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Why General Counsels Need A Contract Lifecycle Management Solution

Legal teams handle volumes of contracts, with constant pressure to fit contract drafting, review, ensure compliance, consider liabilities and renewal clauses, and sign off all within the stipulated deadline. Today’s legal professionals are struggling to keep up with the extensive flurry of activities in corporate legal departments, managing differing complexities while maintaining consistency and standards throughout hundreds or thousands of contracts. Naturally, contract management becomes an elaborate process for in-house counsels where GCs must fulfill the roles of advisors, advocates, and communicators across contracts. This is where legal tech enters in simplifying the day-to-day activities of legal teams and general counsels. Advantages Of A Cloud-based Contract Management System: Simplified contract management and automation- Instead of manually creating and reviewing contracts, AI-enabled contract automation quickens the processes of contract drafting, negotiation, compliance, and implementation. An end-to-end contract management software for GCs acts like a skilled lawyer who slashes the time required in manual contracting by leveraging the power of machine learning and automation.
Improves transparency of contracts- Different units in the organization can take a look at the contract status and communicate with the lawyers, breaking down the myths and jargon associated with legal teams. Both internal and external users get absolute clarity on the status of the contracts and the people reviewing/re-reviewing them, thereby improving contract performance with addresses in the initial stage.
Trendspotting with analytics- The data collected by the software enables general counsel to manage and enhance legal efficiency within a firm. Legal tech allows access to structured data and reporting to analyze contracts , current and past agreements, and other business data. Advanced Tracking With CLM Though general counsels majorly deal with the legal language, a lesser-known aspect of their work deals with numbers and other quantifiable data. Apart from boosting the contracting processes, GCs can dig deeper into the analytics offered by contract lifecycle management software and help organizations gain insights and improve in different departments of the business. Here are some ways General Counsels can improve contract and operational performance: Contracting expenses- Keeping a tab on how much it costs to create, negotiate, and process contracts can reveal surprising values integral to the legal team. A dedicated contract lifecycle management solution can help assess the multiple variables that factor into the cost of a contract and lead to a dramatic reduction in contracting expenses. A survey across big and small organizations shows that the average cost of processing and reviewing basic contracts is rising, while costs for mid-complexity to high-complexity contracts reach thousands of dollars. This means tracking contracting expenses has become more important than ever for corporations and efficient businesses. For mid-sized companies, tracking contract costs can lead to significant savings annually.
Contract cycle time- Time is the second most valuable asset for legal teams, and more time required for contracting cycles means longer delays in closing deals. Measuring the time consumed by each step of the contracting cycle determines its efficiency and simultaneously suggests ways to improve the process. This also helps the legal team with a roadmap to focus their efforts and remove bottlenecks.
Quality of contracts- It is crucial to balance contract quality with quantity in order to ensure contractual obligations are successfully fulfilled. General counsels must ensure that all contracts adhere to the legal and industry standards by tracking deviation rates, contract risks, compliance, and error rates. In comparing different contracts or contract portfolios, legal professionals can identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement for a higher contract renewal rate and contract quality. Wrapping up Do the general counsels need a CLM? The long and short answer is yes. The days of manual contracting and contract management are long gone. Adopting a CLM boosts legal team efficiency and improves business functions. With a contract lifecycle management solution, contracting becomes a data-driven, transparent, and collaborative process that works toward meeting business objectives. With the right tools like InkPaper , you can: automate contract drafting and review with AI and LLM collaborate with team members in real-time improve contract execution with digital signature analyze contracts with ease set and measure KPIs for business growth

InkPaper- Ushering Efficient Contract Streamlining In 2023

Over the years of working with many small and large-scale companies, we have observed a few business pain points. For instance, sales teams may be fascinated upon getting more and faster closure of deals, but the contract review process slows them down. This common problem across several companies, regardless of the industry, needed a solution such as InkPaper to streamline and simplify the legal processes. InkPaper is a convenient tool that helps organizations speed up their legal process through services such as LLM-enabled contract drafting, AI-powered contract reviewing, smart team collaborations, negotiation management, electronic signatures, and more. Here are key benefits of InkPaper that will help streamline your contracts: 1. Accelerated Contract Drafting Drafting a contract is the first critical step in contract management, infamous for being time-consuming and stealing precious time from legal professionals. The traditional way relies on drafting contracts from scratch, where every word of the contract has to be well-thought-out and legally sound for lasting impact. The legal team has to go back and forth to ensure it is framed properly, containing principle clauses to support the cause. This process is particularly brutal for senior lawyers who have to brainstorm and craft such documents in high volume. With a new-gen contract management software like InkPaper, you can substitute the tediousness of this process with focused decision-making. InkPaper provides workflow tools that help upload your contract to the cloud, collaborate online with your colleagues without the need for repetitive emails, and quickly eliminate the issues within your contract. With InkPaper’s new add-in feature, a foolproof legal document is a prompt away, letting your business teams focus on getting more deals without worrying about contract delays. 2. Swifter Contract Negotiations Once the contract is drafted, it is necessary to discuss negotiations and review the document with what is acceptable for both parties. A typical negotiation includes various subjects like pricing, terms and conditions, rights and obligations, warranty provisions, terminations, and renewals. This process is by no means a simple one. InkPaper’s CLM makes it easier for your team and remote stakeholders to review contracts and negotiate on any matter. This enhanced collaboration and transparency builds a trustworthy relationship between your organization and clients, resulting in business agility. 3. One-Version-Fits-All Word File It is common to have multiple versions of the same contract moving to and fro during the review or negotiation process. Though this process is doable, it is error-prone, kills efficiency, and wastes expensive legal time, demanding you to manually keep track of the latest versions of the contract and manage changes. InkPaper saves you this hefty trouble by managing the latest version of the contract on the cloud for easy access by all the stakeholders. More so, you can directly embed the InkPaper add-in from Microsoft Appsource to review contracts on MS Word, share with respective stakeholders, and have them make changes wherever they use Word. 4. Transparent Process Visibility Executing a contract is a lengthy process involving countless steps and stakeholders. While lawyers put utmost attention in drafting the contract, it is easy to overlook some crucial points. InkPaper provides process visibility that not only enables you to view the process but also allows you to edit, sign, and share documents by getting access to workflows. With InkPaper, you can track a contract’s progress, get notified when vendors sign the documents, and get reminders when someone hasn’t. Process visibility serves one more benefit of building trust with new clients who want to view significant changes in the contact process. 5. Ensured Document Security The next crucial step is to make sure the documents are stored securely. InkPaper simplifies record management for you by keeping them in an electronic repository. This ensures your documents are not only secure but are easily accessible whenever required. 6. Auditable Contract Changes Auditing contract changes regularly is the best way to optimize your team’s capacity for contract procurement. The more your team can manage contracts without errors, the faster your organization can grow. InkPaper creates a database that includes the history of every change made in a contract right when a document is uploaded to the system. This directory ensures every change is recorded, disabling the removal of the data. 7. Easy Sign Ups With E-signature Signing the contract after the final approval is a trouble-free process. However, handwritten signatures make it difficult for organizations that deal with businesses across the globe. Emailing, printing, scanning, and signing the documents delays the contract procurement process. E-signatures by InkPaper simplifies this by providing a one-click solution. InkPaper e-signatures are not only legal in many countries but are also fully reliable and accessible from anywhere at any time. InkPaper uses blockchain technology that ensures the confidentiality of the document. InkPaper safeguards the legality, indispensability, and imitability of documents, enabling organizations to quicker agreements and accelerate business growth. InkPaper is a new-gen contract review and negotiation platform that eliminates the time-consuming, error-prone, and tiresome processes of your contract draft, review, and execution cycle. InkPaper provides solutions to startups, mid-size organizations, law firms, and large enterprises. Using InkPaper can benefit you by streamlining your contract review processes, saving valuable time, and boosting revenue.

