Ironclad

Score8.2 out of 10

21 Reviews and Ratings

What is Ironclad?

Ironclad, from the company of the same name in San Francisco, is designed to streamline every part of the contract process—so users can focus on legal work, not paperwork.

Categories & Use Cases

Contract Management

Contract templates
Allows users to set up templates or templatize old contracts in order to make new contract creation easier and more consistent.
Category average: 8.5
Contract sharing
Users can easily and securely share contracts with internal users and external users. Contracts are accessible.
Category average: 8.2
Contract editing
Contracts can go through multiple drafts and revisions; the software supports multiple versions and version comparison.
Category average: 8.7

Guided logic
Automated questions (based on company policies and the circumstances of the deal) help with the contract authoring process; this is an example of partial automation.
Category average: 7.1
Contract milestone reminders & alerts
Users can schedule reminders and/or trigger alerts according to contract milestones.
Category average: 8.1
Compliance check
Users can define and enforce complex business rules related to compliance regulations; helps automate or partially automate contract compliance check.
Category average: 7.8

Verified User

Account Manager in Sales (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Ironclad to create 'order forms' to be signed by customers to initiate service. We use them for drafts/early stage quotes, and final agreements. We have it integrated with SFDC. In my previous organization we used it only as a reflection of special pricing/discounting for occasions when customers didn't just get sticker price- there were no 'contracts.'

Pros

provides a simple interface for setting up templates
through templates, makes form-filling and creation easy
tracks approvals, signatures, and view activity

Cons

I often receive email notifications that my agreements have been 'signed' or 'completed' when really they have just been updated or refreshed.
This is probably an integration setting, but I dislike that I have to make updates in SFDC to sync to Ironclad. I wish I could make edits on the Ironclad side.
I don't think the way they show the trail/path/history of approval/next-steps is very clear or intuitive. I'm often confused about what step I'm on.

Return on Investment

At Gusto, where we operated on no contracts for many years, Ironclad allowed us to create a very simple process for getting approval for, and keeping records of, customized pricing on our new, high-end plan.
Wasn't part of the buying committee, but in my current role it's been heavily utilized externally for customer contracts, but also internally for employee agreements.
I don't have any actual numbers, and don't have a way to compare it to any prior e-signature setup.

Usability

Other Software Used

Lattice, Navan, ChatGPT, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Pocus

Verified User

Executive in Legal (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Ironclad is our contract management system and single source of truth for what contracts we have. We use it for customer contracts, vendor contracts and employment agreements.

Pros

Easy to upload
Easy to search
Family tree is very useful

Cons

Interface is suboptimal
It has to be easier to set up new documents and fields. I had to hire a consultant to do the work because it's simply not easy or intuitive
AI capability is suboptimal. Often, suggested text has nothing to do with the topic being indexed

Return on Investment

Version control, which was a problem, no longer is
Easy to collaborate internally and with counterparties
Upload is easy

Usability

Alternatives Considered

LinkSquares

Other Software Used

Bamboo, DocuSign, iDeals Virtual Data Rooms, Carta, Sequoia One, Xero

HIROYUKI TOMOMASA

Senior System Architect in Professional Services at JBS USA (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The scope was digitalizing contracting processes

from initiation through review, approval, execution, and renewal/expiry to streamline the contracting processes, eliminate the inefficiency of email-based communication and visualize all contract process status. Users can optimize the contracting

process and also can limit an organization’s exposure to risk by reducing

missed obligations and increasing compliance with contractual requirements.

Pros

Very flexible workflow design tool.
Functions are fine-tuned but not too much.
Easily understandable product which user can handle.

Cons

Contract link feature in the case of amendment/addendum.
Auto document retention feature (expiration and deletion).

Return on Investment

Increased employee efficiency.
Easily supervised contract application status.
Easily managed active/inactive contracts.

Alternatives Considered

DocuSign CLM (formerly SpringCM)

Usability

Verified User

Account Manager (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use IronClad in our organization for every legal document, contract or agreement we sign with our partners. IronClad allows us to create workflows for each agreement where we keep track of all the comments and requests made by all the stakeholders or cross functional teams that are required to approve the legal language included in the document.

Pros

Keep track of legal documents versions
Approve legal workflows
Forward email threads to the legal workflow

Cons

The title given to each workflow is assigned automatically and this can be confusing
The user interface could be improved to better differentiate internal and external workflows
The workflow email could be more easily accessible, e.g. provide a copy workflow email button

Return on Investment

Faster turnaround for legal agreements
Accountability on legal collaborators
Faster approval process

Alternatives Considered

Salesforce Lightning Platform (formerly Salesforce App Cloud), Advanced ALB Legal Software and DocuSign

Other Software Used

DocuSign, BetterWorks, Workhuman (formerly Globoforce)

Usability

Verified User

Manager in Legal (501-1000 employees employees)

Pros

Ironclad is extremely easy to use, without providing much specific direction to new users.
It's wonderful to be able to capture the progress of contracts and requests as well as the notes regarding the status.
It's easy to tag another colleague into a workflow for their input and approvals as necessary.

Cons

Once you add someone into a workflow there is no way to remove them. It would be nice to be able to get out of a workflow or remove someone.
The "assignment" function could be more clear for those individuals who don't regularly use Ironclad. Perhaps prompting them on how to upload a signed agreement if they are not the owner of the workflow.

Return on Investment

Positive - Increased efficiency, as all work into the legal department flows into Ironclad. We can see where resources are being spent and which internal business partners are utilizing the legal department the most.
Positing - Better internal business partner service. We are able to communicate directly with our internal partners as to the status of their request and keep them apprised where we are in the negotiation process, etc.