Archive for May, 2009

Don’t Let Your Contracts Come Back to Bite You

Most businesses deal with contracts primarily during the negotiating phase, when you are hammering out the details and fine points of an agreement. If you’re the party selling a product or service, and getting those details right means closing the sale, you are likely to be paying close attention during this phase. If you’re the customer, the focus in on ensuring the contract contains the key provisions that matter to your business.

But what happens to a contract after it is executed?

For most businesses, once the contract is signed it gets filed away, either electronically or literally in a filing cabinet. And there it stays, soon forgotten in the more pressing day-to-day activities of finding new business and serving customers. Yet inside the pages of those contracts are important milestones that can have a significant impact on your company’s financial picture. For example:

A sales contract might include a requirement to hit key performance milestones by a certain date in order for you to continue to collect revenue payments.

A services contract might include an automatic renewal date, with a 30-day written notice required prior to that date to terminate the agreement.

A non-disclosure agreement might expire before you’ve finished doing business with the company or person that signed it.

Missing these critical milestones can not only cost you money, it can put your business at risk. For example, one of our recent posts found that inaccurate contract management recently cost the state of Maryland more than $10 million in potential overpayments and undisclosed rebates. 

Yet with up to 80% of all business transactions governed by contracts, those milestones can quickly multiply, overwhelming your staff’s attempts to keep track. Many businesses use a combination of spreadsheets and calendar applications to track contract details, including milestones. However, keeping these documents updated as the business grows and relationships change can be challenging, especially during difficult economic times when companies are trimming resources and employees are taking on more work.

That’s why Mumboe’s contract management application allows you to set automatic alerts and reminders for agreement milestones. Every time you upload an agreement into Mumboe (or at anytime afterward), you can automatically extract the milestones you want to track, and create reminders for yourself and other users. So not only can the legal department see when a milestone is coming due, you can make sure that sales or service staff, or the HR department, are alerted when an agreement needs to be renewed, terminated or  renegotiated.

Create automatic milestone alerts in Mumboe.

It’s just one example of a simple but powerful feature that can save your company time (no more updating complicated spreadsheets) and money (no more missed deadlines).

To see a video demonstration of Mumboe milestones, click here.

Add comment... May 19th, 2009 Author: admin

Gartner Predicts SaaS Revenue to Grow 22% in 2009

A new report from Gartner says the market for software as a service (SaaS) applications will reach $9.6 billion in 2009, a 21.9 percent increase from 2008 revenue of $6.6 billion. According to Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner, “Initial concerns about security response time and service availability have diminished for many organizations. As SaaS business and computing models have matured, adoption has become more widespread.”

The report found that “growth remains most significant in areas characterized by horizontal applications with common processes, among distributed virtual workforce teams, and within Web 2.0 initiatives.” The largest markets for enterprise SaaS applications identified in the report, in terms of revenue, are content, communications and collaboration applications; and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Worldwide Software Revenue for SaaS Delivery Within the Enterprise Application Software Markets (Millions of Dollars)

Source: Gartner (May 2009)

For details and to download the entire report, click here.

Add comment... May 14th, 2009 Author: admin

Corporate Legal Spending Outlook Improves

A recent survey by BTI Consulting Group finds that corporate legal spending is set to increase nearly 5% during the second half of 2009, after a 7% decline last year. The firm, which provides strategic research to law firms and general counsel clients, is basing its conclusion on more than 1,200 interviews with corporate counsels at the world’s largest companies.

According to the report, the spending will be focused on regulatory compliance, employment, securities and bankruptcy/corporate restructuring law.

Corporate legal spending priorities for 2009.

While the survey did not include an outlook for technology spending, the overall trend is a positive sign that organizations are renewing their commitment to tackling the challenges of business accountability.

For clients interested in the full details of the report, BTI will discuss its findings in a webinar on May 28th at 12:00 EST. Cost is $300 per connection, sign up here.

Add comment... May 12th, 2009 Author: admin

Stolen Hardware Leading Cause of Corporate Security Breaches

There was a time when concerns about security kept many companies from embracing software as a service (SaaS) applications to solve their business needs. That mindset is rapidly changing with SaaS security vendors offering services that often exceed the capabilities of any corporate data center.

However, we still often field questions from prospective customers about the security of SaaS versus inhouse or on-premise systems. These customers are rightly concerned about the safety of their sensitive business documents, and protecting those documents and the data they contain from theft or loss is still a high priority.

An article in the May issue of Inside Counsel magazine that outlines the most common security breaches companies face might surprise those who automatically think “in-house is safer.” According to the article, a study released in March analyzing breaches by industry sector found the following causes top the list:

Stolen hardware: Data compromises occur most often through lost or stolen hardware such as laptop computers or PDAs. The health care industry has the highest percentage of breaches from lost hardware. The costs can be high: a laptop stolen from an employee of the Department of Verterans Affairs resulted in a $20 million settlement in just one of several class action lawsuits filed as a result of the theft.

Employee theft: One of the most common types of theft, this can also be one of the hardest to prevent, say the article’s authors. Incidents involving employees form the largest percentage of breaches in the financial sector. 

Peeping: A growing area of concern is casual theft, referred to by the article as “peeping”. These incidents occur when people are able to access files they don’t really have permission to view. Peter Swire, a law professor at The Ohio State University and senior fellow with the Center for American Progress, recommends implementing an audit system that provides a history of anyone who has accessed a file.

In addition to providing a full audit trail, Mumboe provides industry-leading security measures to protect the security and privacy of our customers’ data.

You can limit user access to specific folders in Mumboe.

These include:

256-byt encryption: We utilize 256-bit Equifax SSL Certification and 1024-bit RSA public keys to ensure security of data during transmission.

Password protection: Only users with a valid user name and password can access Mumboe.

Permission-based access: Mumboe account admins control what these users can see and do in Mumboe, including which folders and documents they can access.

Web site security: The Mumboe web site has been certified by GeoTrust for SSL certification, McAfee for website security certification, and carries the TRUSTe privacy seal.

For more details on Mumboe security click here.

Add comment... May 5th, 2009 Author: admin