How can Add-ins Assist Legal Professionals in Making the Most of Microsoft Word?

Document drafting is a time-intensive and draining process for a lawyer. The high demand for quality and legally perfect documents within a tight time frame gets overwhelming, especially for high-volume practices. Fortunately, MS Word, the indispensable tool for lawyers, comes with a plethora of features that make drafting legal paperwork much less of a hassle. Modern attorneys have a thousand options to choose from in the Microsoft Appsource, the most functional being Word add-ins. Legal add-ins are the new-gen assists for lawyers when it comes to contract drafting and reviewing. You simply attach the add-in extension of your choice and access its features where you work. But the question remains: Are these add-ins safe? Are they legally sound? What add-ins are useful for lawyers? Below are the answers to all these questions, plus a few ways you can start using add-ins today. Drafting with templates: Busy law firms can benefit from AI-powered add-ins to draft a legal document from scratch in seconds. Type in a detailed prompt with the AI-enabled add-in and get a foolproof document customized for your needs. Add-ins with LLMs trained in legal data understand a lawyer’s requirement and draft a legally sound template for the expert to make changes to. At this stage, the lawyer is to review the document for crucial data and enhance its credibility.
Easily accessible and collaborative: Word add-ins are shareable and are promptly activated whenever Word is opened. Their easy-to-use interface appears as a task panel, making it feasible even for less tech-savvy teammates. Add-ins work where you do and let you pass it on to the next person with ease.
Secure data storage and management: Microsoft Word add-ins protect your contracts from unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure. Moreover, add-ins trained in legal language help you comply with regulatory requirements and safeguard your intellectual property and confidential information.
No toggling between tabs: Did you know your productivity moves south every time you juggle between tasks? With add-ins, you get to enhance your productivity with an all-in-all platform that dedicatedly reduces these buffers. Need to review the contract? Type in a prompt asking to extract specific information, dates, and parties involved. Need to scan the document for sensitive data? Ask your AI-powered add-in to fetch it in seconds.
Customized tone to represent your party: With AI, lawyers can tailor the tone of the document to best represent their party. Drafting an agreement with clear clauses that state what they ask will further benefit both parties in the negotiation process, helping a faster turn-around time in closing deals.
Where to Find Microsoft Add-ins? Before you hop in on the quest to find the perfect add-in, think, can you draft a contract without add-in? Or can you manually review a contract for discrepancies? The answer would often be a yes but with compromised efficiency and time. It is best to carry out a cost-benefit analysis to measure the productivity hike caused due to an add-in subscription. Most Microsoft add-ins are readily available in the Microsoft Appsource, wherein you can simply search for an add-in based on your requirement and select the one judging by the features and reviews for each integration. You can also choose an add-in directly on Microsoft Word by simply clicking “Add-in” on the toolbar and integrating your preferred extension. Final Thoughts There are thousands of add-ins available on Microsoft Appsource, for productivity, note-taking, legal research, and so on. Most make a lawyer’s life much easier at little to no cost. Now, the real struggle is to choose one that stays afloat despite the numerous advancements. It is high time for the legal space to adopt next-gen cloud computing features into its infrastructure and everyday processes. With AI-enabled Word add-ins, you tap into an optimized functionality of the Microsoft suite and further accelerate business growth.

