Contract management may not be the hottest topic on the Web or in social media, but even prominent websites are commenting on the subject.

Take, for example, a post found on Law.com by John Edwards: Contract Management Software Helps Lawyers Gain the Upper Hand. We could not agree more with some of Edwards observations on why attorneys need to use contract management software (Edwards uses the abbreviation CMS). Here are some of this best points on the topic:

“The myriad of benefits, such as return on investment, compliance, standardization of terms, contract life-cycle management, and system visibility, outweigh the perceived hurdles.”

The task of evaluating a contract management solution can feel daunting and overwhelming. But the benefits justify the up-front work. To help those getting started, see our post on tips and best practices for the selection process, including this list of eight steps.

“Not all CMS products are suitable for law offices and legal departments. Many offerings are targeted at sales, marketing, human resources, and various other types of business users.”

While this is true, many systems – including Contract Assistant – include the functions valued by attorneys and corporate legal departments. See an example of legal use cases here and also read how key features benefit other departments as well.

“CMS products can be delivered as a web-based service or traditional office server-based software. Most web-based CMS applications are sold on a subscription basis, offer anytime/anywhere access and include instant software updates. A drawback is the fact that web-based apps are highly vulnerable to internet service interruptions.“

Choosing a vendor delivering a web-based contract management system presents its own category of risk. The prime example: Mumboe shut down its SaaS application at the end of November and warned customers they had just two weeks to retrieve all of their stored data and documents. While a sizable trend in software is a move to the cloud, full ownership of contract management software still makes a lot of sense.