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The software-as-a-service (SaaS) space is set for strong growth, with Gartner estimating that the value of the market will grow from around $204 billion in 2023  to nearly $244 billion in 2024. R

elentless advances in technology, along with businesses’ appetite for solutions that enhance operational efficiency, are among the key factors driving adoption.

But we are still in the early stages of the SaaS market. Over the next few years, we can expect the evolution of SaaS to be characterised by more innovation, flexibility, and vendor focus on delivering value to customers with specialised solutions and enhanced user experiences.

Here are some of the ways the market is changing.

1. AI everywhere

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning aren’t new to software or to SaaS vendors. But the pace of innovation has dramatically accelerated over the past two years.

Generative AI and large language models (LLMs) are gamechangers for SaaS vendors and their customers, helping to catalyse a new wave of innovation.

SaaS vendors are using gen AI to provide more intuitive user interfaces, design AI-powered support chatbots that are friendlier and more powerful and streamline software development. Some SaaS companies are using gen AI to create new products, such as powerful tools for automated post-signature contract management.

2. Niche is nice

A trend towards more specialised SaaS solutions is gaining momentum as vendors come to market with solutions that are designed to do one process exceptionally well or address an unmet need in a niche market.

This laser-focused approach addresses major business pain points with solutions that are quick and affordable to deploy.

Our company, for example, focuses on post-signature contract management because it is an underserved market. Generalist document management and workflow applications don’t address the nuances of this area well. While there are specialised solutions, most are too expensive and complex for small and medium-sized businesses to implement.

3. Fortified data protection

With high profile data breaches hitting the headlines in South Africa in recent years, data privacy and information security are high on the agenda.

Given that the Information Regulator is showing a willingness to fine companies for breaching the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), organisations are taking privacy and security more seriously than ever.

Companies are increasingly turning towards secure, cloud-based platforms to help them protect their most sensitive information.

Features like end-to-end encryption, two-factor authentication (2FA), and regular backups are a must. Companies also want platforms that enable them to define user permissions for privileged information.

4. True hybrid

The shift towards hybrid working models has accelerated the demand for SaaS collaboration tools, including video conferencing, project management, team communication, and virtual collaboration platforms.

Since the pandemic, SaaS solutions have helped to support flexible working models, helping people and teams to collaborate from anywhere.

5. Everything automated  

Automation is one of the major driving forces in today’s SaaS market. With budgets under pressure and competition heating up, many organisations are looking for quick wins from process automation. SaaS solutions address inefficient manual processes and business pain points with tools to streamline work.

In post-signature contract management, for instance, manual methods like spreadsheets are sources of inefficiency, errors, and complexity challenges.

Replacing manual methods with cutting-edge AI to efficiently extract and organises data helps reduce costs and improve consistency.

6. Software on demand

There is a move away from complex SaaS solutions that involve long sales cycles, extensive customisation, and lengthy implementations.

Self-service SaaS or on-demand SaaS offer easy sign up without significant upfront commitments. Users can manage their subscriptions, scale services up or down, and access features on-demand, all with minimal intervention from the service provider.

What you should know about Contract Understanding

• Contract Understanding offers organisations across all industries an artificial intelligence-powered Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that enables them to securely and efficiently store, organise and manage post-signature contracts.
• With Contract Understanding, companies can take complete control of their contract benefits, obligations, and renewals.
• Contract Understanding analyses and extracts key data from each contract, offering complete visibility into every contract a company manages.

For business owners, the start of a new year is a perfect opportunity to take a fresh look at their operations.

Even small optimisations to your systems and processes can create big productivity boosts, which in turn, can help you to drive significant improvements to your revenues and profitability.

Here are four tips for improving your productivity, so that your business can navigate the challenges and opportunities it will face in the year to come.

1. Planning is everything

In a world that feels more volatile and uncertain than ever, good strategic and project planning is key to success. It’s important to have clearly defined objectives for your business, with actionable steps that will help you to meet your goals.

Regular strategic planning will help you to reassess and adjust your business strategy based on market trends and internal performance.

Each project should also be carefully planned, paying close attention to the expected outcomes, the risks that may derail the project, and the resources required to complete it.

Break projects down into tasks, set deadlines and ensure that there are clear lines of accountability. Strategic and project goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed (SMART) to keep progress on track.

