How to Overcome Covid Supply Chain Challenges - Rod Wade

Made with speech-to-text software, so a few words may be off.

0:00Welcome to another episode of Contract Heroes, the show where our guests, and sometimes us, provide best practice recommendations on all things related to contract management. Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Contract Heroes, where we're not the heroes, our guests are. Today we've got Rod Wade on the show. Before we dive into the topics that we're gonna be covering today, which are, uh, something that we're all facing at this point in time, I wanna flip things over to Rod and have him give you a quick introduction on, uh, what he's working on right now and, uh, a little bit of his, uh, past. So Rod, thanks for joining us. Well, thank you very much, Marc. It's so wonderful to be here and, um, share with you. So, um, I am as of September 2021 entering my 30th year in the healthcare contracting space.

1:01I started with a full service health plan back in the 1990s, and have worked in complementary care, and now I find myself in the pharmacy benefit space. So really working on core pharmacy programs. Uh, my responsibilities as vice president contracts for MedImpact Healthcare Systems are the sales side or client contracts, uh, our pharmacy contracts with the distributors, you know, who distribute the drugs to our members, and the, uh, supply, uh, vendor side, so contractors and vendors, uh, supporting our organization. Uh, that's true for, uh, MedImpact, as well as our wholly owned, uh, subsidiaries and affiliates as well. It's both, uh, local, domestic, and some international markets that we support as well. So, um, right now, and I think topical as you mentioned, Marc, for us, is, uh, the distribution through the supply chain of, uh, vaccines for COVID-19. Right. Um, obviously we've been in this space since the beginning of the year when the vaccines first hit the market, starting with Pfizer, and then quickly Moderna, and then Johnson & Johnson in the US market.

2:02And, uh, and then also, uh, testing, you know, which is delivered through our pharmacy. So primarily in the supply chain, we're working through pharmacies, uh, and, uh, facilitating the ability for, uh, members of our customers, uh, to get those vaccines and to, uh, uh, to have testing done in those pharmacy settings. Great. So Rod, we'd like to kick off this, these interviews talking about why the contracting process of every organization needs attention, but I think, uh, where are we going to focus our interview right now, it's, uh, I think it's, it's, uh, very important, especially right now, and it's, uh, on the disruption on supply chains. And you being the VP of contract management of a healthcare company, I think you've s- you're dealing with unprecedented disruption of the supply chains. So let's start by can you give us some of your experience on, on how contract management is, is, is critical for dealing with all the different elements that are included inside the contracting process on, on the, on the healthcare industry?

3:11Yeah, absolutely, Pepe. It's a, it's a great question, and I, I won't go into too much detail at the front end, but as we all know, entering the pandemic, we had a significant initial impact on supply chains. So from our perspective, that was really in the technology space, right? So our ability to go remote with, uh, 1,500 employees. Uh, we did have a significant number, 300 to 400 already in a remote environment due to a distributed sales force and account teams, but we had to put over 1,000 people in a remote workspace. Well, everyone was doing that at the same time, so things like, uh, laptops and peripherals were in high demand, and you found that your supply chain through the main providers, right, the Dells and the Amazons of the world, were significantly it. What do you do? Well, our team, especially on the supply side, was able to work with our internal requesters, mostly in the IT department, to leverage local, smaller suppliers, right? So the investment we put into those relationships in our local markets allowed us to procure the tools we needed to be able to move into a remote environment and do so fairly easily. Um, just a quick side shoot.

4:18One of the things we had signed six months before the pan- Two things, actually. One was DocuSign. Okay. We went in with, uh, electron- Thank goodness we did that in, in mid '19. And the other was we got, we were closing one of our facilities and moving into an owned facility, a leased facility closing, and we had done a, a deal with a vendor to repurpose office furniture. And we did that in 2019. And when we, when we closed that facility and moved people out, we finished the lease in March of 2020, right as the pandemic hit, and by the summer, we, we, we used that, uh, that contract with that repurposer. And they told us at that point, "You cannot get this contract anymore. There is nobody out there who's buying back office furniture because we may not have offices anymore," right? So, so some of those things hit us from a supply chain. There was some luck involved in that, but really planning and how are we going to get into that.

