CHALLENGE:
Unstructured workflows and manual drafting delayed contract execution
The company’s core business involves issuing leases and amendments to property owners and carriers. As the number of leases increased, tracking contracts became increasingly complex, with many due dates slipping through the cracks.
The teams relied on a mix of tools such as Salesforce, SharePoint, and lightweight contracting platforms. However, these systems lacked the integration needed to support a standardized workflow. As a result, agreements were often created manually with little uniformity, making it difficult to track progress, ensure compliance, and identify bottlenecks.
To establish a more unified contract management process, they selected Docusign as the foundation for their digital transformation. Partnering with Spaulding Ridge, they hoped to implement a scalable, technology-driven solution that would bring structure, visibility, and efficiency to its leasing operations.
SOLUTION:
Targeted CLM implementation to support each business unit’s contract lifecycle
To address the company’s need for standardized, efficient, and trackable contract management, we rolled out a phased implementation of Docusign CLM integrated with their existing Salesforce platform. The idea was to have each phase target a specific business unit, ensuring solutions aligned with their operational workflows. The final phase focused on building a unified platform for all CLM data, making it readily accessible for executive decision-making.
Phase 1: Development Team
We began with the development team, which scouts and secures land for cell tower installations. Their contracts, primarily ground leases, were previously managed through fragmented systems and manual processes. We implemented Docusign CLM to automate lease generation and approval workflows, integrating it tightly with Salesforce to ensure data tracking. This phase laid the foundation for structured contract management and introduced standardized templates and routing logic.
Phase 2: Carrier Agreements
Next, we expanded the solution to the Carrier team. This team was responsible for leasing towers to major telecom providers like Verizon and T-Mobile. This phase involved configuring Docusign to handle complex carrier agreements, ensuring that contracts were routed to the appropriate stakeholders for review and approval. The integration with Salesforce played a critical role in tracking agreement status and maintaining data consistency.
Phase 3: Asset Management
With the core leasing processes stabilized, we moved to the Asset Management team. This phase focused on managing existing properties and handling amendments to agreements. Our solution enabled the team to quickly identify and update contracts, improving responsiveness, and reducing administrative overhead.
Phase 4: Real Estate Operations
The fourth phase targeted the Real Estate division, which oversees property adjustments and portfolio management. We extended the use of standardized templates and approval workflows, ensuring that real estate transactions followed the same structured process as leases and carrier agreements.
Phase 5: Reporting and Analytics
The final phase shifted focus from contract execution to performance insights. The company needed deeper visibility into its operations to identify bottlenecks and make informed staffing decisions. We built a custom integration between Docusign CLM, Databricks, and Power BI.
This integration enabled dynamic dashboards tailored to different teams, including development and carrier. Reports highlighted metrics such as agreement volume, turnaround times, and individual contract manager performance. These insights helped leadership assess workload distribution, identify delays (e.g., documents stuck in legal review), and optimize staffing and processes.
As part of our ongoing managed services support, the telecommunication company was able to leverage Docusign Insights to analyze third-party contracts, for a major $3.3 billion acquisition of cell phone towers. The AI-powered tool scanned and compared contract language, identifying risks and ensuring compliance with internal standards. This use of AI for contract intelligence added a layer of sophistication to their due diligence process and demonstrated our solution’s scalability.
RESULTS:
Contract turnaround time dropped from weeks to just two days
The telecommunication company has successfully transitioned from a fragmented, manual contract process to a streamlined, technology-driven workflow. By integrating Docusign CLM with Salesforce, they achieved a seamless end-to-end system that included both accurate data capture and contract generation and signature.
One of the most significant outcomes was the dramatic reduction in contract turnaround time. Previously, agreements could take several days or even weeks to finalize. With the new system, most contracts are completed within two days, accelerating deal cycles and improving operational efficiency.
By the final phase, they had developed over 20 contract templates tailored to different carriers and use cases. This library of templates enabled more consistent contract terms, faster drafting, and easier approvals across teams.
Automated approval routing also ensured that high-value or high-risk contracts received the necessary oversight. VP-level stakeholders were looped in automatically, reducing delays and ensuring compliance with internal policies.
