You've invested considerable time, effort, and resources into implementing your Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) system—that’s a big win! Whether you've partnered with external consultants or managed the implementation internally, you're now positioned for greater efficiency and fewer contract headaches. But much like buying a house, building a solid foundation is only the first step. If you don't continually maintain and enhance it, issues will inevitably crop up.

Many companies mistakenly view CLM implementation as a one-time project. Consider a healthcare provider whose contract volume doubles due to a merger. If their CLM workflows aren’t continuously adjusted to accommodate the increased complexity and contract load, bottlenecks can emerge, slowing down approvals and increasing compliance risks. Or take a DORA-regulated financial firm—if contract templates and approval workflows aren’t updated in line with evolving compliance mandates, they could unknowingly expose themselves to regulatory violations.

To avoid these pitfalls, proactive CLM management is essential. A system that isn’t continuously optimized will quickly lose its value, leading to inefficiencies, compliance gaps, and user frustration. Here are four practical strategies to ensure your CLM continues to deliver value long after the initial implementation.

Tips to Maximize the Value of Your CLM Implementation

1. Keep Your Systems Organized and Continuously Optimized

Your business doesn’t stand still—your CLM shouldn’t either. After implementation, companies often assume their workflows, templates, and AI models will remain effective over time. However, as business operations evolve, so must your CLM.

For instance, standard clauses like indemnification or force majeure frequently evolve due to market dynamics or regulatory updates. If these clauses aren't regularly reviewed and updated across your templates and repository, you risk financial penalties or operational disruptions.

Similarly, a healthcare organization that originally configured its CLM for standard vendor agreements may find that its payor contracts require different approval structures and obligation tracking. Because they didn’t optimize their system post-go-live, crucial reimbursement terms were buried in contracts, delaying payments.  

To maintain an optimized CLM: 

• Establish periodic governance checkpoints—such as quarterly template reviews and bi-annual workflow audits. 
• Implement automated alerts and audit trails within your CLM to track template changes and stakeholder roles systematically. This ensures accountability and simplifies the management of internal transitions, such as the departure of key contract approvers, keeping your contracts moving smoothly and securely.

2. Regularly Monitor Performance and Iterate Processes 

Setting clear KPIs and goals before launch—and consistently reviewing them post-implementation—is essential to achieving ongoing success. A well-implemented CLM should surface inefficiencies, risks, and revenue opportunities, but if reporting structures aren’t reviewed post-implementation, critical insights can be missed. 

For example, a manufacturing company tracking contract cycle times noticed that certain supplier contracts took 40% longer to finalize. A closer look revealed that their finance team routinely flagged the same clauses for manual review—delaying approvals unnecessarily. By leveraging pre-approved clause libraries and AI-assisted redlining within the CLM, they eliminated repetitive reviews, reducing turnaround times without compromising compliance.

Similarly, discount tracking can reveal hidden margin erosion. A professional services firm using CLM analytics might notice an unexpected pattern of high client discounts over a quarter. With these insights, the firm can implement structured approval matrices within the CLM system—triggering additional management oversight for discounts beyond predefined thresholds—to ensure more consistent pricing discipline, enhance contract consistency, and reduce revenue leakage.

Going beyond the surface-level usage of your CLM is the key to unlocking its full potential. Evaluate compliance rates, cycle times, error rates, and other metrics, but remember to keep those metrics consistent; frequently shifting the goalposts can make true progress difficult to measure. 

3. Maximize Your CLM Reporting and Analytics 

A powerful CLM should provide deep visibility into contract performance and trends across your organization. Even with well-designed initial dashboards, businesses often find that as they scale—such as a rapidly expanding software company adding new licensing models or service tiers—existing analytics might no longer fully capture nuanced performance metrics. 

Regularly revisiting and enhancing your analytics dashboards ensures they stay aligned with your evolving business complexity and deliver meaningful insights.

Your CLM’s analytics should highlight both positive insights and potential pitfalls. You may notice that high-value contracts can take longer than expected to finalize, or that certain clauses trigger extra reviews and cause bottlenecks.  Identifying these patterns lets you address them early before they escalate into larger issues. On the other hand, spotting areas where approvals happen faster than average can help you replicate those success factors elsewhere. 

The real litmus test for your CLM lies in consistently evaluating whether it's delivering on the "why" behind your initial purchase. Ask the right questions:

• What is the average reduction in contract cycle time since implementation?
• What percentage reduction has been observed in renegotiations due to outdated or overlooked terms, and what are the primary root causes of the remaining instances? 
• Which specific departments or approval hierarchies are consistently exceeding target contract approval times, and what are the identified contributing factors? 
• Are bottlenecks still developing within specific departments or approval hierarchies?

Dive into the data and let it guide you toward potential areas of improvement. This could involve anything from revising a key contract template to adding an extra layer to your review process. 

4. Consider Getting A Managed Services Partner

Maintaining your CLM system at peak performance can be difficult. The internal teams typically tasked with CLM oversight—like legal operations, procurement, or compliance—often juggle multiple strategic responsibilities that can overshadow daily CLM management tasks.

Additionally, specialized CLM expertise can quickly surpass internal capabilities, especially post-implementation. Issues like regularly updating workflows as your business scales, fine-tuning AI-driven clause review models, or resolving emerging usability problems can demand deeper technical proficiency than internal teams often are able to sustain.

That’s where partnering with an external CLM Managed Services Provider can help. Having a partner can help businesses extract maximum CLM value by: 

• Offloading daily system management, from workflow configuration and user onboarding to quickly resolving usability issues, freeing internal teams for strategic projects.
• Proactively addressing operational and compliance risks, such as regularly updating clause libraries to reflect regulatory changes or adjusting approval matrices to prevent bottlenecks.  
• Proactively identifying valuable insights into contract data, enabling you to spot inefficiencies and drive continuous improvement in your contracting processes.  
• Ensure your CLM system remains healthy: up-to-date, secure, and optimized for peak performance, adapting seamlessly to your changing business needs.

Choose a Contract Managed Service Provider for Sustained Success 

Your CLM go-live is a great feat, but it’s not the finish line—it’s just the starting point. The real challenge lies in keeping your system efficient, compliant, and aligned with your evolving business needs. Without ongoing optimization, workflows become outdated, and reporting loses relevance. Over time, this leads to inefficiencies, reduced adoption, and missed opportunities.

If managing your CLM starts to feel daunting, it might be time to bring in experts who can ensure your system stays optimized and continuously delivers value. A well-maintained CLM should do more than store contracts—it should be a value driver that helps your business grow.