5:12Then moving into the supply chain work with our pharmacy partners in how to work first with testing as we awaited the vaccine development. How are we going to f- uh, to s- to work with our, our pharmacy chains and, uh, help support them? They would get those supplies through their wholesalers in our markets, right? They would work that. But our ability to be able to push members for testing through there was twofold. One, those really started out of what you might re- recall the super centers, right? The super sites- Right... for, uh, for testing, uh, to get testing done. That's one area. We would, we would look to s- to work with our pharmacies, especially the large chains, when they had their supplies, to be able to push members in there for testing initially. And, uh, and then work with them, you know? Because if we need to redirect members because one area doesn't have it, another does, we've got to be able to be flexible and work with our internal partners who have the relationships with the pharmacies to help direct our members accordingly.

6:10So a lot of pressure there while we were dealing with some of the infrastructure pressures of our own business. Um, we're fortunate that, uh, you know, being mostly a service organization, we didn't have a lot of good dependency other than the IT, uh, components I mentioned. So we did- Right... not get from a supply disruption on that side, on the good side. On the services side, we did have some challenges making sure that those who supported our business were still functioning. So it really was working with our internal relationship owners to reach out. Are they going to invoke a force majeure clause, a supplier, right? And what do we respond to my team in contracts working with legal to help manage that. Uh, we had vendors. We had lots of things. We had conferences set up, client conferences where we had to work with the hotels and things like that. So, so all of that came to bear from a contract perspective, supporting the organization, identifying suppliers out there in the market that we could use, and then supporting the engagement between them contractually to either resolve existing contractual issues or establish new contractual terms in order to avail those services that we needed.

7:13So all of that came as a head like it did for so many others in our, in our business, uh, and, you know, in that March to, um, fall, kind of March to August, September of 2020. And then from there, we started to shift into preparation for vaccine distribution as those started to go through the process of approval. Right. I mean, there's a lot of things that you have to take into consideration before going to technology, right? I think that was, well, I, I wouldn't say easy because this was of, of course, a challenge, especially when now you're dealing with millions and millions every day of products that, that you have to move around the, the country. But I'm just thinking about the companies that didn't have a contract management process in place when all of this start working. I think that will be like a great challenge. But let's think about this hypothetical question, right? What would you say if a company would like to start implementing a good contract management process?

8:10Can you try to explain what are the processes that needs to be in place before people start looking for technology in order to automate those processes? Yeah, it's, it's a great question, Pepe. This is critical. And I, you know, I have the, a fortune of working both the, uh, the sales side and buy side, right? Right. So I've got both sides. So I'll kind of walk you through. The, the processes are very similar. The constituents are a little different, right, in terms of what you're dealing with. But, uh, but first things, I would say this: um, my team, I was not in that bind of having to go find laptops. All of my team members were issued laptops years ago because I recognized two things. One, flexibility for their work. Right. Right? We're in a high demand. We've got things that are due. They, they come up, you know, weekends, holidays, it doesn't matter. Uh, they can be critically time-bound. So I have always... And then, uh, I lived through two major fires here in San Diego. Uh, and so I've done that.

9:07Uh, we're in earthquake territory, so emergency preparedness is critical, and that served our team well because we were all outfitted with laptops and peripherals, and we had some people already working remote locally, um, part of their, their works- their work schedules. So preparation, right? Right. So there's first preparation. Do you have the technology that needs to support what you do? Now process, what are your inputs gonna be? How are you going to get the information on the sales side through your sales team and through your proposal unit, uh, to create that contract for a new sale? And then beyond that, how are you going to work with your account teams for existing clients through the client life cycle management of that contract to amend, to renew, to do those things you need to do? So you need process in place. We use a combination of a customer relational management tool, right? So we have our CRM tool that documents the details of a sale, so we have that information, the account name, all the good stuff that goes into creating that contract. We have a process for delivering that.

10:03We have a process for creating those contracts and storing them within our tool in terms of, um, contract repository. And when executed, we have that out on the client side in what we assign to what we call account contracts. And so we list those contracts out because we have a number of account executives who manage different accounts, right, in the portfolio. So we manage that through access to those contracts as well. Um, so you have to have that input. Right. You have to have a team then that's ready to be able to engage with that salesperson with their internal constituents through the negotiation process, and you have to have tools to track that through your, um, through your, uh, contract, uh, exchange redlines. So we are not as fully evolved on that piece. We're really focused more on the ability to, uh, work on reporting out of those contracts at the back end. On the supply side, you have to have a procurement process. Right. You have to have a sourcing process. You have to look at what the need of the organization is and work with your internal stakeholders to determine what that is.

