I was lucky enough to sit down for an open Q&A with author, change agent, and influencer, Anna Lozynski, at Malbek's annual user conference, Envision 2021. With no question considered off-limits, our chat spanned many important topics including the evolving legal profession, the use of AI in contract management, and best practices for leading a successful CLM implementation. 

Here are three takeaways from our discussion. 

4 Common Types of Contracts

In the not-so-distant past, business owners often confirmed a deal with a mere handshake. Among some prominent circles, this is still an acceptable way of doing business. Ideally, however, your organization employs the use of contracts to ensure you have the details in writing.

Today I am thrilled to announce the closing of our Series A funding round of $15.3 million!

Hooray! Envision 2021, Malbek's user conference, is in one week! If you are attending, expect your October 5th and 6th to be jam-packed with content on contract management best practices, thought leadership, success stories, upcoming new product features, and networking opportunities.

We don't want you to miss out on any of the unique insights that the Malbek community can offer you! So, here is an Envision 2021 attendees' guide for what to expect, where to be, what to do, and more at the Malbek event of the year!

Each quarter, G2 studies the reviews of hundreds of companies to compile industry-specific reports. In these reports, companies are ranked on everything from user adoption to overall satisfaction, ease of use, and more, and badges are awarded based on the results.

We believe products are only great if they truly help the people and organizations they are designed to support, and it's the real-world feedback from our customers that made these awards possible. We're so grateful to them for sharing their continued success with us, and it's time to celebrate!

Last week we were lucky enough to be joined by Ronak Ray, General Counsel of Pantheon, and Judist Crews, Director of Business Systems at Revalize, to settle an ongoing debate—can legal and business systems teams be friends?

Contract Risk Management: 3 Fundamental Shifts To Improve Your Business Agreements

In the fast-paced world of business, agreements are created every day. These agreements, known as contracts, often involve several different teams and can affect the arrangements, operations, and relationships between each of those parties. Knowing that it's almost impossible to keep track of each and every contract, the terms within them, and how they will impact your business both in the short and long term, it's a good idea to have a contract management solution to protect your business from "risky business". 

Though we may never be completely free of risks in day-to-day business operations, many of them can be proactively addressed to reduce negative impacts.

So, what is contract risk management anyway? Contract risk management involves the accurate assessment of the amount of risk contained within a contract. This may include loss of opportunity, legal exposure if things go wrong, and potential business impact the contract will have on the involved parties. To be most accurate contract risk management should evaluate the total risk contained across a company's entire portfolio of active agreements.

Before you take the first step in your contract risk management journey, it's important to understand the key benefits.  Though there are many advantages, we've narrowed them down to three fundamental advantages contract risk management can bring to your business.

Contracts exist precisely for when things go wrong and it looks like things have gone very wrong in the case of Scarlett Johansson's contractual relationship with Marvel Entertainment and its parent company Disney. Johansson just filed a lawsuit claiming breach of contract for her role in the movie Black Widow, which was released July 2021 following numerous delays due to COVID. While the facts of this case may present unique circumstances, this suit underscores why contract risk management matters so much and how we are all still feeling the effects of uncharted contract territory in the era of COVID.