The Future of Contract Automation: Empowering Efficiency with Large Language Models

Contract management is critical to business operations, ensuring legal compliance, mitigating risks, and facilitating smooth transactions. However, manual contract processes can be time-consuming, error-prone, and inefficient. To address these challenges, contract automation has emerged as a transformative solution. With the advent of generative AI and large language models, contract automation is being transformed like never before. Large language models provide a new way to automate contracts by utilizing natural language processing, making it faster and more accurate to generate contracts in real time. This blog explores the intersection of contract automation and Large Language Models (LLMs), delving into the potential of AI-driven technologies to revolutionize contract management. Understanding Large Language Models (LLMs) Large Language Models, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, have gained immense popularity due to their ability to process and generate human-like text. LLMs excel at providing tailored solutions, offering actionable suggestions, summaries, and assisting with various topics. These models represent the cutting edge of AI integration, and their potential promises significant improvements for the legal industry. Integrating LLMs In Contract Automation The legal industry has been long skeptical of adopting AI owing to the fear of losing control and sub-par use of legal language. However, the dramatic explosion caused by OpenAI’s ChatGPT opened up new areas which legal counsels and leaders are now benefiting from. With the dawn of generative AI, not only are businesses utilizing the power of AI and NLP at the fullest, but the legal sector is also gearing up to benefit from the potential of generative AI and LLM. Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions with LLM are a boon for achieving more efficiency, including speeding up the contracting process, improving compliance, and identifying complex contract language. The role of LLMs in contract automation is three-fold: Contract generation: LLMs can generate contracts automatically based on predefined templates, rules, and user input. By leveraging their natural language processing capabilities, LLMs can understand the context, requirements, and variables of a contract and generate a draft that adheres to legal and industry standards. Contract analysis: LLMs can assist in analyzing existing contracts by extracting relevant information, identifying key clauses, and providing insights. They can automatically review contracts for potential errors, inconsistencies, or missing clauses. LLMs can also help with due diligence by comparing contracts against predefined criteria or legal regulations to ensure compliance. This analysis provides efficiency, accuracy, and risk mitigation in contract management. Contract management: LLMs in contract management platforms can organize, search, and retrieve contracts efficiently. They can extract key data points from contracts and populate contract management systems, making it easier to track important information such as contract dates, parties involved, and obligations. LLMs also assist in contract renewal and amendment processes by identifying relevant sections and suggesting modifications. Use of Large Language Models In Contract Automation Despite the benefits of digital contracts, several challenges come up with the increasing usage of CLM software. For instance, contract automation solutions are generally hard-coded for definite functions and follow a rigid structure to meet them. Similarly, CLM platforms often provide users to select a set template from their repository to build a contract, allowing little to no room for customization. The intervention of LLMs can address these problem areas and help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of contract automation solutions: 1. Inefficient contract creation: LLMs can automate contract creation by generating drafts, suggesting clauses, and customizing templates based on historical data and user requirements, all with just a few prompts. Moreover, with their predictive analytics capabilities, LLMs help organizations anticipate contract risks, optimize contract terms, and make informed strategic decisions. 2. Contract analysis and efficient search retrieval: LLMs can analyze contracts, extract critical information, and identify non-compliant clauses or missing obligations, reducing the time and effort required for manual review. Their search capabilities are enhanced by understanding natural language queries and can come in handy to retrieve specific clauses, streamlining the process and saving time searching for specific information. 3. Lack of contract intelligence: Owing to their capability of analyzing large volumes of data, LLMs can identify patterns, trends, and risks and provide organizations with valuable contract intelligence. This process also eliminates any ambiguities, vague language usage, or conflicting clauses that can lead to disputes and misunderstandings, maintaining clarity and agreement. 4. Contract performance monitoring: Tracking contractual obligations, milestones, and deadlines can be a cumbersome process, failing which might cost heavily for your business. LLMs automate tracking deliverables and potential deviations from agreed-upon terms and enable proactive contract management of contract performance. 5. Ineffective contract negotiation: Contract negotiation requires a thorough understanding of contractual terms and potential risks. LLMs assist in contract negotiation by analyzing negotiation documents, providing contextual suggestions, and highlighting potential areas of contention. Future of Contract Automation The increasing use of AI poses a major threat to the legal industry, causing much anxiety about misinformation and incompetency. As the field continues to evolve, organizations must navigate legal and ethical considerations to harness the full potential of LLMs in contract automation. Moreover, data protection concerns about using LLMs have been well documented. Compliance measures should be implemented to ensure legal grounds for processing personal data. Copyright and database right infringement policies should also address the risk of LLMs infringing propriety rights. As a highly dynamic phenomenon in AI, LLMs exhibit unexpected yet impressive abilities owing to their extensive training and exposure to diverse datasets. With more advancements, LLMs can be seen as a one-stop solution for simplifying legal jargon and cutting down the time and effort behind managing a contract. By leveraging LLM’s capabilities, businesses can enhance efficiency, accuracy, and compliance in contract generation, analysis, and management.

Contract Automation Trends To Look Out For While Choosing Your CLM Software

The benefits of AI-driven contract automation such as increased productivity, lower risk, improved data management, and cost savings have already been established. In 2023, businesses will continue to employ contract automation extensively to speed up the contracting process and lower manual errors.
Here are the five major contract automation trends to look out for in 2023 when selecting your CLM Software: 1) Integration In Smart Contract Automation In 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT created a massive feature in the legal drafting space with contract lifecycle management software readily integrating this AI for its uber-smart features. Current trends in contract automation point to a spike in the use of the new ChatGPT3 to offer a user-friendly and well-integrated CMS solution. Alongside AI, companies are rapidly migrating towards a cloud-based contract management system. Thus, the integration of a secure cloud in CMS platforms becomes mandatory in 2023. Integration with other enterprise systems and mobile compatibility are also some of the most anticipated features of a contract lifecycle management checklist. 2) Role of AI in Contract Lifecycle Management AI and ML are majorly used in CLM to find key clauses in agreements and contract reviews. However, with the rapid evolution of AI, algorithms can now find patterns and connections within the contract to extrapolate data and help make better business decisions. Furthermore, the increasing use of the “drag and drop” option will allow organizations to manage multiple documents for processing in their convenient ways. This will ensure seamless automating and streamlining of contract data extraction processes alongside classifying contract data as per user convenience. 3) Increasing Importance of NLP in Simplifying Contract Jargon Natural Language Processing (NLP) clubbed with AI breaks down the contract jargon to help you understand and comprehend the subject like a human would. AI and NLP can aptly extract and classify contract metadata while dramatically cutting down the time needed to manually process the same. NLP will continue to gain momentum in simplifying complex data, making way for fine-tuning and better prompting easier to incorporate on CLM platforms. 4) Improvements In Blockchain Smart contracts will continue to be in action with their seamless usability and encrypted transaction records. However, hybrid smart contracts integrated with blockchain and off-chain systems are also likely to gain popularity. These contracts get you the best of both worlds, allowing the execution of more complex and flexible agreements. The interoperability between blockchains is another such trend expected to be in motion. It will no longer be difficult for different blockchain platforms to interact and create new types of smart contracts. 5) Data Privacy And Regulatory Compliance Digital contracts are often questioned for their safety limitations and data breaches over anything else. In the ever-changing world of digitization and documentation, contract management software with high-security standards and privacy policies are a must to have. Preventing data breaches and ensuring compliance with changing legislation is an essential criterion for businesses to look out for in 2023. Security certifications, penetration and vulnerability testing, and encryption in transit and at rest are some indispensable security measures to have in your CLM software. With the rising demand for automation software, contract lifecycle management systems are readily adapting to the trending technologies to ease the hassle of managing contracts at the organizational level. The pain of managing contracts is common to every organization irrespective of their size, and the use of AI/ML technologies will increase efficiency, reduce risk, improve data management, and cost savings. As your company expands, the number of stakeholders and complexities with contracts increase dramatically. InkPaper’s CLM platform helps you stay updated with these new features and improve the performance of your overall organization.

