Innovation isn’t just about creating something new; it’s about realizing and addressing a business professional’s needs before anyone else does and then crafting a solution. It’s about identifying a problem that people didn’t even know they had and building the tool to solve it. This has remained the vision of CobbleStone Software’s CEO, Mark Nastasi, while embedding innovation into the business, especially with the creation of contract management software. Since its foundation, this forward-thinking approach has remained at the core of CobbleStone’s culture. Today, the company is a game-changer among AIpowered contract lifecycle management (CLM) and e-procurement software providers.
The Foundational History
In 1995, when the world was not even aware of contract automation, Mark observed the chaos of manual contract management— the missed deadlines, lost documents, and unmitigated risks. Amidst this chaos, he witnessed a client miss out on a contract deadline and had to pay a hefty amount as a result. This situation inspired Mark to set about conceptualizing a way to centralize and automate this process. At the time, many people didn’t see the need, but his foresight laid the foundation for the entire industry.
CobbleStone Software’s flagship product, CobbleStone Contract Insight®, is an AI-powered platform that has helped organizations across varied industries better manage their contracts for over three decades. “In a nutshell, we help our clients centralize their contracts, automate their processes, and gain control and visibility over their agreements from start to finish,” said Mark.
Innovation in Delivering Top-Notch Solutions
CobbleStone exemplifies innovation in its service delivery, and its VISDOM® AI Helper for Microsoft Word is one great example. Legal and procurement professionals spend a huge amount of time in Word, so the company has created this seamless integration that brings the power of its platform into their familiar environment. This plugin transforms a user’s daily workflow by offering AI-based summarization of contract details in seconds, proactively flagging risks and inconsistencies in the Alerts tab, performing automated document review to ensure quality and completeness, and enabling easy management and clause swapping from a centralized, pre-approved library.
Solutions that Simplify
CobbleStone’s main solution is the CobbleStone Contract Insight platform, a comprehensive and end-to-end contract and procurement management system. It comes in three editions—Enterprise, Express, and Workgroup—depending on the organization’s size and deployment needs. From drafting and redlining to approvals and eSignatures, the system streamlines the entire contract process. The company also helps organizations control expenditure and improve efficiency by simplifying requisition, bid management, and purchase orders in e-procurement. It further offers tools to manage vendor relationships, track performance, and ensure compliance. All of these solutions are highly configurable. Thus, they can be tailored to organizational needs without expensive customization.
AI: Simplifying Contract Management
CobbleStone stands at the forefront of using AI in contract management with its proprietary AI engine, VISDOM® AI. The company has now taken this a step further with VISDOM+, the next-level generative AI engine built on OpenAI technology. VISDOM+ addresses the traditionally slow contract processes through powerful generative capabilities. Here’s how VISDOM+ makes contract management faster, more accurate, and more confident:
- AI Assist Chatbot: In addition to answering system-related questions, the chatbot supports drafting clauses and asking complex questions about applicable laws and regulations, such as GDPR and OFAC.
- Automated Document Analysis: VISDOM+ amplifies the drag-and-drop functionality of a new contract by highlighting High-Risk Findings.
- Sentiment Analysis: One can view a list of clauses from the perspective of either one’s company or the counterparty. VISDOM then identifies positive, neutral, or negative clauses, offering proactive governance over contract language.
- Data Consistency: The system identifies “Possible System Additions,” showing clauses and data from the uploaded contract that weren’t found in the system.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
The company sees its award-winning customer service, implementation, and training as its greatest differentiator. “We believe that a powerful software solution is only as good as the support behind it. That’s why we’ve built a client-centric approach that has earned us a 96% customer satisfaction rating,” proudly shared Mark. CobbleStone has a dedicated team working hand-in-hand with clients from day one. Their customer-centric approach goes beyond, “here’s the software, figure it out;” it’s a partnership. CobbleStone also offers a robust suite of training resources, including comprehensive webinars, on-site sessions, and the user conference every two years. This ensures clients not only adopt the software but also become true masters of it.
The Guiding Stars
CobbleStone lives by three core principles to achieve its mission:
- Client-First Approach: Building a collaborative client relationship based on feedback.
- Continuous Innovation: The team is constantly researching, developing, and deploying new features and enhancements.
- Configurability and Ease-of-Use: The configurable platform makes software adoption easy without needing extensive, costly, and time-consuming professional services. It makes the software more “cost-effective” and “user-friendly,” leading to faster adoption and a better return on investment.
Employee Empowerment
CobbleStone empowers every employee to think like an innovator, to look for new ways to improve, simplify, and automate. The company constantly questions, “What’s next?” This drive not only helps CobbleStone keep up with market trends, but also empowers them to support clients in staying ahead of the curve.
Looking at the Bigger Picture
CobbleStone sees deeper AI integration, enterprise integration, and shifted focus on ESG and sustainability as the three major future trends of the industry. It aspires to not just participate in this future but to lead it. The company is committed to expanding its API integrations for seamless data flow. It aims to position itself as the go-to solution for intelligent, connected, and responsible contract and procurement management.
Brief Bio of Mark Nastasi, CEO, CobbleStone
Mark Nastasi leads CobbleStone Software as CEO with over 30 years of industry experience. In 1995, he introduced CMTS, the first commercial contract software. He has helped general counsels, paralegals, lawyers, and other legal professionals improve contract management. Reach Mark by email at: mnastasi@cobblestonesoftware.com
