IBM pushes online contract mgmt.

IBM last week unveiled technology designed to put the process of signing and managing IT contracts online to let the vendor and its business partners and customers save time and money.

Developed by IBM Research over the past couple of years, Contracts OnLine is a Web-hosted application available for free to IBM's U.S. business partners and customers. The application relies on digital watermarks with signer names and dates, and requires IBM's WebSphere Application Server and DB2 database and Adobe Reader.

"The problem we're trying to help solve is allowing our partners and clients to do business more efficiently," said Cathy Lasser, IBM Research's vice president of industry solutions and emerging technology.

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IBM last week unveiled technology designed to put the process of signing and managing IT contracts online to let the vendor and its business partners and customers save time and money.

Developed by IBM Research over the past couple of years, Contracts OnLine is a Web-hosted application available for free to IBM's U.S. business partners and customers. The application relies on digital watermarks with signer names and dates, and requires IBM's WebSphere Application Server and DB2 database and Adobe Reader.

"The problem we're trying to help solve is allowing our partners and clients to do business more efficiently," said Cathy Lasser, IBM Research's vice president of industry solutions and emerging technology.

With the application, users on the Web can securely access, review and sign a contract, track its status, and see who made which alterations to the online document, Lasser said. Contracts OnLine automatically sends e-mails to the parties involved in a contract, notifying them when to review and sign it, as well as when it's about to expire. IBM has been piloting the software with 700 business partners and customers.

Jack Henry & Associates, of Monett, Mo., provides IT systems to U.S. financial institutions. An IBM business partner, Jack Henry sells iSeries and pSeries servers to banks and credit unions, respectively. The company is close to standardizing its contract management on Contracts OnLine, according to Steve Crawford, manager of hardware technology and services at Jack Henry.

"So far, it's working extremely well," Crawford said. "We're extremely pleased with the pilot, and customers have been very responsive to it." Jack Henry has handled contracts with more than 100 customers through Contracts OnLine, and has eliminated a lot of paperwork and is more time-efficient, Crawford added.

When selling an IBM system to a customer previously, the company would use a combination of scanning, e-mail and express mail to get all parties to sign the contract. That meant the process could take several days and didn't occur in real time, as it can online.

Although IBM is positioning the software for use by small and midsize businesses, Contracts OnLine is suitable "for any size business," Lasser said, with the application capable of handling the demands of complex multiparty contracts and simpler, two-party deals.

So far the software is limited to use by U.S.-based operations doing business with IBM, whether purchasing the vendor's technology or signing up for lease or loan contracts from IBM Credit. IBM intends next year to expand Contracts OnLine to its business partners and customers outside the United States. "As we look to extend it out, we're exploring different legal options," Lasser said.

IBM also is considering other uses for the contract technology, and potentially will make it available to companies that are not IBM customers or business partners, Lasser said.

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