Let’s be honest – contract management isn’t the most exciting part of IT. It’s not shiny. It’s not fast. And no one’s winning innovation awards for knowing when a renewal is due. But when contract management is missing, things fall apart quietly. I’ve seen teams scramble when:
- A critical support contract expired without warning
- A supplier refused to fix an issue because it was “out of scope”
- A renewal was auto-triggered with a big price hike – and no time to negotiate
In most of those cases, the real problem was not the vendor. It was that nobody owned the contract.
This shouldn’t be just procurement’s job
Procurement helps negotiate and sign contracts – and they are brilliant at it. But once the deal is done, it’s the IT team that has to live with what IS in (and NOT in) that contract.
So, it makes sense that IT has to stay close to:
- What is covered and what is not
- Who is responsible for what
- When contracts are due for renewal
- How services align with the business’s actual needs
How this helps IT day-to-day
When IT has visibility over contracts, we get to:
- Plan budgets more accurately
- Avoid last-minute renewals and rushed decisions
- Spot when vendor services are not matching the agreed scope
- Start conversations early about what needs to change
It also helps when we are dealing with SLAs and underpinning contracts. If you don’t know what is promised to you, it’s hard to promise anything to your users.
ITSM tools can help (a lot)
Modern service management tools are not just for tickets and incident logs. You can use them to:
- Track contract dates, owners, and terms
- Set reminders and automated workflows
- Link contracts to service assets or vendors
- Tie contracts to performance data and SLAs
That means contracts become part of daily operations – not buried somewhere in SharePoint or someone’s inbox.
Conclusion
If you’ve ever been surprised by a renewal, confused by what a vendor should (or shouldn’t) be doing, or stuck trying to budget without knowing when a contract ends – you’re not alone.
Contract management is not just paperwork. It’s visibility, control, and forward planning. And it belongs right at the heart of IT.
At JTT IT Ltd., we help organisations bring contract awareness into their operations – so nothing important slips through the cracks.
