Jordan McMahon is a Marketing Communications Specialist at Selectica by day, and a member of the San Jose-renowned Trebekistan trivia team by night. When she’s not writing, carpooling, or drinking copious amounts of the company’s sparkling water, Jordan spends her time learning princess karaoke songs with her daughter, perfecting her incredibly mediocre cooking skills, and blogging with friends about the happiest place on earth—San Jose. (www.searchlightsj.com)
The media/entertainment industry has a unique set of concerns in managing potentially thousands of complex contracts that span from an hour’s worth of work on a single date, to multi-year agreements that require intense ongoing obligations management and potentially undergo a number of lengthy, intense negotiations.
For media companies, managing contracts in filing cabinets or shared drives is just not realistic, especially when dealing with scenarios like the following:
Media companies often employ a vast network of freelance workers (content providers, those hired to do a niche job, etc.) which equals a vast number of contracts. Many times these freelancers aren’t managed by HR, but by the department that requires their skills. Without visibility into the freelancing activity, it’s hard to get an accurate picture of spend, payroll, contract terms, and deliverable tracking.
Writers and content providers who contribute online content, scripts, print content, videos, publications, and advertising (to name a few types), typically have a clause in their contracts that defines who owns publishing rights, the written piece as a whole, and--potentially--royalties. These types of agreements can be more complex than typical contracts within an organization (NDAs, real estate contracts, etc.), and therefore need an additional level of visibility, alerts and reminders for milestones, expirations, or renewals, and the ability to detect these clauses for reporting purposes quickly and easily.
Media companies require a vast array of software and hardware (mental image: the inside of a television studio, for instance), and with that comes contracts pertaining to maintenance, service, warranties, and licenses.
Companies need a significant amount of insight into the details of these contracts, particularly effective and expiration dates, to avoid such situations as penalties for missed payments and/or contract auto-renewals that might leave them in an unfavorable contract situation. Automated contract management ensures that each date in every contract within an organization is accounted for, and that those involved in the contract process are ready to take action at the right times.
News, media, and entertainment can go from local to global in the blink of an eye. Because of that, media companies encounter and enter into a variety of international contract situations. Contract management in these cases can quickly become inefficient when contract documents are housed in multiple systems, are hard to access when needed, and require a number of “middlemen” throughout the process.
Additionally, anytime there are contracts on an international stage, there are local regulatory and compliance issues to contend with, which need to be pristinely monitored. Enter automated contract management, which serves as an extra set of eyes to ensure that companies are operating within the letter of the law and maintaining positive relationships with counterparties, while simultaneously housing all contracts in a centralized, searchable database.
For an example of a company that is keeping their contract processes under control in order to increase overall organizational efficiency, read about NBC News Digital’s adoption of contract lifecycle management software.
