Among all the major legal trends in 2025, technology is playing a major part:

• Growing AI usage is increasing the demand for legal professionals skilled in it
• Rising fund allocation to legal tech is changing the internal process of companies
• Increasing security threats are establishing the need for more cybersecurity training.

66% of legal leaders already plan to accelerate their investments in legal technology.  Contract automation software or contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution is one of the most important legal tech implementations for organizations. 

“Although a CLM solution might seem costly in the early stages, companies should have it in place and build workflows within the tool to process contracts better. By doing so, they can keep legal costs low in the growth stages and close deals faster. Moreover, they will have clear visibility into the contract pipeline and use their legal resources to optimize workflows better for yielding maximum results."‍

~ Igor Poroger, the Director of Legal (EMEA) at Vectra AI

In this post, we will look at what contract automation software does and share a list of the best contract automation software on the market. 

What is contract management?

Contract management is the process of managing the entire contract lifecycle from initiation, creation, execution, and storage. It is one of the most crucial aspects of running a business:

• Contracts involve risks, and contract management helps to minimize it
• Contracts need compliance, and contract management helps to adhere to it
• Contracts decide financial outcomes, and contract management helps maximize financial returns.  

What is contract automation software?

Contract automation software (also known as contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution or contract management software) is a digital solution used to streamline the entire contract management process. It automates regular contracting tasks related to contract creation, reviews, execution, reporting, and storage. We will further cover the top contracting processes that can be automated by contract management software.

Top 13 use cases of contract automation

1. Create templates to speed up contract creation

The first and most important part of contract management is drafting contracts. You can automate the contract drafting process by creating reusable templates. 

Contract templates are outline documents providing the latest terms and conditions for the creation of any contract. You can create templates for different business use cases, such as non-disclosure agreements, supplier agreements, employment agreements, etc. In these templates, users will only be required to enter details in certain fields, and your contract will be ready. Templates not only speed up the contract creation process but also ensure you are creating contracts with up-to-date terms.

“Another problem we face in contract management is version control - different departments may be using old templates and rolling contracts out manually. We want to implement a CLM solution to have better visibility into our contract pipeline, especially when our business is scaling in different countries.” 

~ Juliette Thirsk, the Head of Legal at Peach Payments

Templates in SpotDraft

SpotDraft allows you to build a library of templates for different use cases. You can either upload your existing templates or create new ones using AI. SpotDraft also provides a Microsoft extension called DraftMate that allows users to upload contacts directly from MS Word.  

SpotDraft Templates

2. Create intake form to collect contract data faster 

Manually filling details in the templates to create contracts is still prone to errors. What if the team members miss certain fields or give wrong inputs? You can further automate contract creation by building in-take forms. Set the fields in templates that have to be filled out to generate contracts from templates and then create intake forms to fill these fields. In-take forms reduce the chances of errors while filling the templates and support the automatic generation of contracts rather than filling the details manually. 

Contract intake forms in SpotDraft

In SpotDraft, you can map fields of templates that have to be filled and create intake forms for it. These intake forms will appear as questionnaires. After the user fills the forms, data is automatically tagged in the right fields of the template, and a final contract is generated. 

In-take forms in SpotDraft

3. Integrate contracting process with CRM for faster execution

Integrating CRM directly with your contract management solution is another excellent way to create a well-oiled contracting process. Whenever a deal is finalized, sales team members take details from CRM and manually put it in the contract management tool to create contracts. But what if they can directly create contracts from the CRM itself? This integration automates the mundane tasks of manually copying data and enables contract monitoring from CRM itself—no constant app switch. 

CRM integrations in SpotDraft

SpotDraft can easily integrate with Salesforce, Salesforce v2.0, HubSpot, and Zoho CRM. This integration automates and accelerates contract creation by:

1. Template population: Create contracts by auto-populating details directly from the CRM.

2. Third-party contracts: Upload any third-party contracts from the CRM itself instead of logging in separately to the contract management solution.

