In a press release it issued on the new product, BIMCO said the new contract solution makes contractual work easier and more secure. “SmartCon is a brand-new approach to contract editing, we believe that it will significantly ease the work life of our current users and will attract new users to BIMCO’s contract universe,” said Grant Hunter, Head of Contracts and Clauses at BIMCO.
According to BIMCO, the key innovation in SmartCon is that the features are built into a Word document, which will integrate and merge seamlessly with the normal workflow of shipping professionals and legal staff. The contracts can be shared until it is fixed, without security risks, as everything is protected and authenticated by Microsoft’s Cloud security infrastructure.
“Our contracts are widely used around the world, which provide greater certainty of the intended commercial outcome – helping the users manage their contractual risk,” Hunter said.
SmartCon replaces IDEA, which handles close to 40,000 contracts a year, and was introduced in 2000.
BIMCO is the largest shipping organisation in the world. It is best known for drafting standard contracts and clauses for the maritime and offshore industry. Providing the contracts in an editor is a natural extension of that focus.