11:02You have to be able to issue those bids, issue those proposals, those RFXs out to the market to procure what you need. You then need to do the validation, validating vendors. So it takes a lot of time. You have to have the forms in place and the tools in place. So we use an ERP system, uh, where we catalog that. We look at things today like, uh, diverse suppliers, uh, small businesses, women and minority-owned, right? So we are trying to capture that information as well as we go through this, uh, to respond to the needs of our front-end customers who may be, uh, government agencies who require these types of engagements. So you have to link those two together, and I think that's part of why our organization looked at our unit as holistically, right? That it's good to have the sell side and buy side combined so that we have that continuity through there. But again, so you've got a combination of a CRM CLM, ERP, right? On that continuum that I'm describing. So as you think about process, think about how are you gonna get those inputs, from whom, build those relationships, 'cause they're critical to getting information quickly and being able to resolve issues.

12:04What is your role? Establish your role in terms of negotiating with clients and with vendors. Are you going to be responsible for pricing? Our team is not really responsible for pricing, but we're responsible for all terms and conditions in that contract, so we have to work with underwriters on the sales side and the business relationship owners from the budgetary and spend side on the, on the other side. So establish those relationships. And then codify it. Pepe, you gotta have policies and procedures in place. You've got to take that, and this is the part that nobody likes. Listen, hey. Right. You know, nobody likes putting down a P&P on what you're gonna do, but you really do need to establish that once you have agreement. Codify it, right? Put it in place. And then make it available. So we use our intranet for our company-wide, where we have pages for both our contract team and our procurement teams, and in there you can find the policies and you can find the process flows. You can find videos on how to set up a purchase rec, on how to do all these things. Work with the tool, right? So we, we do that as well. So I think all of those things are critical from a process perspective.

13:04Engage, have the right tools in place, establish the relationships, document the process, ex- and then make that, add that documentation and that ease of access to the process available to all of your, uh, your internal customers. So that's really kind of the keys from a high level perspective. It's very basic, but it does take a lot of work, you know, to put that in place. Yeah, and, and Ron, I mean, I think it, it always helps to, uh, you know, be able to have some of these processes in place, you know, before people were going remote and, and things definitely changed. But I, I mean, my question is, have you noticed a strain on anything in particular that maybe wasn't such an issue before going remote? Any, any things that you've noticed that have kind of been an issue since having people out of the office? Yeah. I th- I think, you know, if I had to say, Marc, I would say that you do miss that, um, that engagement, that face-to-face engagement, right? So- Right...

14:01um, it's, i- it's, it's hard to say that it's putting a strain on it, right? Because through, uh, electronic connectivity, whether it's the medium we're in right now, Zoom, WebEx, uh, phone calls, uh, email, um, you know, you have access to your, uh, your teams and those you work with to get answers quickly, right? Um, however, there's something that happens in that face-to-face engagement. So physically where I sit, we have the contract group here. My procurement group is in a, in a different area. They're aligned with the accounting team, the accounts payable, accounts receivable groups, physically when they're here. Um, and so I have brought back one of my buyers in the, uh, procurement team to be in the office some day, you know, a few days a week to engage with AP, accounts payable, to manage that engagement face-to-face and to facilitate things. Um, but you miss that kind of collective resolution, you know, on the spot, right? So where I have, where we sit, we also sit with, uh, in contracts with legal. So our in-house counsel, all gone.

15:01You know, and they're dispersed. Right. They're local, they're up in LA, they're back in New York, right? So they've, they've moved. Um, so you have to put in that extra effort, Marc, to reach out and connect to people. Um, and uh, so you do miss that in engagement and collaboratively, and that includes your internal customers. So within us, within the buildings we're in here, you can quickly get to somebody physically. You can be in meetings. I think the one piece, I think that's a little bit challenging than what I just mentioned is strategy, right? So strategic discussions are being done on conference calls and WebExes and Zoom meetings, and that's okay. But I think the, the ability to whiteboard and do some of these things, if you're using the technology, you can do it. There's my whiteboard right there. Bit, a little bit, little bit challenging, I think, because I, I think you miss that. And then there is the, the soft piece, right? The dynamic.