3. Real-time status: Monitor the status of all contracts from the contract management platform.  

Create contracts directly in HubSpot via SpotDraft 

4. Implement AI-assisted contract reviews 

Implementation of AI in the contracting process is on the boom. Gartner predicts half of procurement contract management will be AI-enabled by 2027. One manual process that AI can easily automate is contract reviews. AI can identify risky terms, generate contract summaries, and pull important information from contracts. 

“Artificial Intelligence just may well be the final frontier in terms of how legal services are utilized and provided.  As in-house counsel don’t run away from it and don’t ignore it.  Rather, embrace it as, ultimately, it will allow you to do thing things lawyers love to do: thinking, analyzing, and counseling, while leaving the “grunt” work to the computer.”

~ Sterling Miller, CEO and Senior Counsel for Hilgers Graben PLLC

AI-assisted contract reviews in SpotDraft

VerifAI (available as a Microsoft Word add-in) automates contract review tasks by:

1. Highlighting risky terms and also suggesting changes 

2. Running compliance reviews as per the contract review playbook

3. Pulling any important information from the contract by answering users' questions like a chatbot. 

5. Setup approval workflow

Another risk-inducing factor in the contracting process is if it doesn't go through the right team members for approval. In the manual contract approval process, team members send contracts for approval via email, which is error prone as they may miss getting approval from certain stakeholders. Automation reduces such business and financial risks in contracts. Setup an automated contract approval workflow to streamline internal approvals. 

Automated contract approval workflow in SpotDraft

SpotDraft allows the creation of custom approval workflows that automatically route contracts to the right stakeholders. You can set up custom rules to route contracts. For instance, if the contract amount is bigger than X amount, then the contract must go to the finance team for approval. 

Set contract approval conditions in SpotDraft

6. Automate signature collection process

Contract creation is only the first half of the game. Following up with all stakeholders and getting it executed is the other. The good news is there is extensive automation scope for this second part as well. Use a contract management platform to send contracts for execution. It follows the signing order, sends automated emails, and reduces the chances of human error.  

Automated signature collection in SpotDraft

SpotDraft allows setting up a signing order and sends emails to all parties for eSignatures with links. Daily reminders are sent for up to 14 days if the counterparty hasn't signed the contract. After this period, the reminders automatically stop.

Contract eSignature reminder

7. Integrate with Slack for fast contract notifications

All contracting processes could be further expedited by providing notifications to employees on Slack (basically, where they are most active). Using a contract management system that has Slack integration eliminates the need to switch between different apps for communication, collaboration, and contract management.

Slack integration in SpotDraft

SpotDraft directly uploads contracts from Slack itself without having to switch applications. Also, quick Slack notifications allow team members to take immediate action on approval, signature, or review requests.

8. Implement batch-sending process

For certain use cases, you are also sending contracts in bulk. For instance, employment agreements are sent in bulk after a recruitment drive. Filling a template for every contract here can be very time-consuming. You can use a contract management system with an automated batch-sending process for such use cases.

Batch-sending process in SpotDraft

SpotDraft allows you to upload Excel files with all the details to bulk-send agreements. Use it for new hire contracts, appraisal letters, ESOP rollouts, and more.

Bulk-sending option in SpotDraft

9. Automate reminders

In a rapidly scaling team dealing with a huge volume of contracts, manually keeping track of all contract renewals and terminations is another challenge. However, it's important as some terminations may require follow-up action from the counterparty. For instance, if you have a HIPAA BAA agreement with a vendor, you may want them to delete all data post-contract termination. Some renewals may also need follow-up action, such as contract re-negotiations for better terms or even changing vendors. Automated contract reminders ensure you are on top of all terminations/renewals and take any follow-up action if necessary.  

Automated reminders in SpotDraft

SpotDraft has a dashboard that displays upcoming key contract dates. All relevant stakeholders also get reminders when a contract expires or is up for renewal. In the renewal reminder, you will also get an in-take form associated with the renewal template to send the revised contract out to the parties again for review and signature.

