For companies that make extensive use of contracts, finding the right contract management software is essential. Blueridge Software is the company behind Contract Assistant, a software system that helps companies of all sizes manage their contracts, whether they are vendor agreements, employment contracts, strategic partnerships, or sales contracts. Companies can’t afford to simply file these important documents away after they are signed and forget about them until an emergency comes up.

They need to be accessible at a moment’s notice. Contract Assistant does exactly that, and much more, including generating automatic reminders when contracts are expiring and need to be reviewed, renewed, or sent out for bids and creating reports to give you a big-picture overview of all your contracts. It’s all geared towards a more proactive approach to manage contracts for reducing financial risks, avoiding unnecessary expenses, and prevention of missing important deadlines and milestones. With version for single users and sole proprietors (Standard), small-to-medium-sized businesses (Pro), and large companies (Enterprise), every firm can manage its contracts with confidence.

Pros

Here are what users of Contract Assistant highlight as positives about the system:

• In general, users describe Contract Assistant as both easy to use and affordable.
• The customer service and technical support has been described as professional, personable, and top-notch.
• Users appreciate the ability to store, view, and email their contracts in a minimal amount of time.
• Many users also note the worth of automatic reminders for reviewing and renewing contracts.
• Others appreciate how the system can handle contracts of any type.
• Several note that being able to customize various fields is key since terms and conditions are not uniform among many contracts.
• A few users particularly praised the company’s Quick Start Guide and User’s Guide as very comprehensive.
• Several users noted that being able to scan and import signed documents into the system has cut down on the amount of paper they deal with.
• Other users appreciate how the software actually does exactly what the company says it will do. The functionality is straightforward and a great value.

Cons

Here are some of the drawbacks to Contract Assistant noted by its users:

• A few users seem to have trouble with the reporting features, but this probably stems from users not familiar with databases and reporting writing software.

Given that users have many more pros than cons, it’s surprising that Contract Assistant doesn’t receive perfect marks. Nonetheless, there are nearly no specific drawbacks mentioned. In a case like this, it’s worth noting that when functionality is very straightforward, some users are left feeling they want more bells and whistles, but when they have no specific criticisms, it typically means that such bells and whistles aren’t really needed. As one user put it, other solutions try to do too much, which can result in confusion and frustration. That is not a problem users encounter with Contract Assistant, which appears to do exactly what the company says it will do.