Let’s settle this debate for good. Here are three reasons why, for medium-to-large sized organisations especially, end-to-end solutions will always win out.
End-to-end solutions reduce risk significantly – of the financial, operational, and reputational variety.
In business settings as complex as the contract lifecycle itself, corporate consistency is necessary. Taking a disparate approach to your contract management activities by relying on standalone solutions will create further siloes in your organisation by hindering visibility of key information, reducing compliance and accountability, and causing delays and disconnects across the contract lifecycle.
End-to-end solutions provide a consistent interface and an interconnected system, full of seamlessly integrated sub-systems which are in constant dialogue with one another, working in concert to bring previously siloed departments together efficiently. When people and processes are connected in this way, nothing is missed and everything can be actioned on time and above board, ensuring that risk in all its forms is tempered from start to finish.
Implementing disparate systems is costly and exhausting.
There’s no way around it: successfully implementing a single solution takes time, energy, and effort. Try multiplying the implementation process by five or ten. Then factor in a brief pause of elation here or there before the process is repeated whenever a specific need must be met, across the contract lifecycle. Sounds costly, inefficient, and downright exhausting, right?
On a case-by-case basis, point solutions may seem cheaper. But consider the array of complex contracts, processes, and projects you manage on any given day. Your solution must serve a multifunctional, sustainable purpose, from implementation to beyond – your time and money depends on this. Licensing costs, implementation, and onboarding for a single end-to-end solution are consistent and efficient, and their benefits will flow outwards to your organisation by tidying up processes, enhancing quality of data, and centralising supplier and stakeholder communication.
Meeting long-term needs will always be more useful than catering to impulsive, short-term desires.
When a problem pops up and you’re forced to deal with it head on, in the moment, implementing a quick-fix band-aid solution may be tempting. But selecting a contract management solution based on short-term desires will never serve your organisation well in the long run.
There’s a reason why councils inevitably migrate to end-to-end solutions: they’re easy to implement, cost-efficient, and come ready-made to meet complex corporate and contractual needs. If they can do all of that and come with a proven track record, why risk the alternative?
For 30 years, Ready Contracts (powered by Open Windows) has empowered hundreds of diverse organisations to successfully manage billions of dollars’ worth of contracts. In its current iteration, our cloud-based modular procurement system comes seamlessly integrated to meet all your complex needs throughout the contract lifecycle.
