The socio-environmental crisis reaches the planetary level and includes global climate change, air pollution, poverty, labour exploitation, and serious social inequalities. The sustainable Development Goals (SDG), or Global goals, an initiative adopted by the United Nations in 2015, were established to protect the planet, end poverty and ensure all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. Ever since, companies are actively looking for ways to make their organisation as sustainable as possible. Yet reaching SDG's is not only about fair trade & recycling. It's a cross-departmental effort, in which contract management can play an instrumental role.
How can you start transforming your business into a sustainable organization?
Sustainability isn't just about recycling or using green energy, it's a lot more than that. Companies should have a sustainable business strategy where, across the entire organisation, each department contributes to the company's sustainability. Often it is the sum of all the 'smaller' initiatives, that creates a more sustainable organisation. In order for it to succeed, it is important that everyone in the company has the same mindset and wants to contribute to achieving sustainability goals. That's why Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are often formally incorporated in an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) charter.
How does contract management software play its part in achieving Sustainable Development Goals?
1. Streamline Contract Processes
Contract management software is an innovative way of streamlining your internal processes. Having a digital contract infrastructure facilitates the contract lifecycle process, for example, by using flows and clear contract procedures. An easily manageable contract process doesn't only save precious time (previously spent on repetitive tasks), it also enables more stakeholders to be involved in the process, providing peace of mind that every contract will be tracked correctly. Having this peace of mind can tremendously reduce work-related stress and improve employees' well-being at work.
2. Improve Contract Compliance and Equality
Contract management can help to improve contract compliance, aiding companies to ensure that they are complying with all legal and regulatory requirements. This ensures that companies are held accountable for their actions, and, in turn, reduces the risk of fines or legal action. At the same time, approval flows enable different departments to contribute their knowledge to contracts before signing. This way of working highly increases the probability that a contract will create equal rights & obligations for all parties involved. In a later phase, the proactive tracking of contracts helps the contract parties meet their obligations, so everyone involved gets what they bargained for, efficiently reducing inequalities within contract relations.
3. Enhance Sustainability Efforts
Digitalizing your contract management actively contributes to reducing paper consumption and waste. Different versions of contracts no longer need to be printed multiple times over for a variety of parties to be negotiated & signed. When you take into account that businesses spend up to $120 billion annually on printed materials, digitalizing your contract management becomes a no-brainer, both financially and for the environment. Th mere shift from offline contract management to a paperless contract process, meets three SDGs: SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 15 (Life on Earth), and SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production).
With contract management, all contracts are easily centralized, accessed and found, making it easier for companies to track their sustainability efforts and make changes where necessary. In procurement, for example, this approach helps to avoid over-consumption, waste fewer resources and, as a result, keep the environment healthy. Within this process, contract management software plays a pivotal role in saving money, getting rid of waste, reducing a company's carbon footprint and conserve energy.
Conclusion
Sustainable Development Goals are an efficient way to hold companies responsible for their actions and combat climate change, air pollution, poverty, labour exploitation and social inequality. Incorporating contract management software within the organisation can be a valuable tool in reaching your SDG’s. Cross-departments collaboration is enhanced, inequality of contractual parties is reduced and over-consumption is minimized when contracts are managed more proactively. As a result, companies can remain compliant and continuously track their sustainability efforts.
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