The Silicon Review - Best Business Review Magazine 50 Most Trustworthy Companies 2019 | Page 38

Simplifying the meandering corridors
of Contract Management: Ecteon
T
echnology governs just about
everything that happens in
today’s businesses. Whether
it is research and development,
managing payroll, production,
manufacturing or if it is sales,
marketing, and distribution,
software that governs relevant
technology has become an integral
part of every aspect of business
administration. Whenever two
companies need to collaborate for
any type of business activity, they
formulate a contractual agreement
that specifies various aspects of
the partnership. Some of those
aspects could include rights for
manufacturing a range of products
awarded by a company to a
manufacturer, televising rights by a
production studio to a broadcasting
company, development of relevant
business software by one company
to an IT company, and so on and
so forth. The most important part
of any business alliance is the
contract.
38
Drafting, negotiating, signing
and performing contracts are
what generate revenues, define
production costs, hire the teams,
and keep a company afloat.
Managing contracts is, thus, one
of the most important aspects of
running a business. Ecteon is one
of the world’s leading developers
of contract management software.
Contracts have to be varied
according to the type of services
offered, duration of the service,
nature of the service provider,
pricing, requirements, and so on
while considering numerous terms
and conditions, legal disclaimers,
copyright protections, patents,
etc. Furthermore, all of these
parameters vastly differ according
to industry. To top it all, businesses
also need to consider government
regulations while drafting
a contract, in order to avoid
compliance complications.
A contract is but a piece of
paper, but it weighs heavily
on corporations that run a
business. It is for this reason that
contract management is vital for
an organization’s growth and
protection against external legal
risk.
“Ecteon
has been
the leader
in contract
management
for over
30 years.”
The idea behind Ecteon
The journey for Ecteon began
30 years ago when its founder,
Richard Eckerstrom, was working
as an analyst for the media giant
CBS Records. Eckerstrom realized
the importance of a consolidated
way of managing all the numerous
types of contracts that govern
tie-ups and operations among
contracting parties. This is where
the idea for Ecteon was conceived.
A large media organization like
CBS Records maintained numerous
contracts with its portfolio of artists
and signed on many more every
year. Each of the contracts would
have had varying clauses that
dictated the working relationship
of the company with the artists.
Some examples of such clauses
include tenure, number of albums
produced, distribution, pricing,
advances, royalties, and so on.
Eckerstrom saw this as an
opportunity to deliver a product
that would establish a supply
for an ever-increasing demand,
i.e. managing contracts between
multiple business entities.
This would be the start of an
entrepreneurial journey that
began three decades ago and is
still going strong. Eckerstrom faced
all the challenges and obstacles
that are typical of every budding
startup, namely, money and people.
Eckerstrom succeeded in finding
talented people who shared his