15:56And, uh, I am so fortunate that I have a team that, um, works so well together, that enjoys their own company. And so you've missed that human dynamic, and I think that we suffer from a little bit, that people have been on their own and have not been able to have that, that peer-to-peer engagement, uh, that they were so used to. Um, so that's a softer piece of it, but, uh, no less critical, uh, because it does require me as a leader and my team leaders to reach out to the teams to make sure people are doing well, and how are they coping with this environment? So I think we're fortunate that we had a lot of these things, to your point, Marc, in place already pre-pandemic. We'd been working with some remote work, you know, already. We had the tools in place, so the shift wasn't too significant. So I focus more on kind of that softer strategic, the human engagement piece that I think needs, uh, you just can't substitute in a remote environment. Yeah. No, it's great.

16:50I, I think that, um, you know, a lot of organizations out there were facing a similar, similar issues or, or, you know, things that, um, needed to change and, and definitely that soft piece that you're talking about, being able to, to communicate with the team and check in with everybody because you don't have that interaction, that face-to-face, um, you know, those conversations anymore and, and making sure that everybody's doing all right out there. I think that's definitely something that, you know, needs to, needs to be a part of everybody's weekly routine. Um, but, but yeah, it's great to hear that your team is, is, uh, able to still work together, um, well and, uh, and adjust pretty easily to, to, you know, being remote. So that's great. And I, I guess, you know, our next question kind of leading into that is, um, you know, for folks that are, are working remote and, and you know, with all these different systems that you have in place, um, w- what type of metrics are you keeping on the, the data that's being stored in these solutions to- Mm-hmm... to make sure that everything's flowing efficiently? Yeah, it's a, it's a daily process, you know, to monitor. So I have, I mentioned on the sales side the inputs that come through the CRM.

17:49So I, I manage that to see what we've got in the queue, right? So what people are working on. I have two levels of tier. I have kind of the things that are in process and the things that are out there, right? So you have inputs- Right... that you're working on. So the team is working on contract documents of all, all types, uh, on the contract group, right? But they also have contracts that are out there being reviewed by customers, vendors, et cetera, that are out in there. So there, there's two levels of count, right? The count of, of, uh, on desk and the count of total, uh, in process, right? So, so we monitor those through our CRM tool. I do. Um, my, my team leaders do as well. Um, and so we, we have that metric to look at. As a metric measure, we do that. Uh, we look at our outputs. We track regularly, um, closure, right? So closed contracts, specifically on new accounts, we do that on the sales side. Uh, on the procurement side, the vendor side, we do that as well. Um, that one is actually what I would call the model, right?

18:45Because the model on the procurement side is you will issue a purchase req once you have the financial approval within the system. Once that financial approval is done, then you start your contract work. Once that contract is finished and signed, you can issue the purchase order, right? Right. So enforcing that product, uh, process, excuse me, allows you to track every step through your ERP. And then what it allows you to do is efficiently report on where you are with outstanding, you know, um, contracts related to purchase rec to purchase order process. So we measure that on the procurement side. So we have those measures there to see what we've got in the pipe, uh, how many we're processing, you know, on a day- day, daily and weekly average. Then we report out monthly, and then I have some metrics I report to the enterprise on a quarterly basis, those closeouts I mentioned on the client side in particular. And then the tracking of, I mean, kind of these... Th- this is the trick, right, Marc? I would tell you this, is that when you take the widget, right? The widget is a contract that you're tracking, one.

19:45Well, you have one contract, Pepe knows this, you have one contract that will take you eight months to get finished, and it's, it's hundreds of pages and it's complex. And you have an NDA- Eight months at least. And you have an NDA that you're done with in, like, 15 minutes, right? And they're both one widget, right? So the, the real finesse is there, right, Marc? I think the challenge I have is that I have to go deeper than a count. I have to go deeper into the complexity of what those individual, um, uh, uh, widgets count for, those cases, right? So, uh, we, we have to do that as too. So we try to categorize those to look at them and draw some, uh, some inferences about how long we anticipate certain types of document processes taking. That is m- uh, more of a state of art right now, I would tell you that quite honestly, because it's a little bit challenging to quantify. We do it historically, right? I'll look at what our run rates were on certain types of contracts, and we have an experienced staff.

