Beyond the Contract: Why We All Need A System

As I worked through my summer job at the masonry company, my notebook was filling up fast. Then it hit me. At the end of the summer, I was supposed to give them something they could actually use, and my scribbles weren’t going to cut it.

The only tool they had was QuickBooks. It was the old CD version you had to install, and it only handled basic accounting, payroll, and inventory. Definitely not contract management.

Then I discovered Excel. It wasn’t fancy, but it gave me freedom. I created columns for Vendor, Deliverable, Frequency, and Due Date. Suddenly, I had a system they could use.

Fast forward to my corporate career. I expected big companies to have this figured out. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. Some were still using Excel to track vendor contracts and renewal dates decades later. Everyone was overwhelmed.

So here’s the truth. We all need a system. Big company, small company, and everything in between. Contract and vendor management can spiral out of control fast. You need a place to store, track, and act on deliverables. And trust me, there are way better options than a 16-year-old’s Excel tracker.

Along the way, I met a brilliant sourcing executive who believed contract management could be more than storage. It could be a tool for better negotiations and smarter decisions. Over ten years, we tested strategies and refined techniques. Then one day, he said, “I’m ready to make this available for everyone.”

He created SourceSight, A platform built for sourcing managers and business owners who want to stop digging through spreadsheets and creating calendar alerts to remind them to look at the spreadsheet. 16-year-old me is so jealous!!

Sincerely,

your friendly neighborhood contract detective