InkPaper Becomes SOC2 Type 2 Compliant

At InkPaper, we advocate for an end-to-end security when it comes to our customer’s sensitive data. As feasible it is to share and collaborate with several people on the digital space, data security is often threatened, if not compromised. The contractual agreements that you have with your clients and vendors can lead to devastating consequences if security is at risk. InkPaper became SOC2 Type 2 compliant as a protective measure for your business, so that you can be rest assured about cybersecurity and data breaches. What is SOC2 Type 2 Certification? A Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 2 Report is a comprehensive audit to assess the security systems of software and cloud-based service providers to protect confidential and sensitive information. SOC2 is often lauded as the highest parameter of data security for SaaS companies. While SOC2 Type 1 is a point-in-time audit, Type 2 delves deeper into the five principles of security and management. SOC2 security principles prevent the unauthorized use of assets and breach of data within an organization. This means that organizations need to consider cybersecurity with every decision they make. Why is SOC2 important for a contract management software?
Often, enterprises worry about the credibility and security of their contract management solution. At InkPaper, safeguarding our customers' confidential data constitutes our core value. InkPaper uses Google Cloud Platform (GCP), a SOC2 Type 2 certified platform, to manage and host production servers and databases with security and ease. InkPaper’s SOC2 Type 2 Audit was performed by independent CPAs (Certified Public Accountants) as per the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) professional standards. The report assessed the security of InkPaper's control and operating effectiveness. The audit was conducted on crucial parameters indispensable for SaaS companies: InkPaper ensures the highest security of confidential information and prevention from unauthorized access. InkPaper solution is constantly monitored and routinely upgraded with the latest technological advancements. All the information provided by InkPaper for the audit is timely, valid & accurate. InkPaper provides end-to-end confidentiality of contracts between different parties. InkPaper securely manages and protects the privacy of all client data. InkPaper Beyond SOC2 Compliance Harish Daiya , CEO and Co-Founder of InkPaper was elated by this achievement. "We want people to associate InkPaper with the most secure contract automation solution. Our team of technology experts is constantly integrating the best technological solutions to provide our customers with an unparalleled experience in the overall industry." He added, "SOC2 Type 2 compliance has come at the right time in our growth trajectory. It reinstates our belief in InkPaper’s value proposition of ‘solving for the customer’." InkPaper boasts of its overly cautious company culture that treats cybersecurity as the foundation of the organization and treats sensitive customer data with utmost care. With this certification, we have an additional responsibility to maintain our lofty standards every year. We are committed to providing the most secure contract management solutions for our clients. If you wish to learn more about InkPaper, talk to our expert .

Contract Generation Through CLM Platform: Benefits & How to Do It?

Contracts are a critical part of your company’s growth. Businesses use physical contracts to establish business relationships, make financial transactions, and ensure the purchase, sale, and delivery of goods & services. But isn’t it lengthy and tiresome to create new contracts every time? However, today, businesses can generate contracts without dealing with this friction. How is contract generation different from contract authoring, and what does it mean to generate contracts? Here's everything you need to know about contract generation.
What is Contract Generation? A contract generation process involves the assembly or automating of contracts. It's the first stage of the contract lifecycle. Typically, it involves creating and populating a contract before sending it to counterparties for negotiation.
An automated contract generation process creates legal agreements more quickly and efficiently. Manual contract generation is tedious and requires much attention to detail, but many aspects are repetitive, making it a good candidate for automation. Automated contract generation is one of the most popular applications of the Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform. Companies that produce multiple contracts daily, such as law practices, insurance agencies, banks, mortgage lenders, and other companies, can benefit significantly from simplifying contract generation. How is Contract Generation Different from Contract Authoring? Both contract generation and contract authoring result in the creation of contracts. Nevertheless, authoring differs from generating a contract in that it pertains to the actual process of writing the words contained in a legal agreement. On the other hand, contract generation involves automatically creating the agreement by following a pre-prepared template.
Using contract generation, businesses can create contracts quickly and at scale without manually drafting them. What is the process of generating contracts if they are not written? Let us go through the process of generating contracts. What is the Contract Generation Process? The contract generation process has three steps: Creation and Storage of Contract Templates Creating templates that will be reused repeatedly and at scale is the first step in generating contracts. These reusable templates allow legal teams to control what is included in specific business contracts.
Using these templates allows commercial teams to draft contracts without needing to complete a contact request form or take the risk of drafting them alone. As soon as the contract templates are completed and approved, the relevant commercial team can access them easily, allowing them to generate standardized contracts rapidly and efficiently. Commercial Teams Fill Out Automated Templates When Commercial teams need to generate contracts, they can start generating them by opening a contract template and populating it with the necessary information. Businesses can save tons of time by generating contracts. The Filled-out Contracts are Sent Out for Approval and Review Generated contracts are pushed out for approval and review After the contract template has been filled out, it is submitted for approval.
This can all be done in the same workspace where the contracts are generated using an all-in-one contract platform like InkPaper. In other words, contracts can be signed without going back and forth between word documents, email, and shared drives.
What are the Advantages of Using the CLM Platform with a Contract Generation Tool? Don’t Have to Wait for the Legal Team Using CLM platforms like InkPaper with contract generation tools and pre-approved templates eliminates the need for commercial teams to wait for legal to fulfill requests. Traditionally, legal teams would be responsible for drafting contracts manually. However, with pre-approved and automated templates, commercial teams can self-serve as needed. The signing stage of contracts can be accelerated by removing this blocker. Higher Consistency & Efficiency A further advantage of using the CLM platform with a contract generation tool is that it ensures maximum consistency in contract creation. Moreover, contract generation also improves the accuracy of the data within them. A manual contract workflow requires contract owners to extract and input contract data, but with the CLM platform with a contract generation tool, it is automated. This minimizes the scope for small but expensive mistakes to happen. Greater Scalability In the legal field, drafting contracts takes a great deal of time. A fast-growing business with a lean legal team can produce fewer contracts than it would like. As a result, contract generation solves this problem. Contract generation reduces contract admin and allows users to generate contracts in bulk. Consequently, it transforms a repetitive contract process into one that is scalable and requires fewer resources - enabling you to grow faster. Wrapping Up Pay attention to the benefits contract generation can bring to your organization. Your team must have a contract lifecycle management solution that can positively transform contract generation.
Contract generation is made easy with InkPaper. Sign up now to discover how InkPaper's all-in-one contract workflow solution can help your business generate contracts!

