| | October 20168CIOReview"Smart ECM" Cloud-Based Enterprise Contract Management for the Global EnterpriseJohn Cupit, CTO, Cloud and DC Transformation, Global Solution Expert Team, America Branch, Huawei Technologies USA, Inc.Enterprise Contract Management ("ECM") has typically focused on the management of procurement processes as well as compliance processes with respect to the contractual obligations of the Enterprise. The utilization of Cloud and Big Data technologies support and create the potential for ECM to be extended to new activities across the Enterprise, including but not limited to sales processes, the execution of Go to Market strategies and the mining of Business Intelligence from contract compliance.This extension of ECM has created two complimentary branches of ECM services. The first branch is Contract Management, while the second branch emphasizes Program Management. Let's briefly examine these two branches and the functionality that they deliver.Contract Management ECM covers all stages of the contract lifecycle from creation, execution and discovery through renewals, renegotiation, performance monitoring and financial analysis. Contract management enables Global Enterprises to actively manage all types of corporate contracts, including procurement and sales contracts.Contract Management ECM features support the Global Enterprise in reaching the following objectives:· To gain global contract visibility and transparency while optimizing the utilization of legal and contracting resources· To dramatically improve supplier relationships, through the employment of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which actively drive contractual compliance and mitigates risks for procurement activities· To automate sales contract management processes to speed time to revenue, reduce cost of sales and improve long-term customer relationships.Program Management ECM provides program management capabilities across spend, supplier and procurement initiatives. It provides a series of tools to manage programs proactively by monitoring, measuring and tracking program progress and results. Program Management ECM delivers the following functions to the Global Enterprise:IN MY OPINIONBy John Cupit
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