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Contract Management
April 10, 2020
A Contract Management System (CMS), or Control Lifecycle Management System, enables production and management of contracts, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Procurement Master Agreements. Contracts are key to any business’s procurement activities - identifying prices, service levels, terms and conditions as well as supplier relationships.
Not only does a company’s Contract Management System formalize important business details, but it also indicates consequences if vendors do not perform to expectations, minimizing company exposure.
Features of an ideal Contract Management System include:
- Flexibility to track vendor relationship and interactions
- Milestone calendars and checklists to manage information and contract life cycle activities
- Prices and budgeting for each product line and vendor
- Document depositories of standard and live contracts with version control, for company use
- Event management such as contract end/renewal dates or audits Compliance monitoring
Unfortunately, many hospitals and health systems have not implemented technologies that enable contracts to be readily available and up-to-date. Contracts are frequently stored in multiple locations and can be quite difficult to locate, causing potential problems such as late payments, unwanted contract renewals, and unidentifiable pricing discrepancies. Automating contract management improves process efficiency and minimizes risk. It enables collaborative negotiation, compliance, approvals, and revision history and workflow management, while providing secure accessibility.
CASE STUDY:
Optisave worked with a large Mid-Atlantic health system to source an end-to-end centralized CMS solution with collaboration features and actionable outcomes, creating substantial future savings and efficiencies. Considerations were:
- End to end, easy/quick to implement, SaaS-based, out-of-the-box solution. These factors are especially important for small to medium-size organizations, or those strapped for resources.
- Meaningful, real-time, simultaneous collaboration to enable efficiencies, and foster better relationships and transparency.
- Actionable outcomes. Does the solution: leverage data collected from contract activities, help create better contracts, flag information for users?
Contact Optisave to leverage our deep expertise in contract management systems.
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Most health systems pay for support and/or maintenance on hardware and software on an annual or multi-year basis. This includes clinical and financial software applications and desktop and network equipment, as well as data center hardware and software. Usually, support is manufacturer-provided and purchased either directly or through a Value Added Reseller (VAR). Third Party Maintenance (TPM) - Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)-authorized/OEM-independent maintenance – is increasingly common in the hardware and software support market, with a thriving ecosystem of independent support providers for specific software, server, storage and networking equipment. IT organizations selectively use TPM providers to cost-effectively extend IT asset life and control OEM-forced upgrades. TPM, also known as aftermarket hardware and/or software support or post-warranty support, is popular when equipment warranty or service agreements end. TPM can be a cost-effective alternative to OEM support. TPM can offer multiple benefits: Cost: TPM providers are typcially significantly less expensive than the OEM Flexibility: TPM can be more flexible than OEM support. Responsiveness: TPM can often be more responsive to issues than OEM support. Communication: TPM providers are directly linked to OEM Level 3 support. Expertise: TPM providers offer broad expertise in hardware/software brands and manufacturers. Remote monitoring: TPM can provide remote monitoring to help identify potential network issues that could expose company data to cyber threats. TPM services can include: Software support including security patching Hardware support to include Replacement or repair of hardware On-site engineering assistance Remote monitoring Operating support Data backup CASE STUDIES A Southwest children’s hospital was renewing hardware support on its data storage equipment. After thorough evaluation of its requirements, they decided to identify and solicit bids for 3rd party support for one year. One requirement was that the selected vendor had certified engineers and replacement hardware, if needed. Additionally, the vendor needed to have the ability to integrate into the hospital’s trouble ticket system. With Optisave’s guidance, an appropriate 3rd party vendor was selected, and at a 60% lower cost than OEM support. The Microsoft Unified Support agreement was coming up for renewal at large Mid-Atlantic health system. Renewal cost was far greater than the health system had budgeted so they were willing to look outside Microsoft for support. Several qualified vendors were identified and an RFI was issued. Ultimately the health system worked with Optisave experts to select a vendor that not only had a significant amount of experience with health systems, but was also more than half the cost of what Microsoft was going to charge for the renewal. Optisave works with healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and other complex organizations to determine whether Third Party Maintenance is right for them and select the ideal provider. Contact us today to start a conversation.
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