10 Leading E-Signature Use Cases For Your Small Business

As a small business owner, you must develop multiple skills to solely perform various functions, such as marketing, HR, finance, sales, etc. On top of that, it requires numerous documents to maintain the business and many signatures to be signed. The traditional signing process takes time and slows down the business. The electronic document, on the other hand, has the same legal standing as a paper document but helps: Save time: You can sign documents within minutes anywhere and anytime. Maintain control: You can track who signed documents and when. Keep your documents mobile: You can now store them in the cloud and access them anywhere instead of creating cabinets in the office for storing documents. Hence, all in all, the e-signature tool helps streamline the workflow and increase your business efficiency. Check out some powerful areas where InkPaper’s e-signature helps your small businesses. E-signature Use Cases for Small Businesses Sales Contracts One of the most important documents for a business is its sales contract. The InkPaper e-signature permits sales agreements to be executed online, which allows deals to be closed in hours and minutes rather than weeks or days.
It allows you to automate many sales processes and track where sales agreements are in the signing process. Supplier and Vendor Agreements As your business grows, you often must spend considerable time managing relationships with suppliers & vendors and coordinating procurement activities.
You can improve procurement activities by shifting from paper-driven to digital workflows. We can accelerate the procure-to-pay process by reducing the risks created by errors and the costs associated with paper document processing. In addition, it's also easy to stay compliant with purchasing policies. New Customer Forms When you have a new customer, it is much easier to use e-signature over handwritten signatures for filling out forms as it saves time and money. Paper-based consent forms, policy update forms, or liability waivers must be generated in multiple iterations of documents. By adopting an e-signature, you can cut down the material cost. In addition, it saves valuable time by reducing the time invested in reading, tracking, and filing customer forms. Change Orders Changes are a normal part of any business, especially for project-based businesses like architecture, construction, and web design. Clients are likely to change their minds, and order amounts may suddenly increase or decrease. An approved change order is vital since compensation for hours beyond the original bid may be reviewed. An e-signature tool makes the process hassle-free and permits you to send out the change order as soon as the change is requested. Thus e-signature helps to avoid a project holdup and streamlines the process of maintaining a complete paper trail for review in the cloud. Customer Approvals It is very critical for a manufacturer to get final approval before starting the production or manufacturing process. You can use electronic signatures to make the process fast when receiving approvals. As a result, you can focus on completing the order instead of wasting time obtaining approvals. There is no need to visit the clients and get their signatures on the approval documents. Examples of businesses requiring customer approvals include custom furniture shops, art shops, and print shops. Employee Onboarding When a new person is hired, the onboarding process involves many forms that need to be filled out, like benefits enrolment, contracts, paychecks, etc. In addition, maintaining these documents in the office is another tiresome task. Using e-signature, you can streamline the process of employee onboarding by signing the documents digitally and storing the employee's documents on the cloud. Thus, the employee can begin working sooner and focus on more valuable tasks. Intellectual Property Licensing & Other Legal Agreements The legally binding nature of electronic signatures makes them ideal for a wide range of legal documents, such as intellectual property licensing, partnerships, and other contractual agreements. Since regulations have changed in the U.S. and other countries, electronic signatures and records are now considered as valid as handwritten signatures and paper documents. Non-disclosure Agreements In a competitive environment, non-disclosure agreements are precious because they allow you to do business more securely and freely. Signing them with a pen and paper is very inconvenient, and they should be addressed or remembered. The use of e-signature allows your partners to sign non-disclosure agreements from a laptop or mobile device, making it easy and secure to protect your proprietary information. This will enable you to work confidently with third parties. Parental Consent & Age Verification Entertainment companies, gaming companies, and photographers frequently target under-18 audiences, requiring parents or legal guardians to sign a consent form. The E-Signature tool facilitates parental sign-off from various electronic devices and integrates with several ID verification software solutions. Thus, e-signature can be used for any purpose, whether verifying the age of employees or working with children. InkPaper - A Secure & Hassle-Free E-Signature Platform
Electronic signatures make your business's Contract Lifecycle Management processes streamlined. Now is the right time to go paperless, mobile, and execute your agreements faster without waiting on mundane work.
InkPaper's e-signature is easy to use & staff and customers can sign from nearly any device, anywhere, anytime. Several built-in features speed up the process of preparing documents. And a multiple-level security system protects your company.

