CLM Ironclad has launched a new tool called Connect, which creates a centralised view of the contracting process for all parties and, they claim, can reduce contract completion times by over 40% – which is a lot whether you are a busy inhouser, or a law firmer on the billable hour.
The new capability allows you to store all communications about a deal in one place, ‘even attachments and months-long email threads’ and allows you to keep everyone involved in negotiating a contract ‘in the loop’.
It also shows ‘comments, task assignments, track changes, and reference documentation for any given contract’. Plus you get automated reminders and other internal communications help to keep you and your counterparty on track.
In short, it’s a workflow and deal visibility application that keeps everyone on the same page and with all the related information about that contract on hand, all in one place.
Is this rocket science? Is this a major breakthrough? Nope. In fact, it’s similar to what is on offer via several overlapping products already on the market. But, it will no doubt be very useful for those inhouse teams that already use Ironclad and for the lawyers of their counterparties.
It’s also coming at the problem of contracting from a different angle from Ironclad’s recent hook up with Google for NLP doc analysis. This is very much on the pre-signature phase and helping parties get to that final document, which then perhaps may be analysed and have key data extracted from it.
Ironclad Senior VP of Product, Steven Yan, said: ‘Contract negotiation has always been a convoluted process, primarily because traditional tools like Word and email fragment communication – rather than centralise it.
‘Ironclad Connect allows teams to share Ironclad’s powerful functionality with their counterparties in order to collaborate more effectively. By baking collaboration directly into the contracting experience, Ironclad Connect helps teams and counterparties work with each other to reach common ground faster and more efficiently.’
Is this a big deal? Not a massive one. It’s more about how the players in the CLM market are looking to find key differentiators. In this case the focus is not on fancy tech, but rather on practical convenience that saves time. Which means it will also drive efficiency, so, this has got to be a welcome move.