you can use this tool from World Commerce and Contracting (formerly IACCM).

Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software Space in 2020

Contract Lifecycle Management space is evolving at a rapid pace. Both the number of providers as well as the overall spend on contract lifecycle management has increased significantly over the past few years. A space that has traditionally been championed by the likes of SAP Ariba and IBM Emptoris is now being redefined by a new generation of technology companies who have taken a fresh outlook and are breathing in new life to CLM technology.

These new generation providers have given a tough competition to the existing leaders and have made their mark by consistently by quickly acquiring noteworthy market share coupled with significant startup financing. 

Here's what the CLM space looks like in 2020. 

Disclaimer: Please note that the below categorization is not a comparative listing and is simply an independent perspective on the CLM space based on various parameters.

The Undisputed Leaders 

This comprises of contract lifecycle management vendors that are frequently cited as the top providers with strong CLM capabilities and noticeable market share in various independent research reports.

• Apttus
• Agiloft
• DocuSign (SpringCM)
• Exari (Coupa)
• Icertis

Leaders of Tomorrow

Providers that are frequently recognized for their strong CLM capabilities and proven ability to deliver strong value for their clients. 

• Conga (Apttus)
• GEP
• SirionLabs

The Deep-Rooted Chiefs

Providers with significant market share, influential customer relationships, service delivery capabilities, support structure, and/or unique capabilities that enable them to hold a strong place. 

• Exigent
• Legal Suite CLM
• Oracle Contract Management
• SAP Ariba
• Seal (Docusign)

The Challengers

Providers with strong capabilities, demonstrated strength, noteworthy clients, and top of the mind recall in CLM space. Some of them offer CLM capabilities as part of the bigger software suites (

• CLM Matrix (Wolter Kluwer's)
• CobbleStone
• Concord
• Coupa
• Determine (Concentric)
• Ivalua
• Jaggaer Contracts+
• Symfact
• SynerTrade
• Zycus

Emerging Players

CLM vendors that have started to make their mark in this space, or have been present for sometime but aren't necessarily the most cited ones. One or more of these providers may have higher market share or revenues than players cites in some of the previous categories.

• Brightleaf Solutions
• Corridor Contracts 365
• Contract Express
• ContractRoom
• ContractPodAi
• ContractSafe
• Contract Wrangler
• Gatekeeper
• Ironclad
• Kira Systems
• Medius (Wax Digital)
• Onit
• OpenWindows
• OptimusBT
• Outlaw
• Ultria
• Volody

Icertis, HighRadius, AppDirect and AvidXchange featured in the 2020 Forbes Cloud 100 List

Forbes recently released the fifth annual listing of world's 100 top private Cloud companies. The list, accessible here, takes into account various factors such as growth, sales, valuation, and culture, as well as a reputation score that's derived in consultation with 43 CEO judges and executives from their public-cloud-company peers. 

The listing comprises a diverse set of cloud companies from various sectors such as Enterprise AI, sales enablement, sales engagement, data management, analytics, payments, security and risk management, customer communications, and more.

Fig. Forbes 2020 Cloud 100 List

Several companies from Contract Management, Source to Pay, Procure to Pay, and related fields have been featured in this list in the past. Examples include Coupa which now is publicly listed and Apttus which acquired Conga and subsequently branded itself as Conga. It is noticeable that both Apttus and Conga were ISV partners of Salesforce.

This year too some of the leading companies from CLM, procurement, accounts payable and related fields have been featured in the list.

• AvidXchange - Featured at 42nd place in the list, AvidXchange is the industry leader in automating invoice and payment processes for mid-market companies. It was founded in the year 2000, and processes over $140 billion transactions annually across its network of more than 600,000 suppliers.

• Icertis - Featured for the second time, Icertis is the only contract management company that's found a place in this list. More than 900 employees out of a total of about 1250+ of Icertis employees are based in India (Pune and Mumbai).

• High Radius - HighRadius is a Fintech enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company that leverages Artificial Intelligence-based Autonomous Systems to help companies automate Accounts Receivable and Treasury processes. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas with a significant presence in Hyderabad, India for product, engineering, and product marketing operations.

• AppDirect - AppDirect offers a subscription commerce platform that removes the complexity of building a recurring business model. Key investors of AppDirect include StarVest Partners, J.P.Morgan, Foundry Group, and Mithril.

Coupa's acquisition of Spend360: Implications for Procurement and Sourcing Technology

Earlier this week, Nasdaq listed, Coupa Software (COUP) announced its acquisition of the U.K. based spend analysis specialist Spend360 which has large global companies such as HSBC, BBC Worldwide, Nissan, and BAE Systems as its clients.

