VCI Construction, LLC

Melanie Claro

Melanie Claro is an experienced contract management professional focused on strengthening contractual processes, developing effective teams and using technology to improve contract management.

Connecting Talent with Contract Management

Contracts have a reputation for being serious business, and they are. But anyone who has spent enough time around contracts knows that behind every carefully negotiated agreement is usually a story involving 47 emails, three meetings that could have been emails, one spreadsheet nobody wants to update, and someone eventually asking, ‘Who has the latest version?’

A contract may be a legal and commercial instrument, but it is also a reflection of the people, processes and technology behind it. A beautifully drafted agreement accomplishes very little if nobody understands it, nobody monitors it, or everyone discovers the renewal date two weeks after it expired.

That is why strategic talent management and technology are increasingly important to effective contract management. A contract is much more than a document with a lot of words and an alarming number of commas. It represents a business relationship, establishes expectations, allocates risk, defines responsibilities and provides a framework for performance.

Managing that effectively requires more than knowing where to find the indemnification clause. Contract professionals need strong business judgment, negotiation and communication skills, an understanding of financial and operational objectives and the ability to recognize contractual and business risks.

The right talent can identify problems before they become expensive surprises. Experienced professionals know which provisions deserve attention, where ambiguity could create disputes and how one innocent-looking phrase can eventually lead to a conference room full of people asking, ‘How did we agree to this?’ Contract management does not end when everyone signs. That is when the real work begins.

Developing a Modern Contract Workforce

Today’s contract professionals need a broader range of skills than ever before. They must understand how agreements affect revenue, costs, customers, suppliers, operations and business strategy. They also need to communicate effectively across legal, procurement, finance, operations, sales and leadership. Organizations need people who can negotiate effectively and recognize that ‘We have always done it this way’ is not, in fact, a legally binding argument. Talent management should involve more than filling open positions. Organizations should invest in career development, mentoring, crossfunctional experience and continuous education.

Hiring someone who knows contracts is great. Hiring someone who understands contracts, technology, business strategy and people is even better.

Using Technology and AI Effectively

Technology is reshaping contract management through automation, cloud platforms, AI, analytics and integrated business systems. Routine tasks such as routing documents, tracking deadlines, organizing information, extracting key terms and generating reports can increasingly be automated.

Nobody entered the profession because they dreamed of manually reviewing 147 contracts to determine which ones expire next month. Technology can reduce repetitive work and allow professionals to focus on judgment, negotiation, problem-solving and relationships. It should not simply help us work faster. It should give us more time to do the work that actually requires human judgment.

AI can help review large volumes of information, identify inconsistencies, summarize provisions and find key information quickly. But AI should assist with decisions rather than automatically become the person making them. AI brings speed and pattern recognition. People bring context, judgment, creativity, negotiation skills and accountability.

Making Contract Management Strategic

Contract management should not operate on its own little island, occasionally sending emails to the rest of the organization asking people to review something by Friday.

The strongest organizations connect contract management with legal, procurement, finance, operations, sales, risk management, information technology and leadership. When these functions collaborate, contracts become valuable sources of business intelligence.

Organizations can identify recurring risks, unfavorable terms, missed obligations, upcoming renewals and opportunities for improvement.

Strengthening the Human Element

Technology alone will not create better contracts. Neither will hiring talented people and then giving them a process designed sometime around the invention of the fax machine.

Successful contract management requires capable people, effective processes, useful technology and clear business objectives. Contracts are ultimately about relationships, and technology cannot completely replace trust, judgment, communication, negotiation and accountability.

The future of contract management will belong to organizations that develop their people alongside their technology. Strategic talent management builds the capability; technology amplifies it. And if we get it right, perhaps someday everyone in the organization will know which version of the contract is the final one.