2. Centralise and digitise information

Poorly organised information, particularly a reliance on paper documents, is one of the biggest enemies of productivity in any business.

Many businesses are keeping critical information such as contracts and customer records in filing cabinets or on employees’ local hard drives.

Digitising this information and storing it in a centralised online repository can deliver immediate productivity wins.

Consider the benefits, for example, of being able to access all contracts with customers, suppliers and service providers via a cloud -based system rather than needing to rummage through a cabinet.

Once your documents are stored online, it also becomes easier for your team to share information and collaborate, saving time for everyone. This also enables your team to work remotely when appropriate.

3. Embrace automation and AI

Although many businesses have adopted software to automate some processes, you’ll still find many owners and employees manually executing a range of repetitive, time-consuming tasks.

Whether it’s manually tracking customer service requests, capturing financial information, or keeping track of legal contracts, the admin can be overwhelming.

Today, businesses can use a range of affordable, cloud-based software tools to automate these tedious processes and free resources up to focus on growth and strategy.

Such solutions help to reduce human error, improve efficiency, speed up business processes, and strengthen compliance with tax laws and other regulations.

4. Harness tech as an enabler, but don’t let it become a distraction

Technology has completely changed how businesses operate over the past 15 years. Mobile access to apps like email, social media and instant messaging allow us to work from nearly anywhere, be more responsive to colleagues and customers, and have access to real-time info at our fingertips. But there is also a downside, given the propensity of people to try to multitask.

These technologies can distract employees from their essential tasks. Constant WhatsApp or social media notifications can be disruptive when you need to focus on doing your financials or completing a customer proposal.

It can be helpful to set times aside during the day to respond to messages and turn notifications off the rest of the time.

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No business is an island, every company in the world depends on a delicate network of relationships with customers, suppliers, service providers, employees, contractors and other entities and people to run its operations.

In most cases, these business relationships are governed by legal contracts that outline the obligations and entitlements of each party.

Organisations, understandably, spend a great deal of time scrutinising and negotiating the terms and conditions of each legal agreement that they enter.

But once the contract is signed, it will often be filed in a cabinet or scanned and uploaded to the cloud, forgotten about until someone realises the other party is breaching the terms or that a deadline for cancelling the contract has been missed.

Research from World Commerce & Contracting finds that 9.2% of annual contract value is lost through poor management across the whole lifecycle, most of it after the contract is signed.

Businesses that thus treat their post-signature contracts as a living asset to be proactively managed and optimised can unlock significant value.

Here are some processes that fall under the umbrella of post-signature contract management:

1. Storage and visibility of all contracts the company has signed

The most fundamental aspect of post-signature contract management is gaining visibility of which contracts the business has signed, who the counterparties are, and which internal signatories are responsible for managing the commercial or legal relationship.

All too many businesses lose track of contracts that are in force because they’re scattered across different business units or departments – with no way of categorising them or knowing who has access to them.

2. Managing deadlines

Most contracts a business signs will be for a limited term, with clauses in the agreement setting out when the contract can be renewed, renegotiated, or terminated.

If deadlines and milestones are not properly managed, the business may find that a contract gets renewed before it negotiates more favourable pricing or cancels to switch suppliers. Or the contract might expire and leave the business without access to essential services.

3. Avoiding penalties and breaches

One of the vital aspects of post-signature management is ensuring that the business meets any obligations of the agreement, such as service level agreements or deadlines.

It’s essential to have full visibility of terms and conditions and ways to monitor adherence, so that the business doesn’t suffer any penalties for breach of contract.

4. Maximising benefits and incentives

Commercial contracts will often include incentives for exceeding service levels, discounts for early settlement of invoices, commissions for providing leads to a partner company, and other benefits.

Forward-thinking companies will want to be proactive about maximising these benefits to ensure that they’re getting the full value from each business relationship.

5. Keeping track of amendments and correspondence

Contracts often change over time as addendums and amendments are made. There is also often a lot of correspondence associated with each contract.

Keeping on top of this documentation is a key part of the post-signature process.

6. Contract management workflow

Through the lifecycle of a contract, there are many admin-intensive tasks that need to be handled. It’s best practice to have clearly defined workflows and automated processes to streamline this work.

This includes triggering workflows for events catered for in the documentation when they occur e.g., force majeure, cancellation, and breach.

