ApproveThis manages your Ironclad approvals.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the conference room: contracts. They’re the backbone of business, yet managing approvals for these documents often feels like herding cats through a legal department. Enter the ApproveThis and Ironclad integration via Zapier - where contract management meets approval automation without the migraine.

When Approval Workflows Meet Contract Muscle

Ironclad handles the heavy lifting of contract workflows. ApproveThis handles the decision-making bureaucracy. Together? They’re like peanut butter and jelly for teams drowning in red tape. Here’s the kicker: your approvers don’t need Ironclad licenses to sign off on contracts. External counsel, clients, or that C-suite exec who still prints emails? They can approve directly from their inbox while Ironclad keeps the audit trail pristine.

The Nuts and Bolts of Business Benefits

Mid-sized companies using this combo see contract cycles shrink from weeks to days. Procurement teams get vendors onboarded faster. Legal avoids playing phone tag with department heads. It’s not magic – it’s just better process design.

For the Number Crunchers

Approval thresholds in ApproveThis mean contracts under $50K can auto-approve while bigger deals get escalated. When a sales contract hits Ironclad with a 20% discount, ApproveThis calculates margin impact in real-time using calculated fields. CFOs sleep better knowing approvals match financial policies to the letter.

For the Legal Eagles

Ironclad’s version control meets ApproveThis’ audit trails. When a revised NDA needs three department heads’ sign-off, the legal team sets sequential approvals with vacation delegation. No more “Sorry, I was OOO” delays – the system reassigns approvals automatically if someone’s out.

Real-World Use Cases That Don’t Suck

1. The Instant Contract Launch Pad

Here’s how it works: Sales closes a deal → ApproveThis triggers → Ironclad workflow starts. No manual data entry. No “Did you file the SOW?” follow-ups.

Who kills it with this: Tech companies with channel partners. When a reseller agreement gets initiated in ApproveThis, Ironclad auto-generates the contract with predefined clauses. Partners approve terms via email without accessing either system.

2. The Approval Mirror

Ironclad flags a contract amendment needing legal review → ApproveThis pings the General Counsel → Once approved, Ironclad auto-updates the contract status. Two-way sync means no status guessing games.

Who nails this: Healthcare providers dealing with compliance updates. When HIPAA terms change in Ironclad contracts, ApproveThis routes approvals to compliance officers based on department-specific thresholds.

3. The Paper Trail Express

ApproveThis denies a vendor contract → Ironclad receives the “denied” status → Contract gets archived with rejection reasoning. Full paper trail without the paper.

Who benefits: Manufacturing firms with global suppliers. When a component spec change gets rejected by engineering, procurement sees real-time updates in Ironclad with ApproveThis’ comments attached.

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

1. Create a Zapier account (if you’re among the 3 people who don’t have one yet)
2. Connect ApproveThis and Ironclad as apps in Zapier
3. Pick your trigger: “New Request” in ApproveThis or “New Approval Event” in Ironclad
4. Map critical data points: Contract IDs, approval thresholds, stakeholder emails
5. Test with a low-risk contract (office snack budget, not the MSA)
6. Go live and watch 47 manual process steps disappear

Department-Specific Wins

Sales Teams

No more “When will legal approve this?” deals stuck in limbo. Custom workflows ensure sales contracts route to correct approvers based on deal size. Calculated fields auto-flag non-standard terms that need extra eyes.

Procurement Squads

Vendor NDAs get approved before the first meeting. Approval groups allow simultaneous legal/finance/IT reviews. When three departments need to approve a software purchase, they don’t wait on each other – consensus happens in parallel.

Legal Departments

Version control nightmares die here. Every contract edit in Ironclad triggers fresh approvals in ApproveThis. Vacation delegation stops bottlenecks when the lead counsel is in court (or on Maui).

Why This Isn’t Just Another Integration

Most app integrations just move data. This one moves decisions. ApproveThis adds structure to Ironclad’s flexibility. Conditional approval paths mean simple contracts fly through automatically while complex ones get the red carpet treatment (and extra scrutiny).

The License Advantage

External counsels approving contracts? They get email links, not another SaaS login. Clients signing SOWs? Same deal. Your Ironclad license count stays lean while approval participation scales.

Common Objections (And Why They’re Dumb)

“We already have approval workflows in Ironclad.”
Cool. Now add multi-department approvals with financial thresholds and real-time calculations. Your move, basic CLM.

“We use DocuSign for approvals.”
Great for signatures, terrible for decision routing. When you need 6 people to approve a contract before it’s signed, ApproveThis is your playbook.

Bottom Line

Companies between 50-5,000 employees waste 12,000 hours annually on contract approvals. That’s 6 full-time employees doing paperwork jockey work. This integration recaptures 80% of that time. For a 200-person company? That’s about $400K in annual salary savings. Not bad for two apps playing nice together.

Next steps: Register for ApproveThis, connect your Ironclad instance via Zapier, and automate your first contract approval flow in under 25 minutes. Or schedule a demo to see how calculated fields and approval thresholds can turn your legal team from bottleneck to enabler.

P.S. If you’re still manually routing contracts, your competitors already think you’re cute.