​What happens when a decentralized global company commits to a single legal vision? A CLM transformation, one contract at a time.

CASE STUDY – CONTRACT MANAGEMENTC

Hike to the top: How a global outdoor and sports retailer brought contract management together

​What happens when a decentralized global company commits to a single legal vision? A CLM transformation, one contract at a time.

Ottakringer Getränke AG

AT A GLANCE

Challenges

  • Significant financial losses due to missed contract termination deadlines and automatic renewals.
  • Limited visibility over approval workflows, occasionally resulting in contracts being signed by unauthorized individuals.
  • Few standardized contract templates in place; practices varied widely across subsidiaries.
  • Fragmented or non-existent contract management tools, depending on each subsidiary’s legal team capacity.

Results

  • An estimated €1M+ in financial savings, thanks to proactive alerts preventing unwanted contract renewals.
  • No more unauthorized signings, with full visibility and control over the entire contract lifecycle.
  • Over 250 contract templates created since the CLM rollout, bringing structure and consistency to all subsidiaries.
  • A complete transformation in contract management practices across the organization, particularly benefiting teams with limited legal resources.

Products Used

Contract Management

INTRODUCTION

While some organizations thrive on decentralized processes, others find strength in centralization. For this global sporting and outdoor goods retailer, with operations in over 50 countries, the lack of a unified contract management system was becoming unsustainable. Some subsidiaries had their own CLM tools, others had none at all, resulting in a fragmented landscape with no single source of truth.

In 2021, the company’s Legal Director initiated a pivotal shift. The ultimate goal was to bring harmony to contract management across every region and subsidiary. Regardless of local resources or legal team size, all teams would have structured rules to follow and reliable tools to support their work.

THE CHALLENGE

Lost in contracts, time-zones, locations and dates

What looked like local flexibility quickly turned into a legal maze as the company expanded. Without a centralized platform, higher management had little to no visibility into contractual obligations unless they manually requested information from local teams. It was inefficient, inconsistent, and increasingly risky. Each country followed its own approach, using different tools and processes. This made oversight nearly impossible for the legal department. Cross-border collaboration was difficult, and there was no consistency in how contracts were created, approved, or stored.

Key challenges included:

  • An uneven distribution of contract management tools across 50 countries, with some regions lacking any CLM or automation throughout the contract lifecycle.
  • A multinational transformation project involving complex change management and education challenges.
  • Inability to track legal KPIs or consolidate insights across regions, making decision-making harder and increasing compliance risks.
  • An estimated loss of millions of euros due to missed contract renewals.
  • Fragmented or non-existent contract management solutions, often depending on the maturity of each subsidiary’s legal team.

Ultimately, the company wanted a unified view of its contract portfolio, to get rid of fragmented tools and inconsistent practices. When the organization decided to verticalize its contract management model, their centralized era began.

THE SOLUTION

One unified platform for their legal teams

DiliTrust was chosen after a tender process to become the one and only contract management tool for all 50 countries. Because of the scope of the project the implementation took place gradually, region by region and with intermittent support from DiliTrust. The platform stood out not only for its functional capabilities, but also for its ability to support a global, scalable deployment while remaining adaptable to local needs. Furthermore, the project leads appreciated the localized support provided before, during and after the deployment. Following implementation, the legal teams began achieving greater visibility and control over:

Automatic alerts flagging contract renewal risks and preventing unauthorized signatures.

A core set of contract fields defined by HQ, allowing local teams up to 20% flexibility to add region-specific data.

Centralized contract storage, ensuring consistent data collection across all regions.

A unified view over the entire contract portfolio.

Focus on the implementation, a unique case: Contrarily to some organizations, this sports and outdoor retailer possesed strong digital knowledge, so much so that the company was able to lead a big part of the implementation plan. DiliTrust provided an initial set-up workshop that the company was able to capitalize on for the deployment in other structures.

THE RESULTS

One platform supporting end-to-end legal oversight

As the CLM rollout progressed, starting in France, expanding through Italy, and gradually covering Europe, each region began to see tangible results. Teams that had previously lacked tools or visibility were now operating with clear rules, shared templates, and centralized data. Among the main results we can see:

  • Low risk contracts went from days to just hours to get signed off, freeing operational resources for higher risk tasks
  • From thousands of financial losses to €1M+ in cost avoidance annually thanks to no more unauthorized signatures or missed validations
  • Unified contract data and performance metrics the legal team can confidently operate with
  • ​A central contract summary sheet was created with 80% standardized fields, allowing 20% flexibility for local needs
  • Compliance wins, with regulatory deadlines (including distributor contracts) met on time

​Overall, more than a functional shift, the entire contract management culture of the organization changed. Little by little users have gained confidence in the tool and satisfaction grew as the platform proved its value region after region. Thanks to this progressive success, the company is now preparing for the final wave of deployment in the remaining countries and ultimately opening access for an additional five thousand users across the globe.

DiliTrust has provided a level of control that was much needed, without compromising regional priorities.

– Legal Director

You’ve seen how DiliTrust helped a global sports and outdoor retailer move from decentralized and scattered contracts to one organized system. Discover how we can help your organization do the same.

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