Tim Cummins on what's holding back contract lifecycle automation

Predicting the future is a mug's game.

In 2002 Gartner predicted that, by 2007, there would be a $20 billion market for Contract Lifecycle Management software and services.

Tim Cummins - CEO of the International Association for Contract & Commercial Management (IACCM) - has written a post suggesting why market growth hasn't met those expectations.

His reasons?

• Difficulty in fixing cross-functional processes; because contracting cuts across Legal, Finance, Sales, Procurement and Operations there is often a lack of executive sponsorship to fix the end-to-end business process.
  
  
• Resistance by internal IT (who are forever being promised the 'imminent' arrival of a Contract Management module by their ERP provider).
  
  
• Under-appreciation by companies of the impact of the contracting processes on financial performance, company reputation, and risk management.

So, how much is contracting really costing you?