Contractbook’s 2021 vision: The future of data-driven document automation is now

When Contractbook entered the market, only large enterprises could afford end-to-end contract lifecycle management. All other tools were either insufficient point solutions or expensive and over-complicated software. Consequently, only the biggest and wealthiest companies could afford the efficiency and security benefits you gain from a well-structured contract management flow. Instead, small and medium-sized businesses either had to pay someone to do it (which was expensive), neglect the work (which was dangerous), or do it manually (which was time-consuming).

Our ambition was to create a contract management platform where small and medium-sized businesses could manage their contracts in the easiest possible way without having to pay for a legal professional or invest millions in a locally-stored program that requires you to hire a hoard of bald IT-support guys in baby blue shirts reciting from a Bible-sized user manual just to figure out the basics.

We want to make contract management easy, accessible, and affordable for all companies.

The first version of our platform was a simple tool that allowed businesses to create, sign, and store contracts in a single flow. Over time, it expanded with collaboration-features, task management, and much more to become a fully equipped contract lifecycle management platform. Contractbook empowers small and medium-sized businesses to manage their own contracts, thereby cutting costs, reducing legal risks, and saving time. However, it didn’t relieve those companies from many of their tedious manual tasks.

That brings us to our next step.

‍Data-driven document automation for the present and the future

‍Contractbook's goal is to automate manual repetitive tasks related to low complexity/high-frequency contracts for small and medium-sized companies in order to help them save time and minimize errors at a reduced cost. The answer is what we call data-driven document automation.

Currently, technological development is in an intermediary stage that leaves SMB's caught between outdated software (like PDF-files) that doesn't allow you to leverage your data and over-hyped artificial intelligence that is often expensive and far from delivering the promised value. Just to be clear: AI is the future, but it's not the present.

It’s time to go back to basics with technology, that is what we believe. That means automating your workflow with existing technologies and simultaneously laying the foundation for a smarter future. Our aim is to be the bridge between a manual present and a smarter future.

We will start with automating tedious manual tasks and, over time, deploy AI for problems best solved by machine - or deep learning. We will be able to harness the power of what machines do a lot better than humans do - e.g. understanding big data sets quicker and more accurately. In order to get to that point, you need (a lot of) structured data, and if you are working with old tech you don't have that.

Since the beginning, we have decided to store contracts in a cloud database and use a structured data format with as many data points as possible. That’s why we encourage you to not use PDFs. A PDF is a dead document. It doesn't allow you to do anything with it. It doesn't connect with your workflow, and it doesn't harness the data it contains. Our data format does. By keeping your contracts in our platform, you can create self-executing contracts, transfer data to other systems, build automations and even enable artificial intelligence.

Allow me to summarize: Using Contractbook, you can automate every single part of your contract workflow and integrate with more than 3000 other apps to customize a setup that suits your workflow.‍

Introducing: The Automate Plan

‍To support this vision, we are launching new plans. From now on, we will have a Core plan that gives you an entire end-to-end contract lifecycle management platform. That is Contractbook as you know it.

More importantly, we are also launching a brand new Automate plan that offers you contract automations.

You can do virtually anything you want with your contracts on an Automate-plan. You can auto-generate contracts based on data input, connect Contractbook with your CRM-system for an entirely automated sales flow, make virtual sales gongs in Slack, build self-executing contracts, and much more.

There are multiple and varying values depending on your setup, but it’s our ambition to help you save time, reduce legal errors in your contracts, and enable you to work smarter.

To find the specific routine tasks in your workflow, we will offer you a free assessment from one of our automation consultants. They will go through your setup, advise you on where to improve, and hopefully inspire you to work smarter.

So join the vanguard of modern companies and begin the process of future-proofing your business by signing up for a free assessment of your workflow now.

Join the vanguard!