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The Cornerstone: Why Contract Data Matters and how to Build Awareness
This blog is the first in a three-part series on contract data. It explores why contract data is far more than an administrative detail and how understanding it lays the foundation for better decisions, stronger collaboration, and sustainable added value to the...
Unlocking the Superpowers of Contract Data, an Introduction
In today’s world contracts are at the heart of every organization. They define relationships, responsibilities, and expectations. Yet too often, contract management is viewed merely as an administrative upkeep. Truth is, it is a powerful discipline that changes...
Whitepaper: The Triad of People, Technology, and Process: Unleashing Effective Contract Management in Modern Organizations
In today’s fast-paced and dynamic business landscape, effective contract management holds the key to unlocking numerous benefits for organizations. However, harnessing the true potential of contract management requires the harmonious integration of three critical...
Whitepaper: The State of CLM – Better profit and business relationships with profound contract lifecycle management (CLM)
In the last decade, due to growing hyper-specialization, an increased number of organizations came to realize that they needed to keep better track of their contracts. Many organizations encountered the impact of third parties on their business performance and...
Contract management as a vital instrument to achieve sustainability objectives required by IPCC report
For centuries, humans have been putting our earth to the test. Since the industrial revolution we are depleting the natural resources in a drive for continuous innovation and growth. We are producing and consuming more and more goods and services to accommodate an...
Why venture capital should embrace contract management
“Nobody can do it alone” is one of my favorite quotes when it comes to describing the state of business today. We are all working in an environment where trends like hyper-specialization, the increasing speed of innovation and the growing pressure from legislation...
Why leadership should dive deeper into contract management
The business case is one of the main priorities that come up when I talk to executives about contract management. Especially the financial part of the business case: how much are we going to save? The many executives that see cost-saving as the only benefit they can...
#13 CATS CM® methodology – Pillar 4 Part 2: Contract Management Scenarios
My previous blog offered more information on the CATS CM® contract management process. This process has been subdivided into six steps and is part of the methodology’s fourth pillar. However, not every contract requires a similar amount of contract management...
Metatrend 3: the growing focus on sustainability and environment
Today’s leadership has to deal with new challenges that have not yet been embraced in the world of business schools and is not part of the everyday curriculum of the average MBA. Focusing on the future however is of paramount importance for the leader of today, more...
#12 CATS CM® methodology – Pillar 4 Part 1: Six steps in the contract management process
In this twelfth blog from the series ‘Contract Management with CATS CM® in a nutshell’, I will focus on a part of the fourth pillar of the CATS CM® methodology. The fourth pillar consists of the contract management process subdivided into 6 steps and the structuring...
CATS CM® releases English online exam
Recently the CATS CM® methodology was translated into English. Slowly our courseware has been made available online globally, through e-learning and online trainings. Our next step is to enable professionals worldwide to become certified in the CATS CM®methodology. We...
Metatrend 2: From recovery after loss to prevention of risks
In my previous metatrend blog I talked about a J.A.R.V.I.S-like technology to help people in the field of contract management. The second metatrend I’m addressing is ’from recovery after loss to prevention of risks’. This trend sprouted from the insurance field of...
#11 CATS CM® methodology – Pillar 3: Contract Management Essentials
In my previous two blogs, I wrote about the first and second pillars of the CATS CM® methodology. They describe the distinction between the ‘Work To Be Done’, on the one hand, and ‘All Other Contract Matter’ on the other (Pillar 1:) and the roles that are created by a...
#10 CATS CM® methodology – Pillar 2: Roles involved in a contract
The CATS CM® methodology is based on four pillars. The first pillar I described in my previous blog. In this blog I talked about the distinction between the ‘Work To Be Done’ (WTBD), on the one hand, and ‘All Other Contract Matter’ (AOCM) on the other. The distinction...
Metatrend 1: A contract manager is not a J.A.R.V.I.S. but it surely will get one….
Most people don’t know what a J.A.R.V.I.S. is, do you? J.A.R.V.I.S stands for ‘Just Another Rather Very Intelligent System’, a fictional artificial intelligence character that was voiced in different science fiction movies. Let me dive into a mega trend, one that...
#9 CATS CM® methodology – Pillar 1: Work To Be Done versus All Other Contract Matter
The CATS CM® methodology is based on 4 pillars, of which I already gave a brief explanation in the introduction to CATS CM®. The first pillar distinguishes between the ‘Work To Be Done’ and ‘All Other Contract Matter’. We make this distinction in order to divide the...
#8 The CATS CM® methodology
With the knowledge from my previous blogs, it is now time to introduce the CATS CM® methodology in this blog. In short, contract management is the realization of contract objectives. CATS CM® is applied to achieve these pre-determined results. The contract management...
#7 The CATS contract life cycle
A contract is the result of a more or less parallel procurement and sales process that consists of multiple phases. This process can be divided into several steps. This also applies to the process during which the client and the supplier jointly work on the execution...
#6 Successful contract management – contract creation
In the series ‘Contract Management with CATS CM® in a nutshell’, I explain the guiding principles of our methodology. After having described the business case, effective contract management, and the contract management success factors, my previous two articles covered...
CATS CM® Core: the contract management e-learning
Contracts are ingrained in every part of the organization, and almost always have an impact on organizational goals. Therefore it is crucial to align contract objectives with organizational goals and manage contracts from this perspective. This requires strategic,...
#5 Successful contract management – competent staff and process-aligned systems
After having introduced the three essential factors for successful contract management, my previous blog took a closer look at the first factor: policy and processes. Of course, successful contract management will never be achieved without the right people and...
#4 Successful contract management – policy and processes
In my previous article about success factors in contract management, I wrote about the important choices that the organization's management has to make when it comes to how contracts should be managed. There are three overarching factors that play a defining role: a...
#3 Success factors in contract management
In order to manage contracts successfully, the organization’s management needs to make certain choices. These choices relate to different areas and various levels within the organization. The success of contract management depends on three factors: Contract...
#2 Effective contract management: safeguarding contract objectives
No matter how different organizations may be, they have one thing in common. They were all established to give substance to a mission and a vision. Contract management plays a major role in realizing these goals, which is why it is important that everyone involved in...
CLM leader Sirion is the first to incorporate CATS CM®
By incorporating all factors of successful contract management in a structured way on a strategic, tactical and operational level, companies can use contract management as a true strategy for realizing organizational goals. One of these factors for success is having...
15 Years ‘under construction’
It seems like a long time ago when contract management pioneers Gert-Jan Vlasveld and Jan van Beckum started out on their venture to make their work easier. Both where responsible for managing large outsourced contracts and both came to the conclusion that there was...
#1 The contract management business case
Effective contract management ensures that the contract realizes the intended objectives, for the correct compensation, with acceptable risks, and with the efforts planned by the organization. Efficient contract management aims to achieve this effectiveness with...
Why contract management is vital to the business
Every organization is in a buy, sell and value-add trajectory continuously. The organization buys something, it does something to the purchased and then it sells its services or products – in a highly simplified way: The creation of value. Value is not derived from...
Introducing CATS CM®: The contract management methodology
We live in a world where hyper specialization has taken control. Where a large dependency is found on external relations. A world where you are never alone. That is a world where relationships matter more than ever. And what governs a (business) relationship? An...
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