6 Benefits of E-Signature that Streamlines Contract Lifecycle Management!

During the year 2000, global governments saw a rapid transformation to digitization. But the need for ‘wet,’ or written signature on commercial contracts was still a limitation faced by businesses. Therefore, global governments attempted to pass legislation recognizing electronic signatures on documents as legally binding.
Soon, many countries began passing laws giving electronic signatures the same legal standing as written signatures. Despite the steady development of E-signature, its impact has been quite revolutionary. Period of Wet Signature Traditionally, a 'wet' signature was required to make a document legally enforceable. However, the problem wasn't the 'wet' nature of the signature. But the process behind it. First, the document had to be on paper. Then to have the documents signed, both parties had to be present physically. In case the signatories were not present at the time, then it had to be delivered to them through courier.
As technology improved business practices around the globe, the way contracts and agreements are signed have been digitized. Accepting electronic signatures legally binding by many international territories revolutionized Contract Management best practices worldwide. Let us go through some benefits of using E-signatures in managing your contracts: The Advantages of Electronic Signatures in Contract Management: Boosts Profits Any cost-cutting measure is a way to boost profits. And E-signature helps your business to save in 2 areas: Saves your staff time as they no longer have to spend their valuable time managing and putting physical copies of contracts in front of signatories. Saves paper, printing, and postage cost.
Streamlines Business Operations Automating basic administrative tasks like delivering contracts for approval makes your business operation more efficient. Timescales for projects are also accelerated due to the faster approval and enactment of contract documentation. Additionally, an E-signature platform such as InkPaper allows you to notify other parties whenever you are done signing the document. Enhances Compliance Compliance is greatly enhanced with the auditable date and time stamps in E-signature platforms. As a result, accountability and transparency are guaranteed, and your business can demonstrate that it meets relevant regulatory and industry standards. Through encrypted data transfer, the integrity of electronic signatures and contract data is preserved. Thus, compliance is assured, and signatories can proceed with the contract with complete confidence. Gives Access Based on Permission E-signature platforms like InkPaper provide access based on permission. Only authorized parties can access contract documentation from anywhere using any internet-connected device. Thus irrespective of how many signatories are involved or their location, contract approvals are managed quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, your business can maintain complete version control, ensuring that only the most up-to-date, approved documents are in circulation. Improves Workflow Businesses benefit from electronic signatures not only because they improve contracting processes for signers but also because they improve workflow for employees. When multiple departments and co-workers need to collaborate on a contract, digital documents and electronic signatures make it fast and easy to share, revise, and approve contracts. Provides Reports and Analytics Customisable reporting and analytics tools allow you to monitor automated approvals and workflows' efficiency closely. By doing so, procedural reinforcement is provided that allows for the early identification of delays and roadblocks. With InkPaper’s E-signature, Streamline Contract Management! By securing digital contracts with electronic signatures, your business's Contract Lifecycle Management processes are revolutionized. If you haven't already, now is the time to go paperless, mobile, and execute your agreements faster. Using InkPaper, you can track the signature status of the approving parties, notify the parties that a contract has been signed, and check in approved agreements automatically into the contract management system.

7 Ways in Which E-signature Will Benefit Your Startup.

The pandemic has sparked the rise of startups worldwide. Many people are quitting their jobs to become self-employed. According to Startup Ranking , the United States of America has the highest number of startups. While never having to work for anyone else again gives an uplifting feeling. At the same time, an entrepreneur needs to take risks and make decisions beneficial to their business. Furthermore, since startups are at the very beginning of their development, economizing remains a priority. One of the ways startups can limit their costs and boost efficiency is by leveraging technology. Artificial intelligence can streamline everyday tasks and help optimize organizational workflow. Early-stage and mid-stage startups should adopt electronic signatures as the most valuable technologies. However, E-signature’s advantages extend beyond cost savings and ease of implementation. Having an e-signature solution enables startups to gain so much more. So, let's find out how e-signatures are beneficial to startups! How is E-signature Helpful for Your Startup? Faster Contracts In startups, time is likely to be divided between multiple tasks at a rapid pace. Time spent on collecting signatures must be shifted to more valuable tasks.
Implementing electronic signatures helps the startup in achieving quicker ROI and simplifies time-consuming tasks using contract workflow platforms. Startups can share and sign documents within a fraction of the time without wasting time on labor-intensive tasks. Better Security Posture Among the many benefits of electronic signatures for startups, the most prominent factor is security. The startup must protect its intellectual property to ensure its competitive advantage in the market. Additionally, startups increasingly rely on E-business, using electronic media to transmit data rather than traditional paper documents. During transactions, an electronic signature allows verification of accountability between different parties. The audit trail associated with each electronic signature can be used to verify the signatory's identity and the signature's time and date. Thus, startups can ensure the accountability of their workforce for various document-related activities. Enhance HR Processes Human resources involve a large amount of paperwork. A startup must invest time and effort in preparing and tracking candidates’ applications. Adopting an electronic signature dramatically improves the efficiency and effectiveness of HR operations. Having all documents in digital format in one space reduces the time spent processing and archiving all documentation. In addition, startups can send employment contracts, such as NDA agreements and labor contracts, anytime and anywhere. And then map out future action based on the responses. Better Customer Experience The goal of every startup is to build an experience that makes customers keep coming back. In addition, the customer often looks for a platform that simplifies paperwork.
As InkPaper’s E-signatures simplify paperwork transfer between customers and enable processes to be accelerated since both parties have easy access to them. Thus, adopting an E-signature contributes to a positive user experience. Record Proof E-signature software has an audit log feature that tracks every process step. It records the signer's details and when the document was signed. So, if something goes against the agreement, neither party can say they didn't sign it because there is authentication, permission, email notification, acknowledgment, and many proofs of signature. Legally-Binding In 2000 global governments passed legislation recognizing electronic signatures on documents as legally binding. After that, electronic signatures are as valid as handwritten signatures legally. Environment-friendly In addition to the number of benefits that e-signature solutions offer, saving paper is the most notable one. Startups must adopt eco-friendly practices in various business functions and help preserve natural resources. Due to increased paper demand, deforestation seriously threatens the environment. Adopting a paperless approach shows startup owners' awareness of the environment and willingness to participate. Have You Adopted an E-signature Yet? Now you can see why adopting an E-signature is advantageous to startups. Startups that recognize the importance of electronic signatures have a better chance of achieving long-term growth. Moreover, startups could also streamline routine administrative tasks. The use of electronic signatures helps startups develop competitive products and promote more efficient work environments. Sign Up Today to InkPaper’s E-signature Platform for Free! InkPaper is a contract workflow and E-signature platform. It is the one-stop solution for electronically reviewing legal paperwork, securely signing the contracts, and maintaining all your legal paperwork in one place. With InkPaper, you can enjoy global and local compliance while experiencing world-class security. Sign up today to get free access to our e-signature platform!

