Case Study: Lightrise Consulting Accelerates Growth with Cloud Contracts 365

The Client: Lightrise Consulting

Lightrise Consulting is a fast-growing UK-based technology startup, led by CEO Gareth Jones. Focused on delivering managed services and Microsoft-based solutions, Lightrise needed a contract management approach as agile as their business model.

The Challenge: Contract Chaos and Legal Lag

As a startup, Lightrise faced several critical challenges in managing contracts that threatened to slow its growth and disrupt its business operations.

First, the lengthy and complex contract approval process was a major bottleneck. Gareth explained:

“The process for establishing the contractual basis of working with your clients is long-winded... if you start to succeed against your targets and then suddenly you’ve got two to three month lead time at the end of a proposal being signed off to get it through legal, then the whole thing gets thrown apart in terms of your forecasting.”

This delay was especially damaging because Lightrise was moving towards a managed services model with recurring revenue, where speed and predictability in contract execution are vital for accurate financial forecasting and customer satisfaction.

Second, as a startup, Lightrise did not have the resources or desire to engage heavyweight legal teams for every contract. They needed a cost-effective, scalable solution that could handle the legal complexity without the overhead.

Third, the specificity of Microsoft partner contracts posed a unique challenge. Generic legal templates or standard contracts often miss critical provisions related to geography, partner type, or product specifics, which could expose Lightrise to unforeseen risks. Gareth noted:

“There are provisions under Microsoft terms and conditions which are specific to geography, types of partner, types of things that you’re selling... those aren’t things which typical legal advisers know about.”

How Cloud Contracts 365 Overcame These Challenges

Cloud Contracts 365 was designed precisely to address these pain points for tech startups like Lightrise.

1. Dramatically reducing contract cycle times:

By providing a bank of industry-specific, pre-vetted contract templates tailored to Microsoft partners, Cloud Contracts 365 eliminated the need for lengthy back-and-forth with legal teams. Gareth said:

“It was ideal because it was a templated approach specifically to Microsoft... It sped it up, it reduced the risks, decreased the time, and increased confidence.”

This meant proposals could be turned into signed contracts much faster, enabling Lightrise to accelerate revenue recognition and improve forecasting accuracy.

2. Mitigating legal risk with AI-powered review and best-practice content:

Cloud Contracts 365’s AI-driven contract review flagged potential legal risks and ensured compliance with Microsoft-specific terms and regional requirements. Gareth’s favourite feature was:

“The proposed content for some of the terms... when you are pre-filling with industry best practice and standards, that is sort of the second layer of confidence and risk mitigation for us.”

This gave Lightrise peace of mind that their contracts were both legally sound and aligned with industry norms, without needing expensive legal counsel.

3. Building client trust and confidence:

Because Cloud Contracts 365 is a niche provider focused on Microsoft partner contracts, Lightrise found that their clients were more willing to sign off quickly, bypassing their own legal teams. Gareth observed:

“When you explain that Cloud Contracts is a niche provider of legal contracts around Microsoft, then I think that also makes people listen and they go, you know, they’re just quite happy to sign it off really.”

This helped Lightrise close deals faster and build stronger client relationships.

Final Word

Gareth’s advice to other tech startups:

“If you want to succeed quickly, which let’s face it, most entrepreneurs should want to, then having a templated approach is going to be really, really useful.”

Cloud Contracts 365: Helping Lightrise Consulting—and ambitious tech businesses—turn contract chaos into competitive advantage.

Ready to speed up your contracts and reduce legal risk like Lightrise Consulting?

Book a free discovery call with Cloud Contracts 365 today and see how our AI-powered, industry-specific contract management platform can transform your business.

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The 3 steps route to better financial management. Smarter accounting for faster growth.

01. Make Tool

01. Review Software

AI-powered legal review Shorten your sales cycle with contracts
Clause-by-clause analysis Quickly identify risks and how to mitigate them
Improve negotiations Know exactly where to negotiate or push-back
Instant risk score Receive a risk score and summary of issues

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02. Review Software

AI-powered legal review Shorten your sales cycle with contracts
Clause-by-clause analysis Quickly identify risks and how to mitigate them
Improve negotiations Know exactly where to negotiate or push-back
Instant risk score Receive a risk score and summary of issues

Free Trial

03. Management Software

03. Review Software

AI-powered legal review Shorten your sales cycle with contracts
Clause-by-clause analysis Quickly identify risks and how to mitigate them
Improve negotiations Know exactly where to negotiate or push-back
Instant risk score Receive a risk score and summary of issues

Free Trial

What our customers say

We’re proud to be part of our clients' success stories. Here’s what our awesome clients have to say!

Labdesk were an early adopter of the platform, and we love it. The Contract Builder allows us to easily get NDA’s in place and more importantly, solid contracts for our MSP customers.

Mike Douglass, Director

It's quick and easy to get up and running. Allows us to store all our contractual documentation in a safe and secure, centralised location. It's simple and easy to manage electronic signatures. We have been able to save time and money reviewing contracts internally, as we have not had to involve legal teams in every negotiation.

Adam Sellers, Founder Director

We have never seen anything like Cloud Contracts in the Microsoft partner industry. The fact that I can get my customer contracts reviewed and risk-scored in minutes has saved us countless hours of wasted time. I feel much more confident that we are protected by our legal contracts.

Sian Herrington, CEO

The Contract Reviewer instantly showed me an area of concern in a contract which allowed me to have an important discussion with the other side and mitigate risk in the business.

Christopher Pond, CTO

Through the Contract Builder tool, I was able to create a bespoke Master Services Agreement in seconds, send it to my client and have them sign it in the same day. A record for us!

Steve Rudd, Account Director

Cloud Contracts 365 has been an invaluable resource for our business. The platform provides high-quality, well-structured legal documents that are easy to use and adapt. The support we received was excellent—responsive, knowledgeable, and always willing to assist. From setting up our website terms to finalising privacy policies, the process was smooth and efficient. We highly recommend their services to any business looking for a reliable contract management solution.

Loveday Godfrey - Co-Founder & Director

We signed up with Contracts 365 to primarily get an MSA that covered all the bases. Previously we had created our own, but then realised we had missed a few tricks. The Contract 365 team took us through the MSA and tweaked a few things we needed tweaking. We got great value for this one agreement and there is still more agreements and capabilities in the platform for us to use.

Eddie Paterson - Director

Great platform, very user-friendly. Great support should you need any help with uploading.

Angela Goode - HR Manager

I cannot recommend Cloud Contracts highly enough. I really value my brand, integrity, customers experience and don't believe leaving things to chance, so winging it on "England and Wales" standard terms was not option for me. However, startups also don't have big budgets and Cloud Contracts ability to really understand the power of AI and turn contracts into really compelling business proposition that's offers incredible value at an affordable price point was everything i needed.

Edwina Murphy, CEO