Even if you are just trying to keep track of employee contracts, agreements for phone, internet, office rentals, or software maintenance, there are cheaper ways.
Many companies use Microsoft Excel to keep track of their contracts and agreements, having one or more spreadsheets for each organizational unit. Excel is an obvious choice; everybody knows how to use it and it’s a cheap alternative to dedicated contract management software.
Microsoft Excel is a great product, but considering the shortcomings, it’s everything but cheap, when used for managing contracts. In fact, companies report losing both money and precious time because Excel wasn’t the right tool for the task at hand.
Here are the 5 most costly consequences of using Excel for contract management:
1. You neglect to cancel contracts for services you don't need anymore
An Excel sheet will help you remember what contracts you have and the conditions
regarding termination.
An Excel sheet will not automatically remind the person currently responsible for the contract to terminate or renegotiate in due time — and insist that action is taken. And an Excel sheet will offer little help working with interconnected contracts.
2. You waste time chasing up-to-date information
An Excel sheet will help you maintain an inventory of contracts.
An Excel sheet will not secure the actual contract documents in all versions and
revisions. And an Excel sheet offers no assistance in collecting associated information in emails and documents.
3. You disregard failure to comply with contract terms
An Excel sheet will help you track the existence and contents of contracts.
An Excel sheet will not support the person approving supplier invoices with easy access to an extract of the commercial terms and conditions. Nor will it automatically match supplier’s invoices with the agreed terms and prices.
4. You loose confidential information
An Excel sheet will help you manually maintain an up-to-date directory of all contracts.
An Excel sheet will not protect business critical information in contracts. Nor will
it keep contracts safe from fire, flood, or simple misplacement.
5. You violate EU's personal data protection directive
An Excel sheet will help you manually maintain a list of contracts and the persons
they concern.
An Excel sheet will not help you comply with the EU personal data protection directive. It will not keep the contracts and associated emails and documents confidential. Nor will it help you compile the required list of personal data or discard all personal related data when you’re no longer allowed to keep them on record.
