Efficient Contract Management at Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld: How Inhubber Enables Greater Transparency and Control

Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld GmbH is a municipal utility company that manages a wide range of contracts in the areas of energy, water, and infrastructure. In a highly regulated sector, efficient and transparent contract management is crucial for meeting deadlines, minimizing risks, and controlling costs.
Before implementing Inhubber, the company faced significant challenges in managing its contracts.

Franziska Riefling, who is responsible for contract management at Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld, describes the problems the company faced prior to introducing Inhubber and how the platform helped to resolve them.
For Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld, the implementation of Inhubber marked a turning point, bringing more efficiency, transparency, and control over its growing number of contracts.

Before using Inhubber, contract management at Stadtwerke was highly decentralized. Contracts were stored either as paper files in binders or as digital files spread across various departments. Managing these documents was a manual process, and there was often no central overview of active contracts. This led to the following problems:

1. Missed deadlines: Manual deadline tracking was unreliable. Termination and payment deadlines were often overlooked, resulting in unnecessary costs due to automatic renewals or late payments. The company missed important deadlines and had no structured system in place to monitor them automatically.
2. Lack of transparency: Since each department had its own system for storing documents, neither the legal team nor upper management had a centralized overview of all contracts. Contracts were saved in various folders and formats, making the overall structure difficult to navigate. Searching for specific agreements was time-consuming and frustrating.
3. Duplicate contracts: Without a centralized overview, errors occurred more frequently—such as the accidental signing of duplicate contracts—resulting in unnecessary costs and extra administrative work.
4. High time expenditure: Managing contracts manually in paper format and basic Word lists was not only error-prone but also extremely time-consuming. Searching through binders and monitoring deadlines cost employees valuable time that could have been used more productively.

Franziska Riefling summarizes the situation: “We constantly had issues with missed deadlines, duplicate contracts, and unnecessary costs because we lost track of our agreements. It became clear that we needed a digital solution to eliminate these inefficiencies.”

After a thorough evaluation of several providers, Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld GmbH chose Inhubber as its central solution for contract management.
The decision was based on several factors, with user-friendliness, centralized document storage, and automated deadline monitoring being the most convincing.

1. Centralized and Transparent Storage

   One of Inhubber’s key advantages was the ability to store all contracts in one central location. Instead of being distributed across departments, all contract documents are now stored in a structured, digital environment. With clearly organized workspaces, folders, and subfolders, contracts can be sorted by department, type, or project.

   This central storage simplifies access to all documents. Franziska Riefling notes: “With Inhubber, we finally have a complete overview of our contracts. It’s easy to use and saves us a huge amount of time since we no longer have to dig through multiple folders.”

2. Automated Deadline Monitoring

   Automated deadline tracking is one of Inhubber’s most powerful features and solves one of the biggest challenges the company faced before implementation.
   Inhubber automatically tracks contract terms, termination deadlines, and payment due dates. When a deadline is approaching, responsible employees receive timely notifications so they can act accordingly.

   This feature has already helped Stadtwerke avoid unnecessary contract extensions and reduce costs.

   “Automated deadline monitoring is especially important for us. We used to rely on manual lists, which were often inaccurate. Now we can be confident that no deadline goes unnoticed,” says Riefling.

3. Faster Access and Efficiency Gains
   

   Thanks to Inhubber’s powerful search and filter functions, Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld can now find contracts in seconds—something that used to take much longer. The platform features an intuitive user interface that allows employees to search for documents by various criteria, speeding up the entire process.
   The technical department, accounting, and executive management in particular benefit from this new level of efficiency.

   Franziska Riefling explains: “The efficiency gains are enormous. We used to spend hours searching for contracts. Today it takes just a few seconds to locate the right document and extract the necessary information.”

4. Security and Access ControlAnother key benefit of Inhubber is security. Since all contracts are stored in the cloud, the company can ensure that contract documents remain secure—even in the event of a server failure or local data loss.
   The centralized and digital environment guarantees data integrity, while access rights can be clearly defined. Inhubber offers flexible permission levels, so only authorized staff can view or edit certain contracts.
5. Cost Savings Through Error Prevention

   By implementing Inhubber, the company not only improved efficiency but also achieved direct cost savings.
   Mistakes like the signing of duplicate contracts are now a thing of the past. Additionally, automated deadline tracking helps prevent costly automatic renewals.

6. User-Friendliness and Quick ImplementationAnother major advantage of Inhubber was how easy it was to implement and use.
   The city utility company did not require extensive IT integration, and after a short training session, employees were able to work with the system immediately.
   “The implementation was fast and straightforward. Our team adapted quickly and could start using the platform in no time,” says Riefling.

Although Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld already uses Inhubber extensively, Franziska Riefling sees additional potential for the platform in the future.
The next steps include integrating additional departments and systematically digitizing older contracts.
“We’re not yet using Inhubber to its full capacity. But we plan to expand its use even further and also digitize legacy contracts,” Riefling adds.

Implementing Inhubber has revolutionized contract management at Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld.
The utility company now benefits from centralized, transparent contract administration that reduces errors, ensures reliable deadline tracking, and significantly simplifies daily operations.
The platform has allowed the organization to save both time and money by drastically improving administrative efficiency.

“Inhubber helped us take our contract management to the next level. The central storage and automated deadline tracking have become indispensable for us. We would recommend Inhubber to any company looking to optimize its contract workflows,” says Franziska Riefling.

For Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld GmbH, Inhubber is the ideal solution for addressing the complexities of contract management and sustainably improving operational efficiency.

“With Inhubber, we have completely transformed our contract management. The central storage and deadline automation not only help us stay organized but also prevent unnecessary costs from missed deadlines. The intuitive interface makes daily work much easier, and we can now manage our contracts quickly and efficiently. Inhubber has become essential to us, and I can confidently recommend it to any organization looking to improve its processes.”  – Franziska Riefling, Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld GmbH