7. Monitoring performance

Post-signature contract management also focuses on monitoring and optimising business value derived from contracts. Leading companies will closely track contract performance, financial implications, and other relevant metrics. This can help the business improve decision-making, processes, and contract strategy formulation.

Automation can enhance post-signature contract management

Many companies still think about contract signing as the endpoint, neglecting the critical post-signature phase.

But those that treat it as a strategic necessity will be able to maximise benefits, mitigate risks, and ensure compliance.

Today, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation can simplify what was once a tedious and time-consuming burden, so that businesses can turn contract management into a strategic advantage.

Contracts are an essential part of every organisation’s operations. But despite the effort that companies put into negotiating, drafting and understanding contracts before they’re signed, they often lose track of them post-signature.

The documents get filed away in a cabinet somewhere or scanned for storage on a server, then forgotten about, exposing the business to a range of significant risks.

Some of these include losing track of the actual paperwork, missing deadlines to renew or cancel contracts, failing to take advantage of incentives or discounts due under a contract, and incurring penalties for non-compliance with terms and conditions. That’s why most businesses that manage more than 50 documents can benefit from a formal contract management process.

Here are a few tips about how you can implement an approach to contract management that will help you to maximise the benefits of the legal agreements you have signed while minimising risk.

1. Understand where your contracts are

Many companies don’t have a clear view of which contracts are in force, what the terms and conditions are, or how they’ve been changed through amendments over the years.

They often also lack information about who holds internal accountability for a contract, the risk profile associated with the contract, or who their contacts are at the counterparty.

Thus, taking an inventory of the contracts you have signed over the years is a good starting point for a formal contract management process. Speak to team members in different functions and ask them to identify which contracts they have signed as well as whether these contracts have been digested and where they are stored.

2. Categorise your contracts

The next logical step is to start sorting contracts into categories such as agreements with vendors and service providers, sales agreements with customers, leases and rental contracts, employee contracts, contracts for subscription services such as telecoms, insurance policies, and non-disclosure agreements.

You can also sort documents according to their risk profile and how critical they are to your business.

3. Identify the pain points

Once you’ve made sense of which contracts are in place, you can begin to identify the associated pain points.

One of the most common and expensive mistakes companies make is to lose the opportunity to renew, cancel or renegotiate contracts when they reach the end of their term. You could, for example, miss your chance to cancel an insurance policy or seek a better deal before renewal.

Other pain points are associated with not being able to track the terms and conditions of the numerous contracts you have signed. One example is not tracking and thus losing out on the benefits of a contract such as discounts or incentives.

On the flipside, it’s possible to accidentally breach the terms of a contract such as a service level agreement with a customer or a payment deadline to a supplier. This can result in needless costs and penalties.

4. Choose a software solution to streamline the process

While it’s theoretically possible to keep track of contracts using a manual system like spreadsheets, it’s far from optimal.

There are affordable software solutions that can help you improve the visibility of your post-signature contracts. Look for an artificial intelligence-driven, software-as-a-service offering that supports a wide range of contract types.

In addition to a secure online document repository, such a solution should also offer powerful workflow and analytics tools to streamline your processes.

5. Start uploading contracts

Once you’ve selected a solution, you can start capturing your contracts. Begin with the most business critical contracts or those that cause the biggest headaches.

Start small, especially if you have hundreds or thousands of contracts. Most solutions will use optical character recognition (OCR) to extract and repurpose text from scanned or emailed PDF documents.

Once a contract is uploaded in a format the system can use AI algorithms and machine learning techniques to extract key information from the text, classify different terms and provisions and provide a high-level understanding of the agreement. Bear in mind that AI is good, but not perfect. A human should validate its output.

6. Automate workflows

With the right software in place, you’ll have visibility of involved parties, obligations, deadlines, and distinct clauses of your contracts.

This, in turn, enables you to set up automated workflows to better manage post-signature contracts. These workflows range from processes to manage routine events like termination and price escalations as well as ones to manage extraordinary events such as force majeure or breaches.

Keep optimising

After following steps one to six, you can go back to point three to find the next set of documents to ingest into your contract management system.

You should also look for opportunities to continuously automate and optimise workflows, as well as to use reporting insights to make better decisions.

Over time, you can add all your contracts to the system as well as put a process in place to ensure all new contracts are ingested the moment they are signed.

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