In today’s fast-paced business world, time really is money—especially when it comes to contract management. Yet, despite advances in digital tools, contracting processes remain notoriously slow, clunky, and inconsistent. That’s where “30-Second Contracting” comes in.
Coined and championed by the team at Contracts 365, the 30-second contracting philosophy is simple but powerful: any essential contract management task—whether it’s initiating a request, finding a document, or approving a workflow—should take 30 seconds or less.
This isn’t just a catchy slogan. It’s a benchmark. A goal. A North Star that organizations can use to evaluate user experience (UX), optimize business processes, and ultimately, extract more value from their contract lifecycle management (CLM) systems. In this post, we’ll dive into the philosophy behind 30-second contracting, the real-world use cases that make it so critical, and how organizations can make this bold vision a reality.
When Contracts 365 first began developing this concept, they went to the source: users. “How can we make your contracting life better?” they asked. The answer was consistent across industries and roles:
But speed and simplicity mean different things depending on who you are. For legal professionals, faster might mean fewer redlines. For sales teams, it’s instant access to contract templates and approvals. For executives, it’s dashboards with zero friction.
So, the Contracts 365 team asked a bold question: Is 30 seconds a realistic target for key contracting tasks? As they tested and refined the idea, the answer turned out to be yes—more often than you’d think.
Does reducing a process from five minutes to 30 seconds really impact the bottom line?
The reality is, even small savings compound quickly across organizations. Contracts 365 points to industry research showing that poor contract management results in revenue losses of up to 8.6%—or more conservatively, at least 1% annually.
For a company with $10 million in annual revenue, that’s $100,000 in losses each year. Tack on additional stats—like the average time to get a contract approved (3.4 weeks), or the fact that contracting can consume 18% of the sales cycle—and it’s clear: streamlining these processes can dramatically improve efficiency, reduce risk, and unlock revenue.
But here’s the catch: many organizations don’t have solid KPIs to measure the ROI of their contract management systems. That’s why the 30-second rule is so valuable. Even in the absence of formal ROI studies, it provides a tangible, easy-to-understand performance standard.
While not every task can be squeezed into half a minute—especially highly complex or strategic work—a surprising number can. Here are the top five use cases Contracts 365 sees most frequently:
Initiating a Contract Request
This task should be as simple as selecting a contract type, filling in a brief description, and choosing a counterparty. With default behaviors and integrations, it’s not just possible—it’s expected (see video).
Finding a Trustworthy Contract
Not just any version, but the golden copy. Within 30 seconds, users should be able to locate the right document without guesswork or multiple emails. (see video).
Checking Contract Status
Business users shouldn’t have to call Legal. Self-service dashboards and notifications should answer, “What’s the status?” in seconds (see video).
Approving a Contract Task
Whether on a mobile device or desktop, approvals should be quick, clear, and traceable (see video).
Initiating a Request from Another System (CRM, ERP)
Users working in Dynamics 365, Salesforce, SAP, or other systems shouldn’t have to jump between tools. Contextual actions should trigger the contract process natively—again, in 30 seconds or less (see video).
In addition to the “big five,” there’s a long tail of less obvious but equally powerful use cases that can benefit from 30-second contracting:
All of these are tasks that don’t require heavy legal review—but they do require speed and accuracy.
The secret weapon in this philosophy? Default behavior. At its core, default behavior is about eliminating redundancy and manual input wherever possible. Contracts 365 outlines three key dimensions:
User-Specific Defaults
When a user logs in, the system should know their role, department, legal entity, and region—and pre-fill forms accordingly.
Value-Based Defaults
Selecting a contract type (e.g., NDA vs. MSA) should automatically populate related terms like duration, payment terms, notification periods, and approval routes.
Contextual Defaults
If the request is coming from a CRM or ERP, relevant opportunity or vendor data should be pre-filled without extra clicks.
By using sources like Microsoft Entra ID or syncing with HR and CRM systems, CLM platforms can drastically reduce data entry burdens—and drastically improve user satisfaction.
Not everyone is a CLM expert—and they shouldn’t have to be. That’s where intuitive forms and partial form entry come in.
If a business user doesn’t necessarily know which fields to fill out, they should still be able to start the process. By allowing partial form entries, the system can initiate a workflow with minimal input from the business user, and the contract professional can complete the rest at a later point. This keeps the process moving and removes one of the biggest blockers: hesitation or confusion.
But why not take it one step further? Contracts 365 is designed to help guide business users through the form completion process. As they enter contract information, the next relevant field appears based on the context and the system’s embedded logic. This wizard-like “slow reveal” process—or what software designers call “progressive information disclosure”—helps guide users and makes it much easier for someone to complete forms quickly, and with a high degree of accuracy.
Contracts 365 makes a compelling point: many essential contracting activities don’t happen inside the CLM tool at all.
Sales teams live in CRM. Finance teams live in ERP. Property managers have industry-specific platforms. The CLM system must be seamlessly embedded in those environments, allowing users to:
So how does Contracts 365 support all this? At its core, Contracts 365 is purpose-built for Microsoft 365 customers. Its hybrid cloud architecture means:
Key features include:
And, critically, the user experience is designed from the ground up around the 30-second imperative.
Finally, if you’re wondering how to measure the success of a 30-second contracting initiative, Contracts 365 recommends starting small. Time-and-motion studies don’t need to be massive undertakings. Focus on your top five tasks. Gather user feedback. Measure form completion times before and after default behavior is implemented.
It doesn’t take long to see results—and once you do, the cultural shift starts to happen. People stop bypassing the contract management system. Business users stop complaining. And everyone saves time.
30-second contracting isn’t a gimmick—it’s a strategic design principle that drives adoption, reduces risk, and delivers real ROI. Whether you're implementing a new CLM system or optimizing an existing one, using “30 seconds or less” as your benchmark is a smart, simple way to focus your efforts.
Because in contract management, every second counts.
Watch the webinar replay or request a personalized demo at contracts365.com.