20:43I should have noted that part of our team fortune, the fortune we have with our team, is we have mostly long-term employees within our group, right? So a lot of us have been together for a long time, even before this particular company, right? So a lot of us have relationships going back to prior work experience. So, so we have that ability to, uh, share information about where you are, and I think our team leads have a great grasp of what those levels of complexity are within their team. They have to because they're the ones assigning those, th- those pieces of work out to their groups, right? So, um, so we do that. But the real metrics we do track are numeric, but they are closeouts, they are volume on hand, uh, they are volume in process, and they're volume closed, right? So we do look at that. Right. And I mean, we know that there's a lot of processes, too, and, and, and we just talk about where you...

21:33You just talk about some of the key metrics that you would like to, to keep at hand in order to know when the, when the team is efficient. But let's talk about the processes that you were just talking about. I'm sure that right now there's a lot of companies that are still doing manually a lot of, of the, of the day-to-day transactions. And what about the contract terms? Because I think in the, in the supply chain of every vaccine, there, there should be things like, uh, deliveries, uh, or any anticipated risk. There are some, uh, specific things like I would guess like, um, the, the track- the, the temperature will... that you need to carry all the vaccines so they don't expire. Like, what are the contractual terms that you also would need to keep at hand, or that you think, um, some processes that you think will be useful to automate, and which are the contractual terms that you would like to keep at hand for reporting? Yeah. That's a great question, Pepe.

22:33So what I will start by saying is that one of my, my, uh, senior contract managers within the, uh, procurement side, the, the vendor contracting side, actually has a role as vendor oversight, uh, manager, right? So he runs the subcontractor oversight work group. And I bring that up because one of the critical things in, in our healthcare space are, are privacy considerations and then data protection, right? Right. So privacy is the personal health information, the protection. So, so we have checklists that we run our suppliers through. I mentioned the, um, procurement process with validating vendors. Part of that critical component is what service are they delivering and what does it require in terms of data and in terms of, uh, and in terms of, um, connectivity to our systems, right, in order to facilitate this. So there is a very defined hierarchy of where those vendors fall in that chain of, of what they are. And a lot of it is prescribed by federal programs we participate in, Medicare and Medicaid.

23:37Uh, so there are a certain protections that you have to have. And the closeout where you're going logically, Pepe, is when those government and other agencies and customers come in and audit you And when they audit you, they're looking at your contracts with your pharmacies and your contracts with your vendors, and they are looking for the terms you're talking about. They're looking for privacy protections. They're looking for, uh, a cyber and, uh, s- uh, system, uh, security requirements. Right. They're looking for, um, the ability for oversight, audit, and flow down of audit rights. They are looking for... And this is specific to our industry, right? So y- you, this is where we're going. So that team uses, focusing on the supply side, it's, it's similar on the, the client side, but on the supply side, we work from our standard master service agreement statement of work terms and conditions, right? So we, the, the thing, and this may be true for many practitioners out there, when you're working on the supply side, oftentimes the supplier is providing you with their paper, right? So it's not necessarily your own.

24:38So what we have to do, to your point, Pepe, is bump up those preferred terms and conditions against what we're seeing and make sure we negotiate them in. Then the ability to capture that, this is somewhere where Med Impact in our journey is now focused on, because I am not satisfied with the tools we have in place yet- Right... to effectively report out of that portfolio of contracts, you know, what we have on any given piece. However, the reason I brought up that hierarchy of, of, of vendors is there are certain first-tier subcontractors, those who are providing services that flow down, where we have documented, uh, all of those terms. You know, it's a checklist that we can demonstrate that they are doing all of these things, and we have the, the, um, contract provisions that support that because that's subject to audit. And also, it is part of what we do to determine what kind of contract, uh, so vendor they fall into. Do they fall into that bucket of that extra oversight process, right?

25:37So, so we do collect all that, um, but I need to develop better tools, and we're in the process of looking at right now on the reporting side. The ability to take that out of the repository and push to us reports that say, "Of these 30 top end subcontractors, confirm that they have these clauses." So we do have a manual process still where we have captured those, you know, from a manual process into a database that we then can access. But I want to be able to do push button reporting, and that's something I need to take our CLM to the next generation to be able to do. And that generation would include concepts such as AI, which start to tell you about, um, that portfolio of contracts that you have, where there may be gaps, or where maybe you are missing some things, or potentially, um, how you engage with new vendors that come in and, uh, quickly take their contract and turn it into the document you need it to be to check all those boxes. So we're, we're on that path, Pepe. We're not quite there yet, but, uh, we have the vision of what we need based on the process we put in place to manage those terms and conditions.

