Konica Minolta’s digital solutions transform contract management from admin burden to business growth enabler

There are few things more important or valuable to a business than its contracts. Getting them right can be a source of immense value to any organisation. Getting them wrong can result in a world of trouble and expose the business to unnecessary risks. Given this importance of managing contracts appropriately, it’s difficult to understand why many businesses still cling to outdated, paper-based contract management processes. In fact, it’s estimated that around 85% of companies worldwide still use these manual processes to manage their sales contracts.

What makes this adherence to inefficient contract management especially strange is the fact that most businesses recognise the importance of digitising all their other business operations. And given the cost efficiencies and the freedom that a digital contract management system provides from physical paper archives, labour-intensive document searches and time-consuming reporting, it’s hard to believe that any organisation would still willingly choose to stick with their archaic and inefficient contract management systems.

Especially since Konica Minolta South Africa has made it so quick and easy for any company to implement digital contract management solutions.

According to Mario De Carvalho, solutions specialist at Konica Minolta South Africa, digitisation of contract management effectively transforms the function from an onerous administrative burden, to an enabler of improved business performance and a driver of agility and competitiveness. “Konica Minolta’s digital contract management solutions enable organisations to simplify and streamline their contract management functions, resulting in significant improvements in workflow efficiencies, reduced risk exposure associated with manual processes and potentially massive time and cost savings.”

Changing the way businesses look at contract management

Managing customer, vendor, partner or employee contracts is no simple task and incorrect contract handling can lead to administrative headaches, lost opportunities and even expensive legal audits or penalties for non-compliance. With Konica Minolta’s digital solutions, companies gain full control and transparency over all aspects of their contract management, thanks to:

• Centralised contract administration – The ability to digitally capture all incoming documents related to any contract equates to enhanced control and a clear contract view.

• Full process transparency – All contract information can be accessed instantly, which makes it quick and easy to assess contracts and enables better financial modelling and control.

• Automated features that keep you in control – Complete mapping of all documents as well as automatic generation of reminders means there’s no chance of losing track of contract periods or missing deadlines.

• Fully compliant processes – Transparent approval workflows, details documentation and revision-safe archiving ensures compliance with all legal requirements.

• Customisable security reduces risk – Elaborate authorisation and access control protocols rule out any uncontrolled access to contracts, making digital contracts infinitely more secure than traditional paper archives.

According to De Carvalho, Konica Minolta’s digital contract management solutions are proven to help drive business improvements across several measures, from lowering administrative and legal costs to reducing contract cycle times by up to 50%, improving contract renewal rates by around 1%-2%, and even contributing to improved supplier performance.

“At Konica Minolta South Africa, we recognise that the contract management needs of every organisation are different, so we take a highly customer-centric approach to providing exactly the right solution for each of our customers,” De Carvalho says, “tailoring our contract management platform to their unique business environment and working processes so that it delivers exactly the process enhancements and resource efficiencies they need.”