How to Accelerate Digital Transformation for your Middle Office: An Agile Approach to CLM and CPQ

The middle office is the space that bridges the front and back offices. The functions associated with information management are called “the mid-office.” It consists of disciplines like contract lifecycle management (CLM), configure price quote(CPQ) or supplier relationship management (SRM). As digital transformations continue to grow in importance for companies, so does the need for vertical integration with suppliers and customers if they hope to remain successful while minimizing risks from disruptions throughout supply chains.

The main business functions that assist the middle office work “in a very seamless fashion” are becoming increasingly important. This includes coordinating front and back offices to align, as well as provide smooth operations for customers by releasing new products or services on an ongoing basis with small batches released frequently under agile practices.

To address challenges when unifying these various departments, we recommend utilizing products & service based solutions which can be achieved through hybridization (a mix) between Waterfall methodologies and an agile approach. This combination is referred to as “Wagile” meaning waterfall+agile.

While this is occurring, it is also important to track the efficacy of this approach. This data can come from the average duration of agreements, the types of discounts and payment structures that might be contained within those agreements, and how current agreements deviated from standard templates.

Accurate data entices the user to fully adopt the contract system and related processes. It increases day-to-day productivity, which in turn provides a higher value to the user.

While leveraging AI as a service, we have developed a database to be used as a staging area in which contracts can be collected, stored and understood. The purpose of this data allows businesses to fully understand things that are functioning well and issues within their organization.

In order to achieve this while also increasing revenue and decreasing risk, a process such as Conga CLM and CPQ are important. These technology-enabled processes allow for a more centralized approach to receiving approvals for contracts that matter the most.

AI CLM systems can power automated scoring of risk in contracts to flag those that might represent a particularly high risk to your organization. By highlighting potentially risky contracts, it empowers your team to find ways to reduce the risk, or to put more focus on managing those specific contracts.

AI-powered CLM helps to automate workflows, with notifications that remind key personnel of important contractual obligations and prevent inefficiencies. Automated workflows also help senior management identify bottlenecks and reassign resources to achieve optimal performance.

An AI-enabled CLM system standardizes data, automates compliance, and provides total visibility into the entire process. As an organization grows, scaling an AI CLM solution does not require a proportionate increase in team members to keep it running efficiently, because AI becomes more efficient over time.

If you are looking for a properly calibrated AI-powered CLM solution that can reduce risk across every aspect of the operations process and digitally transform your organization, contact us to schedule a free assessment here.