Overwhelmed by the number of contracts to read. Any tips on how to better manage contracts? Any tools you use?

Are you using a Contract Lifecycle Management tool? Finding a CLM tool that fits your size/needs would help. Several out there easily handle workflow, red-lining, e-sigs, renewal reminders and digital storage. The digital storage part is nice for quick search functionality. Some solutions are giants with lots of bells of whistles and may be more than you need. Finding the right fit  and not over-paying is critical. The evaluation process requires lots of demos. So many demos. But better than spending $$$$ when you only need to spend $$. If you haven't checked out the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CLM, give it try for a place to start. 

This seems to be a frequent concern for people, and I think finding a contract and vendor management solution that works for you is the best answer. After that is in place, make sure the people in your company understand the process behind the systems and tools you use, as well as the purpose of your process. The most important piece of any type of strategy for managing contracts is making sure people understand the process as a whole. Answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the process. What route does a contract need to take? Why does the contract need to take that route for approval? When can they expect the contract to be fully executed? Where and how do they do that? Who is responsible for each piece of the process? Answer those questions again and again until you have staff is knowledgeable. You can share training materials about whatever systems or processes you use and how the life cycle of the contract ties to corporate risk as background. The collaboration and knowledge of staff helps to reduce redundancies, such as sharing information with those working with vendors and contracts about preferred terms for your company, so that you won’t have to repeatedly send contracts back for negotiations on state of law or simple terms that can easily be communicated with your staff beforehand – share the responsibility and the knowledge. 

A solid tool and process will make managing your timeline and workload much easier, and the work will become more of a flow instead of a bombardment. We use Gatekeeper for our contract management solution, and it helps us with a lot of these pieces - due diligence, negotiation, document management, and communication with our vendors and employees. It also helps us identify trends in our workload and what we can expect for renewals and expirations, which helps to better plan our work and manage time.