Follett Learning + Concord

“The best part about Concord is it’s so flexible.”
– Sarah Eisenhauer, Director of Bids, Proposals, and Pricing at Follett Learning
Challenge
Decentralized processes reduced visibility
Follett Learning, a large educational materials supplier, faced significant challenges managing its high volume of agreements. Their decentralized, manual contract processes hindered efficiency and created a lack of visibility into contract data. Locating specific agreements, tracking key terms, and managing access controls were time-consuming and cumbersome.
This lack of control and visibility impacted Follett’s ability to respond quickly to customer needs, manage risk effectively, and maintain accurate financial records. The time spent searching for contracts, correcting errors, and managing inconsistent versions represented a significant drain on resources and hindered operational efficiency.
Solution
Streamlined workflows for granular control
Follett Learning adopted Concord for its flexibility and powerful features. Concord’s subsidiary functionality allows Follett to manage contracts across different departments – sales, marketing, procurement, and so on – while maintaining centralized oversight and standardized templates. “I am the admin, so I set up the subsidiaries for our company,” explains Sarah Eisenhauer, Director of Bids, Proposals, and Pricing.
This structure empowers individual departments to manage their own contract workflows while adhering to company-wide standards and access controls. The implementation of a clear folder structure and robust tagging system further enhanced organization and searchability, allowing teams to quickly locate and access specific agreements.
Because Follett Learning creates highly customized contracts, the team primarily creates agreements outside of Concord, then uses the platform for secure storage, efficient tracking, and streamlined collaboration. “The best part about Concord is it’s so flexible. So we didn't have to go through a huge change in process,” says Eisenhauer. This hybrid approach highlights Concord's adaptability to existing workflows.
"The best part about Concord is it’s so flexible. So we didn't have to go through a huge change in process."– Sarah Eisenhauer, Director of Bids, Proposals, and Pricing at Follett Learning
Results
Improved collaboration and faster responses
Concord has measurably improved Follett Learning's contract management processes. The centralized repository provides a single source of truth for all agreements, eliminating the need to search through scattered emails and shared drives. This improved visibility has enabled Follett to identify and mitigate potential risks more effectively, monitor compliance more efficiently, and gain valuable insights into contract performance.
Flexible access controls and subsidiaries empower individual departments while maintaining company-wide consistency, which is “super important for us,” Eisenhauer emphasizes. Streamlined workflows and automated processes have reduced the administrative burden on teams, freeing up time for more strategic activities.
Specifically, Follett has seen a significant reduction in contract processing time, as well as a huge decrease in contract-related errors. This increased efficiency and improved data accuracy are contributing to a more streamlined and cost-effective operation.
Auto-extract key terms from your contracts, with Concord's AI.