SpotDraft Dashboard

10. Automate reporting

To improve contract management over time, it's necessary to build reports gathering key information such as average turnaround time in different contract stages, time taken by different teams, and more. Using a contract management solution with an in-built reporting module that generates automated reports saves the effort of manually building such reports. 

Reporting in SpotDraft

SpotDraft automatically tracks the following metrics:

• Average draft time
• Average review time
• Average internal redlining time in contracts
• Average counterparty redlining time in contracts
• Average signature collection time
• Number of negotiations rounds in different types of contracts
• Contracts created per quarter
• Contract approval time by different teams
• Average turnaround time in different contract stages
• Contracts executed over time

You can use this data to identify and optimize the bottlenecks in your contracting process. 

11. Build system for centralized access management

Contracts carry sensitive data, and not everyone in the company can access to read or modify them. An automated role-based access control system lets you grant specific permissions to different user roles, ensuring that only authorized employees can access sensitive information.

Role-based access control in SpotDraft

SpotDraft lets you set permissions in contracts and templates based on roles. You can further go down and set permissions for different actions, such as viewing, uploading, commenting, etc. 

12. Integrate with Cloud for auto-upload of contracts

Maintaining contracts in one centralized secure contract repository reduces the administrative burden of scouring through hundreds of files to find the one contract you are looking for. Manually uploading these contracts means someone in the team has to regularly keep a tab on the execution process and upload the final version to the cloud. There is always a chance of error here. A contract management system automates this process by auto-uploading final signed contracts in the cloud.

Cloud integration in SpotDraft

SpotDraft auto-uploads the final copy of signed contracts to the designated folder in your Google Cloud contract storage drive. It simplifies managing contracts and supports easy retrieval. 

13. Move to advanced solution for web agreements

One last area where there is tremendous automation scope but still maintained manually is website agreements. All the common website agreements, such as terms and conditions and privacy policies, are still manually updated in traditional content management systems, increasing the chances of manual error. Having an advanced contract management solution with a system to manage website agreements will further bring efficiency to this process.

Web agreement management in SpotDraft

SpotDraft has a LegalHub module exclusively for managing website agreements. It provides legal teams with an easy-to-use solution to set up and manage website agreements where they can create, edit, and store website agreements. They can also publish agreements directly on the website. SpotDraft Clickthrough module further helps track customers' consent to these agreements for compliance. 

SpotDraft Legal Hub

Benefits of contract automation

Automating your routine contract processes provides the following benefits: 

1. Cost and time savings

Contract management software automates redundant tasks, allowing a legal team to focus on more strategic tasks that bring in revenue. With a contract management solution, you can operate with a smaller legal team and save time and money. 

“You can't keep adding the same proportion of legal people to take care of inexpensive processes like building word documents, spreadsheets, etc. You can't scale and keep adding costs.” 

~ Stephanie Dominy, Senior Consultant at Seven Legal.

2. Boosts compliance

Contract management systems regularly generate detailed reports, helping teams stay on top of all compliance issues. They can identify any potential risks and take action in advance. 

“While some companies view the legal and legal ops teams as cost centers without a financial benefit, legal actually provides a cost avoidance benefit — such as regulatory fines, compliance errors, lawsuits, etc. — that should be measured as a goodwill component and value-add. Legal has to evolve just like any other team.” 

~ Jesimin Berman, Director of Legal Operations and Compliance at Papaya Global

3. Reduces risks

Contract management tools provide reports that help to reduce both financial and compliance risks. You can identify early on where things are slowing down or getting stuck.

Nadia Louis Hermez, Legal Ops Manager at Next Insurance, says, "every stakeholder sought quick contract approvals, but they were unfamiliar with the review and risk assessment process associated with contract approvals." She adds that, “using a CLM tool was the only viable solution, if they wanted to avert risks before they turned critical.” 

4. Boost collaboration

Contract management software shapes up processes in a way that promotes easy communication and boosts collaboration. Users can see change history in contracts for clarity, tag each other in comments for communication, and get automated reminders for contract tasks. 