7 E-Signature and Digital Transformation Trends to Look Out for in 2022 & Beyond!

Covid19 has changed and transformed how we do business, and its impact is still felt in supply chains, business processes, and remote work. E-signature is booming with the introduction of a new culture of remote offices and businesses rapidly moving to the cloud. In addition, business leaders are racing to replace traditional agreement processes with fully automated and digital ones!
We have compiled seven forecasts that will shape the outlook for digital contracts and the E-signature market in 2022 and beyond. 2022 E-signature Trends: Organizations of all sizes will use E-signature as part of their contract process During the last two years, businesses have been undergoing significant changes to maintain continuity and give customers better service. Many teams looking to relocate to remote-friendly operations began with E-signature. With the growing digitalization, most organizations currently use E-signature or plan to use them in the future. This means E-signature adoption is on the rise. The use of E-signature will grow from a team-specific tool to a strategic imperative for the entire organization E-signature technology is usually owned by the teams most likely involved in digital agreements: legal and IT. Although legal or IT teams may have initially driven E-signature efforts, ownership of the agreement process is more significant than any team. With more agreements being generated, negotiated, executed, and stored digitally, each team in an organization will take an interest in E-signature. The sales department will want to streamline the contract creation and approval process. HR will want to simplify hiring and onboarding paperwork. The procurement department will seek to improve its negotiating capabilities with both new and existing vendors. Although legal and IT will remain the primary owners, other teams will become more involved in the success of E-signature. New regulations will permit more types of contracts to be digitally signed The modern E-signature law is more than 20 years old and has evolved over time as electronic signing has grown in popularity. Across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and dozens of other countries, laws and regulations have been enacted that allow E-signatures and electronic records to have the same legal effect as paper-based contracts. Because of the pandemic, several governments have made it flexible to use digital signatures in areas that required physical signatures previously. Despite the risks associated with the pandemic, we expect technology to progress in a way that enables legally binding agreements previously thought to be infeasible. The following examples illustrate how E-signature laws around the world continue to evolve to enable the digital business: Many countries globally are slow to accept E-signatures, mortgage documents, deeds, wills, and powers of attorney. But in 2021, Australia revised its law (Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000) to allow E-signatures and Witness critical estate planning documents remotely. In 2021, UK’s HM Land Registry took an innovative step that allowed conveyancing deeds (i.e., a deed transferring land) to be registered and signed through electronic signature. That means a consumer can sign a deed without needing to visit an office and sign on paper. The Federal Reserve Bank, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the US have released E-signature guidance that enables more forms and documents to be digitally signed. New features will be added to the digital agreement collaboration E-signature is often involved at the end of the contract process. Contract creation and negotiation may take place in an old-fashioned way, and then E-signature is used as the final step. Though this process is still better than the traditional paper-based process, it opens the possibilities for betterment. Electronic signatures have recently been identified as a critical gap filler enabling end-to-end digital workflows. A document is no longer required to be printed, signed, and then scanned. The effectiveness of digital tools has further demonstrated in the last couple of years that the entire agreement workflow can remain digital. In the hybrid system, employees have become comfortable using various digital tools to accomplish transactions. Along with E-signatures, it will also conduct virtual negotiations and simplify contract revisions in real-time. This will permit organizations to get more work done using technologies they are already comfortable with. Touchless experiences will shoot up Touchless experience will boost up as people settle into a post-pandemic pattern. It will help consumers eliminate physical contact. For example, patients can use their mobile devices to provide information and complete the entire process with an electronic signature rather than using a pen to fill out a form before medical visits. And when traveling by plane, cloud-based technology creates a contactless option for check-in, baggage drop, security, and boarding. Strong identity verification will be seen for remote digital signatures. Enterprises will make advancements in their digital transformation by strengthening their remote processes with robust authentication and ID verification checks. Contract processes like account opening, hire paperwork, and notarization was performed in person traditionally. But due to work from home (WFH) and physical distancing rules, the need for higher identity assurance protocols to protect against fraud has occurred. This mainly applies to high-value and high-risk agreements in financial services, insurance, and similar industries. In low-risk scenarios, a simple email or SMS authentication may be enough. But for a high-risk agreement, stronger authentication using photo ID and biometric verification is necessary. Hybrid human-digital experiences will continue to be used by businesses Due to the pandemic, businesses and people have restricted the use of public settings, including bank branches and point-of-sale locations. But consumers are looking for channels where they can get human assistance once the activities get more complicated. Even though the digital experience is crucial, consumers prefer hybrid experiences that meet their needs. Hence having the right balance between a digital and human-mediated service is the key. During some tasks, such as applying for a loan or life insurance policy, consumers may switch between digital and human-mediated experiences. Thus, these end-to-end digital tools must be offered online and by advisors. New technologies like video conferencing, E-signature, and rich collaboration tools make it possible to recreate the face-to-face experience in a hybrid environment. Therefore in 2022, the adoption of hybrid experience-enabling innovative technologies will continue to grow. Conclusion Businesses, healthcare, and government organizations have taken significant steps to end the paper era in their digital transformation journeys. Businesses and enterprises are investing time and money to modernize their existing digital processes and increase efficiency. We believe the digital changes that has born due to the occurrence of the pandemic will remain in the new business ecosystem. Most people worldwide will continue to sign agreements electronically even after the pandemic. It reduces the workload on the internal team, improves referrals, and increases completion rates making sure customers don’t switch to your competitors. How Can InkPaper Help? InkPaper is a contract workflow and E-signature platform. It is the one-stop solution for electronically reviewing legal paperwork, securely signing the contracts, and maintaining all your legal paperwork in one place. With InkPaper, you can enjoy global and local compliance while experiencing world-class security. Sign up today to get free access to our e-signature platform!

