Software giant taps solution from Upside Software to manage home, entertainment contracts globally
Edmonton, Alberta — February 19, 2004 — Software giant Microsoft Corp. has purchased a divisional license of an enterprise contract management solution from Upside Software.
Microsoft has licensed Upside's UpsideContract solution, which, the provider said, offers full lifecycle contract management functionality, including collaborative contract creation and negotiation, performance, compliance and risk management, event management, and amendment and renewal processing.
"We are proud to have been selected by the world's largest software provider as their solution of choice for managing their home and entertainment contracts globally" said Ashif Mawji, Upside CEO.
According to Tim Minahan, vice president for supply chain research at technology consultancy Aberdeen Group, ineffective control and management of supplier contracts cost businesses $153 billion per year in missed savings opportunities.
Elsewhere, Gartner Group predicted that by year end 2008, in 80 percent of enterprises, the cost of contract management will have doubled from the 2002 costs of 2 percent to 4 percent of selling, general and administrative expenses (SGA).
As a result, contract management is continuing to become an area of significant focus for many organizations. Upside and others believe that as organizations understand the return on investment (ROI) resulting from the use of contract management software, the popularity of these solutions will increase. Many analysts believe this market will exceed $5 billion by 2007.
For more information on contract management automation, see the article "Digging Out from the Contract Clutter" in the January 2002 issue of iSource Business.
For additional information on contract management best practices, see the SDCExec.com articles "Five Myths of Contract Management" (July 9, 2003), "Contract Management: Improving Corporate Governance" (July 21, 2003) and "Contract Management for Procurement Best Practices" (August 4, 2003).