26:47Yeah, and, and I think a lot of, a l- Rod, a lot of folks are out there in, in your position, and when they are evaluating these tools, they, they are looking for, uh, easier ways to pull reports so they're not doing it manually. They wanna be able to track these things at the click of a button, you know, send those reports out to, to folks inside the industry or, or even have them log in and see a dashboard and see specific, you know, uh, items that are, are pertaining to the contracts that they're working on or documents that they're working on. So I think that's a definitely a must-have along with AI. I mean, that's a, that's a huge buzzword right now in, in our industry, and a lot of the functionality's there without AI. But at the same time, I think AI's come a long way even this year, uh, with a lot of the tools that, that, uh, are leading the pack there. Um, so Rod, I'd, I'd leave you this, with this question. Uh, typically we, we ask a, a specific one, but I think this one's gonna be a little bit better just because of where you are in that evaluation stage and trying to understand, you know, what's important when you, you go out there to try to build this next level of, of, um, CLM, uh, inside your organization. So I mean, any other, other key functionalities that you would suggest people look into if they're in a similar stage, you know, looking to, to upgrade their contract management when they're looking at vendors?

27:52Yeah, I think so, Marc. And so mine is unique. Like I said, I, at the front end, um, I, you know, all, a lot of the tools have that ability to push you into the, what I'll call the redlining process, right? The exchange of documents through the negotiation process. Um, while I think, certainly while I think the CLMs, there, there are many of them and, and they all can help do that, I think we've got a pretty buttoned down process for doing that. Even though someone might look at it and say, "That's, that's more manual than it is, um, systematized," I think we've got a pretty good process there. It's really what you just said, Marc. It's capturing the data within those contracts and the ability to access that data efficiently no matter where you are in the organization, um, and, uh, report out on it. So, uh, you know, somebody needs to know what are my data use requirements on the client side? Which clients can I use certain data for, and which I can't? They've locked that down.

28:51That's a critical one in our business, right? Because it talks about what programs and services we can do, especially when we're doing them in conjunction with a vendor, right? Because they're very protective about it going outside of the confine of the client Med Impact relationship. So we have to look at that. So I'm really focused on that other component you just mentioned, Marc, that, that reporting, that capture, excuse me, capture of clauses, capture of rights, the reportability of it and doing that. And so my focus is there, but I know that so many of the tools have that kind of the end-to-end process ability. Where I'm focusing is on that component. Now, for other people to consider, I mentioned, you know, we were fortunate that we put our electronic signature process in place pre-pandemic. Mm-hmm. That's a critical piece. I mean- Yeah... if people haven't done it through this, the pandemic, I don't, I don't know what they're doing, frankly. Um, it's, it's rough. Um, but, uh, but th- that's, that's a given, right? You say, "Well, that's a given." Yes, but you have to... Did you run it by legal? What do they think about electronic signatures?

29:50You know, think of those things where other constituents may have some, some inputs for you from without just the contract group, right? Beyond that, who else could ma- you know, use that, those tools? And it turns out that it is a vast part of your enterprise, right? It's everywhere from finance and underwriting through to our clinical teams of, like I mentioned, with the data use rights. So I've got to look at that, and then I've got to assess, okay, am I going to do that either through self-service and a license for those internal users, or am I going to take on that role of providing that data upon request? That's a key process and resource consideration for you as a contract professional. Am I gonna make it self-service and give licenses out there? There's a cost for that, you know, more licenses, more cost, uh, to let people do that, train them on it. I think that's the preferred approach. Don't get me wrong. But you have to consider that in the overall cost of that engagement, right? If I buy more licenses, or do I keep that internally and provide that as a service I give through my team to the internal constituents?

30:54Um, that's a consideration you should look at. Um, but the tools will let you do it either way, right? Um, they, they will let you, you know, have limited licenses with the team that manages that and pushes it out, or they'll let you buy more licenses and train people to be able to access it themselves. So there's a control piece. What am I giving access to? To whom am I giving it, right? So our, our contracts are proprietary. We're a privately held organization, so one of the things I had to really work at over the time when I first got here was creating access for those people like account executives. When I got here, account executives did not see the contracts with their clients, and my perspective of coming into this, you know, with over 10 years at the time in this business was, how can they manage their client without access to their contract? Yeah. You know, so I had to work through that kind of privac- private company perspective to get that access. So I tell you, you know, for our organization, I have to think about that.

