Intellect gets commercial

Trade organisation teams up with national law firm to launch new guidelines for commercial directors

IT trade body Intellect has unveiled new contract and commercial guidelines to reflect the increasing importance of commercial directors in technology companies.

The guidelines, launched in conjunction with national commercial law firm Beachcroft LLP, outline how nearly all major IT, telecoms and business process outsourcing service providers have commercial directors at Board level. Their role is to lead contract negotiations ensuring relevant departments like sales, delivery and HR requirements are met, formulate policy and process and hire and fire external suppliers.

According to the two organisations, commercial directors often play a more prominent role in negotiations than in-house legal counsel.

John Yates, partner at Beachcroft said: ““The guidelines provide commercial directors in technology companies with everything they need to know about managing contracts, ranging from outsourcing, to managing risk, to advice on how to work out if the contract will be profitable. They are particularly essential for SMEs where one person often acts as contract manager, commercial manager, finance director and sales director in one.“

Charles Ward, chief operating officer at Intellect added: “The contract is central to successful outcomes for suppliers and customers and not something that the only lawyers worry about. The guidelines both demystify the legal aspects and highlight the often overlooked broader commercial considerations and we believe they will be of great business benefit to our members.“