“Leveraging a CLM has been key because it has reduced a lot of friction from handoffs between legal and business. Rather than going back and forth over email, Slack, Word, Zoom, DocuSign, and a whole tech stack, the CLM acts as a single source of truth.” 

~ Jonathan Franz, Head of Legal, Crunchbase

Also watch: Watch our streamlining legal operations with automation webinar with top legal leaders sharing their experience 

How to choose the right contract automation software  

Use the following checklist to identify if a particular software will meet all your contract management needs:

• Does it support template creation?

• Does it allow the creation of approval workflows?

• Does it have advanced AI features?

• Is its eSignature legally valid?

• Is the pricing in your budget?

• Does it have clear documentation for smooth implementation?

• Are there testimonials available to support CLM's efficiency?

• Is it user-friendly?

• Can it be integrated with your current tech stack?

• Does it track all necessary KPIs in its reporting and analytics module?

• Does it provide reliable customer support?

• Does it have ample privacy and security features?
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• Does it provide any compliance support?

Also read: Best Practices for Contract Automation

Top 5 contract automation software

We have listed down the best contract management software in the market, with all automation features it provides and its pros and cons. 

1. SpotDraft

Automation features:

✅Template creation

✅In-take form creation

✅CRM integration

✅AI-assisted reviews

✅Approval workflows

✅eSignature collection process

✅Slack integration

✅Batch-sending process

✅Automated reminders

✅Reporting module

✅Centralized access management

✅Cloud integration

✅Web agreement management

Pricing:

• Customized pricing best-suited for your business

What do users say?

• Based on G2 reviews, users appreciate SpotDraft for time-savings and excellent customer support. Some users also say there is a learning curve associated with the tool. 

2. PandaDoc

Automation features:

✅Template creation

✅In-take form creation

✅CRM integration

✅AI-assisted reviews

✅Approval workflows

✅eSignature collection process

✅Slack integration

✅Batch-sending process

✅Automated reminders

✅Reporting module

✅Centralized access management

✅Cloud integration

❌Web agreement management

Pricing:

• Business plans start at $49 per user per month

What do users say?

• Based on G2 reviews, most users find Pandadoc easy to use and feature-rich but quite expensive. 

3. Docusign

Automation features:

✅Template creation

✅In-take form creation

✅CRM integration

✅AI-assisted reviews

✅Approval workflows

✅eSignature collection process

✅Slack integration

✅Batch-sending process

✅Automated reminders

✅Reporting module

✅Centralized access management

✅Cloud integration

❌Web agreement management

Pricing:

• Business plans start at $40 per user per month

What do users say?

• Based on G2 reviews, most users find Docusign easy to use but are not happy with customer service (and their aggressive upselling). 

4. Ironclad

Automation features:

✅Template creation

✅In-take form creation

✅CRM integration

✅AI-assisted reviews

✅Approval workflows

✅eSignature collection process

✅Slack integration

❌Batch-sending process

✅Automated reminders

✅Reporting module

✅Centralized access management

✅Cloud integration

❌Web agreement management

Pricing:

• Not mentioned on the website

What do users say?

• Based on G2 reviews, users appreciated intuitive user interface and excellent customer support but found issues with in-take forms. 

5. Juro

Automation features:

✅Template creation

✅In-take form creation

✅CRM integration

✅AI-assisted reviews

✅Approval workflows

✅eSignature collection process

✅Slack integration

✅Batch-sending process

✅Automated reminders

✅Reporting module

✅Centralized access management

✅Cloud integration

❌Web agreement management

Pricing:

• Not mentioned on the website

What do users say?

• Based on G2 reviews, users appreciated speed and simplicity, but they found missing features such as no reminders for contract renewal, poor search function, and lack of granular access control.

Automate contract management with SpotDraft

SpotDraft provides all the necessary automation required to improve your contracting workflows. And our proactive customer support teams help you with smooth implementation along the way.

Book a personalized demo with one of your experts to understand how SpotDraft can help your business.   

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