House of Control
Contract Management Made Simple

It all began in 2005, when Lasse Sten, then managing director of a computer equipment distributor, reported a break-in at his office in Oslo. When the company claimed for insurance, the insurance company asked, “What was stolen?” Sten and his team members were unable to present a valid list of what was missing; also, they could not provide critical data such as the model name, purchase price, and age. Sten, who had already founded multiple companies, quickly realised he had faced this problem quite regularly, and it was not something new. This led to the idea of Security labels linked to a digital register containing essential information such as prices, serial numbers, expiry dates, users, and other necessary documentation. Sten developed the digital security labels and sold them to customers, and the market positively accepted it. And the customers were able to do more than use the security labels; they asked questions and made suggestions.

Many customers asked if they could use the digital register to overview more important things like their ongoing contracts with suppliers and customers. That’s when Sten realised it was possible to manage contracts and assets. This customer engagement set off a spiral of customer-driven innovation and technological development that defines House of Control to this day. It soon became clear that the tool helped users cut out non-essential supplies, learn when contracts were due to expire and automatically renew, remove dependency on key personnel, and budget more quickly and accurately. Later, in 2015, House of Control’s majority stake was bought by Viking Venture investors. This gave the company further momentum: Professionalisation of management, a renewed focus on customer satisfaction, and more significant financial resources for expansion into new markets.

Today, House of Control is renowned as one of the leading companies developing and selling software (SaaS) solutions. The company’s flagship product, Complete Control, is used for managing contracts and assets, including the contracts’ financial implications for accounting, budgeting, and reporting. Complete Control has several modules and addons, including compliance with IFRS 16 (Financial Leases) requirements, HR management, digital signature, and price index adjustments. The user value is derived from cutting costs, saving time, and reducing business risk and dependency on key personnel.

The CFO’s Best Friend

According to Sten, “Both the company and the solutions are built on the vision to become the CFO’s best friend. Any CFO knows that multiple contracts administered at different levels of the organisation entail a risk of duplicate purchases, forgetting to cancel or renegotiate contracts, or contracts being automatically renewed.” CFOs are also aware of the indirect costs of dependence on key personnel and the time it takes to locate contract documents to compile projections and budgets. “Our platform gives full control of contracts, assets, and liabilities. The basic solution and the modules are developed in close collaboration with CFOs,” adds Sten.

House of Control’s Complete Control makes the life of the CFOs simple by cutting costs, saving time on accounting and budgeting, and reducing dependency on key personnel. Typically, organisations have far more contracts than they realise. Most of them renew their contracts unintentionally without negotiations. This leads to unnecessary cost accumulation and drains profit. Contract control is dependent on key personnel, which represents a considerable business risk. Although there are several contract management systems, most of them are not up to the mark and don’t meet clients’ unique demands. Also, as board members, owners and investors are the ones who finalise contracts and operate the contract system, they expect Complete Control, transparency, and high performance. With Complete Control, customers can be prepared before contracts expire without any breaks in service or unwanted renewals. The key personnel is not burdened and can gain rapid and accurate budgeting while enhancing compliance and accounting.

Manage Contracts Better

As it is a SaaS-based solution, users can store all relevant documents in the cloud safely and access it anytime and anywhere. The platform is designed in such a way that any non-technical person can easily register central Metadata for all contracts. The users get notifications before contract renewals and other due dates. It can provide users with a reminder of every type of contract and liability, and keep track of employees, assets, indices, etc. For example, whether when prices are due to be adjusted or whether employees’ qualifications (licenses, courses, certificates) are about to expire. In other words, every possible deadline about which it might be useful and important for a company to receive automatic notifications.

Another exciting aspect about Complete Control is that it works with all ERP systems and allows users to include powerful add-ons and extra modules. The company’s contract management system also supports the digital signature of contracts and other documents in collaboration with Signicat, Europe’s leading provider of verified digital identity solutions. The digital signature is based on PAdES technology, which also meets the EU’s eIDAS requirements. The solution utilises the leading methods that the financial sector and public authorities already use to identify customers and residents in each country. The person who is about to sign chooses whether they want to use a PC, tablet, or smartphone, and when it is done, there is no longer any doubt about who has signed an agreement. Besides, the modules structure employee competencies, including mandatory training and certifications. It provides notifications when new training is due or certifications about to expire. It also includes an archive for any contracts related to individual employees. The Competence module provides a clear and straightforward overview of any certificates that are due to expire, qualifications that are required for a job title, photos of employees, unique search tools for capabilities within the company, CV exports with an option of what information to include, file attachments for employees, etc.

House of Control’s solution assists companies in complying with IFRS 16 requirements. Simultaneously, it is both easy to use and effective for complying with the conditions - and more. There are around 150 companies that use the IFRS 16 solution - and 1,500 who use the company’s “standard solution”, Complete Control. Around 1,300 customers throughout the Nordic countries use Complete Control to overcome the hurdles posed by a growing number of contracts.

Treading towards a Better Future

After acquiring DinERP and Effectplan in 2020, House of Control has expanded its scope. House of Control now offers best-of-breed software for procurement, invoicing, supplier and customer communication, budgeting, and reporting. “With our existing solutions, users can budget costs and revenue as defined by contracts registered in Complete Control. When we add Effectplan’s solutions, we expand the toolkit and include every item in the budget. This also comprises nonmonetary forecasting, such as the amount of raw materials and the need for personnel,” says Lasse Sten, Chief Executive Officer of House of Control. The acquisition adds more robust forecasting and budgeting software to its toolkit and further steps towards fulfilling House of Control’s vision to be The CFOs Best Friend. House of Control seeks to expand its offering to the market by building an ecosystem around the Chief Financial Officer with a broader scope. The CFO of an organisation constitutes the typical decision-maker and customer. “We have bold ambitions for the next five years, targeting an annual organic growth rate of 30 percent to increase our ARR to NOK 500 million by the end of 2025. Our growth ambitions will be further supported by acquisitions, and Effectplan’s solutions complement and expand our strong ecosystem of best-of-breed products and solutions to facilitate operational management. We look forward to bringing these solutions to the market through our efficient Hunter and Customer Success teams,” concludes Sten.