A business must manage its contracts efficiently. Employee contracts, sales agreements and service contracts are just some of the detailed paperwork that companies need to keep track of, and it can quickly become overwhelming. This is especially true as a business scales and more departments are added, bringing new waves of agreements to track and critical deadlines.
Contract management software automates the agreement life cycle, including drafting, signature, storage and renewal. A good platform will help a business create, organize and manage its contracts, as well as set up reminders for important deadlines. Contract management software has improved significantly in recent years, thanks to the implementation of artificial intelligence across the leading platforms, making it easier for all staff to use the tools without expert knowledge.
The Case for a Modern Contract Management System
Contracts can be spread across multiple departments and, in the era of remote working, multiple locations. Modern businesses generate a large number of agreements across departments, each with its own life cycle. This makes it challenging to keep track of contracts.
Shared drives, spreadsheets and email threads are replacing the filing cabinet in many companies, but these systems can lead to misplaced documents and missed renewal deadlines. They can also cause security and cyberattack issues that can be devastating to a company’s workflow and reputation.
Contract professionals can spend between one and six hours tracking obligations in a contract. This is where a contract management system comes in. It can centralize contracts and automate workflows, ensuring that deadlines and other obligations are tracked and visible.
Why Ease of Use Matters in Contract Management
A significant 81% of organizations have plans to implement contract automation, but a contract management system is only as good as the person using it. It does not matter how many complex features a platform has if the company does not have staff trained to use them. This can lead to an expensive and convoluted platform that the business is not making the most of.
Spending hours training staff to use contract management software is impractical for most companies, especially those with agreements and contracts spread across multiple departments. Untrained staff using a complicated management system can lead to poor efficiency, misplaced documents and missed deadlines that can result in lost deals or disgruntled employees.
Easy contract management software, on the other hand, ensures that employees across multiple departments can use the platform without any specialized training. Other employees can also step in if needed, as a good contract management system is designed to be easily accessible and understandable, so contracts are easy to find, organize and edit in just a few clicks.
The Best Contract Management Software
All contract management tools aim to streamline workflow as much as possible, but there are a handful of platforms that standout for being particularly easy to use for team members across departments.
1. Agiloft
Agiloft is a great choice when opting for a platform that is easy to use. The platform has a no-code interface, ensuring that staff do not need specific technical skills to use it or need to keep contacting IT support.
Agiloft provides quick access to key contract information through its advanced search and extraction capabilities. It also offers enhanced data security and lets staff publish and edit contracts using its user-friendly viewer, MS Word or Google Docs. The platform stands out for offering all its AI features as standard, ensuring there are no extra costs for a sophisticated, streamlined AI-driven experience.
Key features:
- No-code interface that is easy to use for all employees
- Real-time dashboards and reporting tools
- AI features available at no extra cost
2. Sirion
Sirion offers conversational AI with purpose-built agents. This means staff can simply go to the AI agent with the question or request they have, and the agent will respond by answering or completing the request. This aims to offer faster contract centralization.
AskSirion, Sirion’s AI conversation tool, also offers real-time negotiation intelligence, plain language explanations and instant contracting drafting.
Key features:
- AI-native contract lifecycle management (CLM)
- Conversational AI contracting experience
- Plain language explanations
3. Ironclad
Ironclad serves over 2,000 customers and manages over two billion contracts. The platform aims to make it easier to close deals, reduce costs through effective contract procurement and streamline every form of contract from operational documents to NDAs.
Ironclad also has a community of legal and business professionals that lets people seek and offer support.
Key features:
- Automated processes for efficient scaling
- An AI legal assistant
- Over 3,000 community members
4. Juro
Juro offers enterprise-grade security and aims to automate the entire contract life cycle, streamlining workflows and significantly reducing administrative overhead.
The platform’s AI can extract data and generate custom reports, ensuring the system works as efficiently as possible regardless of a business’s bespoke needs.
Key features:
- AI search functionality
- Customizable reports and tables
- Easy set up for key date reminders
5. Icertis
Icertis is a platform designed to be adaptable, ensuring it is useful across a variety of industries. It offers enterprise-grade analytics and performance.
Icertis also features an AI assistant, Vera Copilot, that aims to streamline workflows with generative AI. Deep integration with Salesforce, Microsoft, SAP and more ensures teams can manage their contracts natively with their preferred software.
Key features:
- Enterprise-grade AI
- Automates and optimizes repetitive tasks
- Integration with enterprise systems like SAP, Salesforce and Microsoft
How the Best Contract Management Software Was Selected
This list focuses on easy-to-use contract management software that does not require expertise or staff to keep calling IT when something goes wrong. This is why options like Agiloft, with its no-code interface, and Sirion, with its conversational AI, were highlighted.
Platforms that suit a wide range of needs and are customizable were also prioritized, ensuring that every option on this list is a good fit for your business, regardless of industry and organizational preferences.
Contract Management Tools Comparison Table
To help you decide which platform is the best fit, it is helpful to see their core strengths side by side. The table below summarizes the key differentiators for each tool, focusing on features that contribute to its overall ease of use. Use this as a starting point to identify the solutions that align best with your organization’s goals.
| Vendor | Key Features | Ease of Use |
| Agiloft | No-code interface and real-time dashboard | Very easy |
| Sirion | AI-native CLM and conversational AI | Easy |
| Ironclad | An active community to problem solve with and an AI legal assistant | Easy |
| Juro | Customizable reports and AI search functionality | Easy |
| Icertis | Enterprise-grade AI and repetitive task automation | Moderate |
Choosing the Right Contract Management Software
Deciding which contract management software to use was once a matter of finding the one that best fit the company’s needs. This is still a factor, but thanks to how streamlined contract management platforms have become, companies can also focus on which one is easiest for them to use.This is particularly true since AI has become so integral to contract management software. AI can boost search functionality, explain complex legal details to staff without expertise in the area and take care of repetitive tasks while offering insight into how to optimize workflow. Ultimately, a business should pick a tool that balances functionality with usability, reduces administrative work and keeps them on top of important deadlines throughout the entire life cycle of an agreement.
