All Part of the Process

I once told a client, “You don’t need high-end tech. You can use SharePoint.”

They’d just signed a contract full of obligations — ESG policies, audit commitments, supplier processes — but had no system for tracking whether they were doing any of it.

That isn’t unusual. I’ve worked with many companies that treat the signed contract like a finished job. It’s not. It’s the start.

You need task owners and a system that reminds them of their tasks and timelines. Done right, that can be enough.

But if it’s not managed and it’s not trackable, it becomes a risk. Several risks, multiplied by the number of contracts you have.

And if your system is “email the contract to *Emily / Jack / Aisha, and expect them to remember every obligation”, that’s not a system. That's wishful thinking.

A signed contract is just the beginning.

What happens next – the “now what?” – is where most people fall down.

→ You’ve agreed to a CSR audit every two years

→ Or committed to giving your suppliers an anti-bribery workshop

→ Or signed up to someone else’s modern slavery policy

That’s all fine – until the client asks for evidence of compliance, or a regulator does.

The truth is, these obligations often get buried. Not on purpose, they just... never get written down.

People sign things thinking, “Of course we’ll comply, it’s the law anyway.” But the policy might require something more specific – and if no one logs it, it doesn’t happen.

(You don’t need fancy tech – just an Excel sheet or Sharepoint will do.)

“We forgot” is not an adequate response, and neither is “we meant to.”

Write it down, diarise it, and track it properly – because your contract is a task list, and it needs to be treated like one.

Legal admin doesn’t beep or flash red. It just sits quietly… until it becomes your biggest headache.

It’s like tracking your expenses: if you chuck everything into a drawer and say, “I’ll do it later,” it becomes a project (a horrible one).

It’s the same with contracts.

You delay once – and once more – and suddenly, instead of a minor task, it becomes an enormous project.  Plus, you risk everything you’re building by not having your contracts in order.

Getting your contracts “in order” means knowing what they say!

It’s about not waiting until things get so messy that fixing them distracts you from your actual business.

And if your instinct is to say, “We don’t have time”? 

Well, that’s the best argument for writing things down. 

Do it now, it’ll be quicker. In two years, it’ll be a logistical nightmare.

Legal problems often don’t start with the law.

They start with bad processes.

Fixing “legal” messes that turn out to be operational gaps throw up:

- No central record of what’s been signed

- No clarity on who is responsible for which contract

- No idea of the actual risk exposure sitting in a drawer somewhere

All of which means leaks of time, money, and goodwill – nothing dramatic, but still a constant drip, drip!

Fixing those gaps isn’t glamorous, but it’s what gets the house in order.

Don’t begin with the fanciest fix. Look for the practical one: the simplest change that makes things better straight away. I’ll never suggest spending for the sake of it.

Good legal process is good business process. The two aren’t separate.

I’ve seen businesses lose deals not just because of price, product, or timing – but because their paperwork wasn’t up to scratch.

A client’s procurement team asks for a privacy policy, or an investor wants to see data compliance, or (god forbid) a business partner checks who owns the IP.

If the documents aren’t there, the deal doesn’t move.

That’s why compliance isn’t “back office.” It’s part of your sales process. It builds trust, ticks boxes, and removes excuses for delay.

Leave it until “later”, and “later”  might be too late.