31:51I have to think about who all will have access to the system that can give them this data. Um, but we've made great strides in that. We know who our subject ma- mat- subject matter experts are. We know who our approvers are, you know, and we know who is asking for this data already. Yeah. So we've got that narrowed down, and I think that's the type of thing you wanna consider when you're looking at this. And then, like I said, tools are out there to varying degrees. One of the things I do as a leader is I participate, as, as you both know, in a lot of the webinars that are offered, uh, through professional associations and others, uh, to, to look at those tools. And then what we do is we would, at that time, put it through that sourcing process, right? Then I indicate to my head of procurement, "Here are the 10 that I think are the best in class for what we need." And they'll look at me and say, "10, Rod? Really? You were gonna have vali- we're gonna s- validate 10? Come on, Rod. Give me half of that," right? But, but that's the process you go through, right?

32:46And then you break it down, and then you go to RFX, right? So if you go to RFP with, uh, five or six of them, you know what your requirements are. Establish those requirements. What do you need to get done? And, uh, and really focus on those. Don't miss out the other capabilities, but I think it's important to keep those providers, those CLM providers focused on what your specific need is. And in fairness to them, they can't do that unless you can, um, detail that need to them. So you really have to do those, those requirements up front, know what you're asking from the market, and then put that out there to the best-in-class vendors who are out there. And to do that, you gotta do your research. You gotta look at, look at them, participate in their webinars. They'll, they'll bring you in. They'll invite you all the time. The hardest part I have is telling them, "Guys, once I've seen your webinar, I've got your information. I'll be pushing it to procurement at the right time." Um, but they, but they're all willing to engage. So, um, you can get a lot of information out there, and it's good. You just gotta boil it down and be committed to that process. Yeah. Yeah, no, I agree.

33:49That's, that's some, definitely some, some great advice right there and, and, you know, knowing your processes, understanding what you're looking for in a solution, uh, because there are different types of applications out there even in the CLM space. You know, do you wanna focus on the pre-execution, the post-execution, both? So, you know, understanding what your needs are, understanding your types of users, like you said, is something that I think folks don't really realize before they go out there and, and look at it for a tool. Um, they just think that users are users, which, you know, definitely is not the case. So, uh, that's some, some great advice, Rod. I, I, I think that that's fantastic. Um, so hey, w- wrapping up, you know, if, if folks wanna connect with you, learn more about, um, you know, the things that we've talked about here, w- where's the best place to, uh, to find you? Best place is LinkedIn, 'cause, um, you know, I'm, I'm one of those... I'm, I'm old school. I like to say I'm young at heart, but I'm old school, so you don't find me on most social media platform. Um, so, uh, so, uh, LinkedIn is the best. Roderic Wade, uh, MedImpact Healthcare Systems. You'll find me there, uh, without the beard, um, but that's okay. Well, unless if you call it a beard. Um- ...

34:48but, uh, but that is the preferred approach. Um, if you are a member of, uh, World Commerce & Contracting, World CC, I'm certainly in there. I'm, I'm a member of the US Council and a fellow of that organization, so I'm reachable through World CC if you're a member. Uh, you can always find me there as well. Um, I'm hesitant to give out, uh, you know, phone numbers and, uh, emails, uh, just because, um, from a corporate, uh, control perspective. But LinkedIn is the best place to find me, and, uh, plenty of connections there, uh, including both of you. Uh, and so I would, I would, I would, uh, absolutely, I respond to all the messages I get, uh, through LinkedIn, and, uh, happy to offer any information I can. Uh, I'm out there in other organizations, you know, external organizations that I participate in as well, so, um, I can always introduce you to others, uh, not just in the States, but, uh, worldwide, so. Awesome. Awesome. Well, we appreciate you coming on.

35:42I think this was a, uh, an interesting topic to, to get some more information on, so I hope everybody finds this one a little bit more intriguing, a little bit different than some of the other ones we've had. So Rod, we really appreciate it, and, uh, we look forward to chatting with you again soon. Thanks everybody for listening, and remember to like, comment, and subscribe if you found this episode to be helpful. Thank you, Rod. Thank you, Pepe. Thank you, Marc. My pleasure.