11 Ways in Which E-Signature Can Help Your Tech Business

During this era of digital transformation, information at all levels can be captured, delivered, processed, and displayed electronically. Even though electronic signatures weren't thought of two decades ago, they have grown in importance and have become a significant tool for improving workflow. An E-Signature is electronic evidence of acceptance of an agreement or document. An electronic document is approved legally by using a single-factor authorization with variables such as unique PINs, passwords, and security numbers for identification. The audit trail function embedded within each digital page serves as proof of signing a document. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global digital signature market is expected to grow from USD 4.05 billion in 2022 to USD 35.03 billion in 2029 at a CAGR of 36.1%. How Does E-signature Technology Work? E-signature streamlines the signing process by making it 100% digital and remote. Instead of using physical hand-written signatures, professionals can sign documents anywhere at any time with any internet-enabled device. In this technology, different techniques are used to sign a document, but here are a few of the basic steps common to most solutions. The process involves signature registration, signature placement, verification of the signer’s identity, and document approval. In the next step, multiple cryptographic techniques are applied to ensure the integrity and security of the time stamp and the document and to bind the signature to the signer’s identity. So, when an individual electronically signs a document, the document hashes are generated using the signer's private key. Whenever the signed document is sent by email, the signer uses his private key to decrypt the signature code. The signature is considered valid if the values are equal. 11 Ways E-Signature Help You Drive Your Tech Business Let's look at 11 benefits of the electronic signature platform and how they help the tech business drive success. 1. Adds Additional Security Layers Signatures on paper are often considered authentic, but electronic signatures offer greater security. The additional layer of security is achieved through asymmetric cryptography and digital certificates. Asymmetric cryptography allows parties to verify a particular transaction by using public and private key pairs; private keys are always kept confidential, while public key pairs are used to interact. These keys are used to unlock and lock documents shared between parties. 2. Saves Time E-signature saves valuable time for all the members involved in the signing process. Instead of in-person document signing, an electronic link is sent for speeding up the document turnaround time. The signing process starts all over again if the paper contract gets lost, which increases the chance of legal liability. The electronic signature can be added to a contract within seconds and is returned immediately. This provides tech businesses greater flexibility in forecasting project completions. 3. Enhances Business Productivity E-signature tool allows the business to eliminate tasks that can be performed electronically. Rather than focusing on repetitive tasks, E-signature enables the employees to focus on more complex tasks. 4. Increases Profitability The use of E-signature makes it easier for employees to complete sales agreements more quickly. Contracts now are approved by clients within seconds, eliminating the need to wait for documents to be delivered. A contract workflow platform like InkPaper allows alerting a party to sign an agreement with a few clicks. Thus, a quick turnover builds a strong reputation for the company. 5. Improves Convenience It is convenient and easy to access an E-signature, even for non-technical users. No matter what side of the signing process you're on, the process is intuitive and straightforward. Electronic signatures are as easy as sending an email and clicking a few buttons. 6. Ensures Compliance The companies must juggle different statutory and regulatory requirements to remain compliant with the various internal and government agency standards. E-signatures help companies remain compliant by providing a clear audit trail. To avoid lawsuits and fines, documents must be intact and untampered with. Documents are kept safe and compliant with state and federal laws with the use of E-signature technology. 7. Increases Mobility Receiving and sending documents electronically anytime, anywhere overcomes physical barriers while increasing business reach. As a virtual document, digital signatures are convenient for remote workers, digital nomads, and those on the go. In addition, mobile signing expedites turnaround time and provides greater convenience to customers. 8. Streamlines HR Processes Using E-signature ensures an efficient hiring and recruitment process. Hiring often involves a lot of paperwork, such as application forms, job descriptions, resumes, employment agreements, etc. Instead of printing, scanning, and mailing forms to candidates, E-signature offers a more convenient way to do so. 9. Boosts Customer Experience & Loyalty E-signature gives the option of signing anywhere, anytime. It does not matter where the customer is, whether they are in the city or out of the city, at the beach or in the office. Customers can sign from desktop or mobile making it a convenient process for them. A happy customer simply means a loyal customer, who promotes the business through word of mouth. 10. Reduces Cost Minimize storage and archiving expenses: Companies spend $20 on average for document filing and $120 on finding misplaced documents. Document storage not only takes up space but also increases the maintenance cost. The physical space required to store paper documents is strictly limited. Electronically signed documents, on the other hand, do not require storage. Paper and Headcount Costs: E-signature cuts down on unnecessary costs of printing and handling the paper. In addition, it helps to reduce the need for employees to perform menial office tasks such as printing, signing, scanning, emailing, tracking, distributing, and storing documents. 11. Efficient Contract Management Digitally secure E-signature makes the contract process faster and easier. Using InkPaper, you can centralize the contract management process while keeping up to date on the status of various agreements. Now there's no need to worry about documents getting lost in inboxes and trays. An efficient contract workflow platform like InkPaper speeds up the contract process. A contract workflow platform does everything from contract initiation to collaboration, and contract negotiations to faster approvals and secure storage. Wrapping up The electronic signature helps tech businesses in achieving their goals. Examining where the business is in the digital transformation process is the beginning point of the journey. Adopting E-Signatures into the business is an easy way to streamline business operations.
Get Started with InkPaper? InkPaper is a contract workflow platform offering an E-signature solution to streamline the business process. InkPaper helps in managing the workflow efficiently, from drafting the contract to executing it and storing it securely on the cloud.
Sign up to InkPaper’s E-signature platform today for Free!