No matter the setting – in your home, or in your place of work – administrative tasks are more or less universally disliked.
Paying and filing bills; returning packages; categorising emails; clearing downloads…the list goes on and on, especially without organisation.
One of these ‘administrative tasks’ EBIT routinely comes across in Procurement is contract management; “the process of creating, implementing, and reviewing contracts” (CIPS, 2026). While contract management can feel tedious in the moment, it is a function organisations are grateful for…if set up well. If not, contract management can quickly become a blackhole of autorenewals, price increases, and untracked spending. This can lead to unnecessary or expensive annual costs for often little return.
What contract-related problems has EBIT discovered in their clients’ organisations?
Through the help of EBIT’s contract audits, most businesses surprise themselves, our team discovering massive savings opportunities, and sometimes, unknown relationships with and services from suppliers.
For example, we located several licenses with Salesforce for one of our recent clients…meanwhile, no one across their business used Salesforce! We cancelled their licenses and prevented another year of auto renewing for the same service, which had cost the client hundreds of thousand pounds through the years.
In another contract audit case, our clients explained that they did not have any automatically renewing contracts, as these were not permitted through their procurement policy. Our audit found that they actually had multiple active auto renewal contracts, which had rolled year over year unchecked and unchallenged.
EBIT improved visibility into contracts, start and end dates, as well as spend under contract, for both clients, mitigating unknown future expenses, services, and renewals.
How can businesses manage contracts?
There are many ways to manage contracts. Some companies do so manually, and others pay for a Contract Management System (CMS) – a software handling end-to-end contract management. While it is possible to manage contracts manually, EBIT recommends investing in a CMS tool. These tools not only automate processes, but crucially, they help mitigate error. Such errors can include accidental non-compliance with contract guidance, terms, and conditions or missed renewal dates.
Contracts are dense, and in any given business, plentiful too! CMS tools help manage contract intake and their individual, unique terms. Acquisition International reports that “a worrying 69% of all contracts do not follow preapproved guidance, and 71% [of companies] don’t have a system to catch deviations from standard terms” (Acquisition International, 2025). CMS tools ensure that the fine print is fully addressed, alerting businesses of key dates, actions, and rules and regulations to abide. As such, CMS prevents contract breaches, keeping businesses accountable and aware.
Additionally, since 90% of professionals struggle to locate contracts and documents (as portrayed by our second client example), CMS tools’ AI-powered organisation, consolidation, and cloud storage guarantee visibility that businesses otherwise struggle to develop themselves. From autorenewal reminders to performance monitors, CMS ensures key stakeholders know where to find and when to revisit their documents.
Beyond visibility and accountability, CMS tools can also help organisations with value-add functions, such as drafting tools and templates for specific types of documents (Acquisition International, 2025). Oftentimes these functions are customisable, meaning if there is a certain type of form or agreement that a business routinely issues, their CMS offerings can be tailored to their needs.
Lastly, sophisticated CMS tools have built-in compliance, tailorable by industry or region. This could include HIPPA if a business is a US healthcare provider, or General Data Protection Regulation if a business is in the intelligence industry (Acquisition International, 2025). These functions not only create peace of mind for the CMS business user, ensuring that the tool complies with legislation, but also reduces error on the business’s end.
Which industries benefit most from CMS?
Given ineffective contract management can result in organisations losing an average of around 9–9.2% of annual revenue through issues such as missed renewals, pricing errors, and poor oversight, any company can benefit from CMS (Tracking Contracts, 2026; Ironclad, 2024). These systems’ impact include, but are not limited to, error reduction, compliance support, and efficiency increases through contract centralisation, workflow automation, and visibility improvement (Acquisition International, 2025; Management Legend, 2025).
Although CMS is valuable across all sectors, industries with complex contracts or strict regulations gain the most. Healthcare and life sciences organisations, for example, rely on CMS to manage large volumes of agreements while maintaining regulatory compliance and avoiding costly errors (Cflow, 2025; Deloitte, n.d.). Similarly, finance and regulated industries benefit from improved risk management and auditability, where failing to meet compliance requirements can result in severe penalties (Chakravorty, 2025).
Technology, professional services, and manufacturing sectors also see strong advantages, since CMS helps manage supplier contracts, licensing agreements, and service-level obligations more efficiently while improving coordination across supply chains (Chakravorty, 2025; Simbo AI, 2026). More broadly, adoption is rising rapidly. About 82% of enterprises have adopted or plan to adopt contract lifecycle management systems, highlighting their growing importance as a strategic business tool rather than just an administrative function (Svensson, 2026).
What does contract management ‘best practice’ look like?
At its core, best practice involves managing the entire contract lifecycle systematically. From planning and drafting through to delivery, performance monitoring, and exit, high functioning contract management guarantees that contracts are treated as strategic business tools rather than administrative documents (CIPS, 2020; Sievo, 2026). Ultimately, contract management best practice ensures contracts deliver value, minimise risk, and support strong supplier relationships.
According to CIPS guidance, effective contract management starts before a contract is signed. Best practice includes thorough pre-award preparation such as developing a business case, assessing risks, defining requirements, and establishing a clear contract strategy (CIPS, 2020). This upfront work is critical, as strong pre-award processes underpin successful outcomes during the contract’s delivery phase.
Once a contract is live, best practice focuses on three key areas (CIPS, 2020):
- Managing service delivery
- Maintaining strong supplier relationships
- Ensuring robust contract administration
This includes monitoring performance through KPIs, ensuring both parties meet their obligations, and proactively resolves issues to avoid disputes or unexpected outcomes. Successful contracts are characterised by clear communication, cooperation, and the consistent achievement of expected value and performance (CIPS, 2020). Research reinforces these principles, highlighting additional best practices such as centralising contracts, standardising processes, and using technology to improve visibility and control (Kesevan, 2026; DocJuris, 2025). Organisations that track performance data, apply structured governance, and regularly review contracts are better able to reduce risk, improve compliance, and maximise commercial outcomes across the lifecycle (GOV.UK, 2025).
Overall, contract management best practice is defined by a proactive, end‑to‑end approach: strong planning, clear governance, ongoing performance management, and continuous improvement. When applied effectively, it ensures contracts deliver not only compliance, but also long-term strategic value.
How can EBIT help me with CMS?
To support clients in implementing best practice contract management, EBIT built their own CMS. Functionally, EBIT CMS serves as an add on for clients without a management system, but our team can also work with clients’ existing CMS. Either way, EBIT promises that no matter what or whose system our clients’ use, we will ensure that all functions are fully utilised and optimised for success.
Want to learn more about EBIT CMS? Click on our ‘Get In Touch’ link to start a conversation.
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