One of the challenges in Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) projects can be the length of time projects take from business case through to live deployments. We’ve seen this take years rather than just months. There’s the time it takes to secure stakeholder buy-in, to create a business case and implementation plan, gain budget approvals for this plan (which are amplified by potentially being multi-year and multi-million cost), not to mention the current challenging period for growth and therefore restrictions on expenditure. This creates an environment that can perpetuate the ‘computer says no’ excuse for transformational change attempts by forward looking areas of the business.

But what if there was a way to achieve the transformation aims within CLM but accelerate time to value, while reducing cost. CLM Technology Pilots for a long time have been the recommended first step within a multi-phased CLM transformation (a real production environment using real contracts, as opposed to a proof of concept that is a test system only). Pilot CLM on a smaller scale in a phase 1, prove success, and then roll-out to wider audiences in phases 2 onwards. This approach will ensure buy-in and support for your CLM implementation by bringing key stakeholders on the journey and appease those who are resistant to change. Start small before growing something big.

So, a successful pilot is the end goal, but what is the best way to get there?

CLM Pilots often still involve lengthy discovery periods to understand the current state of a company, develop requirements and decide on scope. Now, clients can use Deloitte’s blueprinting methodology to enhance and simplify their initial pilot phase to get to a minimal viable product quicker, more efficiently and at a lower cost up-front.

Think of your CLM pilot as an upcoming holiday – yes, something we all work towards when we’re at work!

So, you’ve pinned down your dates for the holiday, you know it’s going to happen, and you’ve got the time off work. You know where you want to go, but you have no idea how to get there or what you want to do while you’re there, and it is fast approaching. The goal is to get to your end destination, balancing time, cost and ease of travel.

You could

a; do lots of research from various sources and book the flights, hotels, transfers and general logistics yourself, wading through advice that is often conflicting. This would sap a lot of your valuable time, taking days/weeks alongside all the other priorities in your life.

Or b; you can purchase a package holiday to fast track the above exercise. This would be leveraging the experience of others that know the key requirements to look for, have done this many times before for others so know where to get the information, and can provide you with the best options for you based on your requirements. So, your flights, transfers and all logistics are all sorted for you, and when you get to the hotel, you’ve got the all-inclusive experience! You can enjoy your holiday knowing that the hardest choice you’ll have to make is what time you want your breakfast/lunch/dinner/drinks, but they are included when you turn up to the restaurant.

At Deloitte, our CLM blueprinting approach is your package holiday, including the all-inclusive hotel experience. It is an enabler to rapidly deploy CLM over 6-8 weeks following standard workflows and pre-defined requirements based on our global experience. It is the most effective and streamlined way to organise and experience your holiday, sorry, your CLM Pilot. We have 3-4 modular options of the most common ways that organisations start their CLM implementations. This rapid time to value pilot with pre-defined design and workflows dramatically reduces the effort required in the upfront discovery, since there are a controlled number of customisations allowable for the client. This allows clients to prove success on a smaller scale, before expansion to different regions/business units in an enterprise-wide implementation.

The first CLM vendor we developed the blueprinting methodology for is DocuSign CLM, based on our experience implementing this product on over 300 projects globally. The methodology has been designed with Legal and Sales departments in mind with pre-built integrations like Salesforce and e-Signature. This design was intentional, recognising that CLM transformations are often part of Sales or Legal department transformation initiatives, or linked to wider organisational digital or efficiency initiatives. Using the CLM blueprinting methodology will support the wider transformation initiative by allowing Sales and/or Legal to pilot CLM quickly, digitising simple and repeatable contracts, build out a searchable contract repository, and therefore show tangible benefits to key stakeholders.

Reach out to us to start the conversations and understand the packages available within the blueprinting methodology. Each package has a defined number of templates included, which impacts timelines and costs. Implementation timelines start from as low as six weeks for the lowest complexity package, so more than ever is it time to consider using Deloitte’s blueprinting methodology as your package holiday to ensure your holiday is as relaxing and as successful as it can be.

Deloitte Legal works with many vendors of which DocuSign is one. For more information about any of our alliances, please contact Tom Brunt and Catherine Poole.

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