As per the official press release on Coupa's website, the acquisition is aimed at enabling effective classification of spend data by leveraging modern and innovative technologies. Currently, this is done using rule-based classification processes with frequent manual intervention to ensure accuracy.

A closer look at Spend360

At a high level, the key services/solutions provided by Spend360 include:

• Spend Analysis
• Data Cleansing
• Due Diligence, and 
• Supplier Compliance

In combination, Spend360 specializes in enabling organizations of all sizes to collect, enrich, and classify spend data accurately and in turn drive savings to the bottom line by leveraging the generated insights.

An average multi-national tends to have 60 percent of its spend under management i.e. visible spend. More than 20 percent of this spend is often categorized incorrectly. These inaccuracies lead to leakage in the form of duplicate invoicing, high invoice processing costs, erroneous supplier classification/consolidation, ineffective procurement resource utilization, etc. The existing outdated procurement platforms, and legacy IT systems make it difficult to identify and eliminate these issues.

Spend360 eliminates such issues by directly sourcing data from multiple source systems such as ERP and P2P, and applying artificial intelligence to automatically classify the data correctly. The intermediate quality assurance (with some human intervention - as per information available in some of the presentations online), and automated learning capability which makes the automated classification progressively leads to 15 to 20 percent of savings over a period of time. The improved classification also has a positive impact on downstream activities such as auctions, inventory management, and supplier relationship and risk management.

Some Key Insights

• Spend360, as per the information available on its website, has more than 70 billion pounds spend under analysis. 
• For security purposes, the data never leaves the UK.
• Gartner Magic Quadrant for Strategic Sourcing Application Suites mentioned that Scanmarket
  outsources spend cleansing and data enhancement services to London-based Spend360.
•  Spend360 was ranked #1 in a recent report on procurement intelligence by Capgemini, and was recognized amongst the top 5 spend analysis vendors across the world by Gartner

Implications for Procurement and Sourcing Technology Market

This is the 5th acquisition made by Coupa over a period of two years. Earlier in Feb 2015, Coupa acquired enterprise procurement software company ZenPurchase, followed by e-invoicing vendor InvoiceSmash, open booking vendor TripScanner, and the modern contract management vendor Contractually.

Fig. Coupa's Share Prices over the Past 3 Months

While all of the earlier acquisitions have their own role to play in strengthening the overall Coupa offering, contract management and spend analysis capabilities can be a big differentiator from a Source-to-Pay and/or Procure-to-Pay perspective. Coupa's acquisition of Spend360, while it may seem like overlapping/redundant to some, is like a major contract lifecycle management company acquiring a nice contract discovery company like Seal Software. In both scenarios, your ability to achieve the ROI from your technology investments is significantly amplified by the richness of information available in your system.

In the light of the fact that Spend360 has 400+ global clients, about a 100 in North America alone, it clearly seems like two high growth companies merging together. If nothing it should enable Coupa to give some boost to its share prices which have fallen significantly since its IPO in October last year.

The success however will lie in leveraging the complimentary strengths and being able to overcome the ground level issues of difference in culture, approach, and technology stacks.

10 Key Contract Management Stats

1. As per IACCM research, "Poor Contract Management Costs Companies 9% — Bottom Line"

2. Most of the large organizations have anywhere between 20,000 to 40,000 contracts on an average [Source: Price Waterhouse Coopers]

3. 65% of major projects 'fail' or severely under-perform, with average cost overrun of 80%. [Source: 2013 study by the European Commission]

4. On an average more than 10 percent of all executed contracts are lost due to file-and-forget tendency.

5. As per Gartner, Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) has the potential to become USD 2.8 bn+ solution market in the U.S. alone.

6.  Ineffective governance of provider contracts can cause value leakage ranging from 17% to 40%. [Source: KPMG Research]

7. As per an EY report, an organization can save anywhere between 5 to 15 percent of contract spend by creating commercially efficient contracts and managing them effectively throughout the operation lifecycle and minimizing the waste in business activities with suppliers.

8. Top performing organizations have an average cycle time of 8 days for contract review and approval as against laggards which tend to have an average cycle time of 47 days. [Source: Aberdeen Group]

9. 60 percent of corporate litigation are related to contract disputes. [Source: Unknown]

10. Despite all of the above, less than 20 percent procurement departments currently deploy an automated, digital contract authoring tool. The number is higher for contract repository installations and as per various estimations stands anywhere between 40 to 50 percent. However, the adoption of technology for contract enforcement is less than 10 percent.