CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management) software enables attorneys to manage contracts from request to execution, renewal, and expiration. Collaboration and legacy information are high-value features that CLM software brings to law departments. In order to be effective, tracking conversation history and meaningful data points cannot be cumbersome or time-consuming for attorneys. The purpose of this software is to reduce the administrative burden of legal work, not simply moving that work to a new area.
This is why CLM email integration is so important. Integrating your email with your contract lifecycle management system makes collaboration and information tracking seamless. Conversations can be started from the solution, and all replies to a chain will automatically be tracked to the system – even if the response is not from someone with a login to the system.
There are several types of email integration. When searching for a tool, confirm whether the tools have a CLM email integration and what type of integration it has. Here are a few examples:
- Native Sync
- Third Party Applications
- Smart BCC / Forwarding to system
- Add-ons & Extensions
There are several benefits to CLM email integration that make it worth considering a priority feature of your CLM system. These are Reduced Emails/Saved Time, Real-Time Transparency, and Data Integrity.
1. Reduce Emails, Save Time
The average office worker receives 121 emails each day. This takes an enormous amount of time each day, and email interactions are not always lucrative or informative. Email integration can reduce the number of emails attorneys receive by keeping the information in a central location, so only the main point of contact need be copied, or through various other means. In addition, email integrations store all communications related to a contract or matter in one place so you can easily recall information, saving time in multiple ways long-term.
2. Real-Time Transparency
CLM email integrations make transparency easy and immediate for your team (visibility is managed within your system so that only those who have clearance to see certain contracts or matters have access). This makes meetings, collaboration, and coverage much easier. Covering a team member while they are on vacation or unexpectedly out of office is much simpler with these tools. When internal or external customers respond to an email, the ticket is immediately updated so whomever is working on/watching the ticket at that time is alerted and can see it. This keeps important communications from being stuck in an individual person’s email and offers better service to customers.
3. Data Integrity
Data integrity is one of many hot topics these days, and anyone who has attempted to maintain data integrity knows that it is no small task. The best ways to ensure accurate data collection and retention is to make intake as easy as possible. CLM email integrations place data collection practices directly in an attorney’s workflow so that, with extremely small changes to their day-to-day interactions, conversation history, document versions, decision-making, approvals, and more are all logged in a central location with all the needed details retained.
Your CLM email integration should also have the opportunity to pull an email into your system that was sent outside the thread. Many integrations rely on specific email threads to determine what should be pulled into your contract tickets or matters, but we know that folks often reply on new threads or to other emails regarding a different topic. Integrations should make it possible to correct these errors without causing unneeded burden on staff.
