Here’s a practical guide to selecting contract management (CLM) software for telecom companies plus a short vendor shortlist and recommended next steps.

Why telecom needs specialized CLM (brief)

• Telecom contracts are high-volume, multi‑party and long‑running (tower leases, interconnect/roaming, OEM/device, SLAs, spectrum and channel agreements) so you need strong obligation tracking, clause/price-table extraction, multi‑currency/rule handling, and system integrations. (Icertis.com)

Key capabilities to require

• Intelligent ingestion & extraction: auto‑extract clauses, dates, rates, tables (volume discounts, MRC/usage tiers). (Sirion.ai)
• Obligation & SLA tracking with alerts and dashboards (renewals, milestones, performance penalties). (Hyperstart.com)
• Multi‑party / multi‑currency support and configurable templates for tower leases, interconnect, reseller/channel, OEM agreements. (Icertis.com)
• Integration readiness: ERP (SAP/S4/HANA, Oracle), billing/CPQ, CRM (Salesforce), procurement systems, and eSignature. (Icertis.com)
• Post‑execution value capture: revenue‑leak detection, obligation enforcement, analytics to surface cost/savings opportunities. (Hyperstart.com)
• Scalability, security & compliance: multi‑region data residency, role‑based controls, audit trails, and industry/regulatory compliance support. (Icertis.com)
• Flexible deployment & support model: SaaS vs private cloud, professional services for complex migration and clause standardization.

Shortlist of vendors to evaluate (telecom-proven or telecom-focused CLM)

• Icertis — enterprise CLM with telecom industry solutions, SAP integrations, strong AI/contract‑intelligence capabilities and telecom customer references. Good for large telcos with complex ERP landscapes. (Icertis.com)
• Sirion (SirionLabs) — focused on post‑signature obligations and performance/SLA management; highlights telecom use cases (tower leases, roaming, interconnect). Strong for buy‑ and sell‑side operational performance. (Sirion.ai)
• Hyperstart (and similar specialist CLMs) — vendors marketing telecom‑specific CLM workflows and AI extraction; useful if you want faster, telecom‑tailored deployments. (Example: Hyperstart telecom solution). (Hyperstart.com)
• Volody (AI CLM vendors) — advertising telecom solutions with automation and integrations; consider if you want AI‑first, speed‑to‑value options. (Volody.com)
• Other enterprise CLM options worth checking (if you need broader market comparisons): DocuSign CLM, Coupa/Conga (CLM), ContractPodAi — these are mature CLM platforms used across industries; assess telecom references and integration depth before selecting.

How to run a short evaluation (4–8 week pilot)

1. Define 3 representative use cases: e.g., tower‑lease renewals & obligation capture; interconnect/roaming rate table extraction & billing reconciliation; vendor OEM rebate/incentive extraction and automated alerts. Map desired KPIs (time to extract/notify, % obligations tracked, renewal capture rate). (Sirion.ai)
2. Prepare a sample corpus (50–300 real contracts covering those use cases), anonymized for PII. Use the same corpus for every demo/pilot.
3. Run vendor shortlists through a scripted demo + hands‑on pilot: import, extraction accuracy (key fields/tables/clauses), obligation workflow, integrations (at least a mock SAP/CRM/billing sync), and user experience for legal/procurement/netops.
4. Measure outcomes: extraction F1/accuracy, time saved per contract, SLA/obligation miss reduction, and implementation cost/time.
5. Confirm enterprise requirements: security, data residency, support SLAs, and total cost of ownership (licenses + implementation + connectors + professional services).

Implementation tips & pitfalls

• Don’t start with “store everything” — catalog and prioritize contract types that cause the most leakage/risk first (tower leases, roaming/interconnect, vendor rebates). (Icertis.com)
• Invest in clause templates and a controlled clause library up front to speed authoring and reduce negotiation cycles. (Hyperstart.com)
• Plan integrations early (billing/ERP/CPQ). Without integration, CLM becomes a silo and you’ll miss revenue/opportunity signals. (Icertis.com)
• Validate AI extraction on your real contracts; vendor claims vary and telecom documents often have complex tables and multi‑party language. (techcrunch.com)

Next steps I recommend

• Pick 3 vendors from the shortlist above and run the same 4‑week proof‑of‑concept using your representative corpus. Prioritize extraction accuracy, obligation automation, and integration proofs. (If you want, I can draft a short RFP/pilot script you can send to vendors.) (Icertis.com)

If you’d like, tell me:

• Whether you’re a large incumbent telco, mid‑market operator, or MSP/reseller, and one or two contract types you care most about (tower lease, interconnect, OEM, channel). I can then produce a tailored 6–8 week pilot plan and an RFP template you can send to vendors.