Benchmark 2025

Our research shows that executives get it – 88% understand that commercial and contract management (CCM) excellence matters, and they know they need to improve. But there’s a massive gap between recognition and action.

For most, this capability features on a lengthy list of improvements and actions that have been deferred. Are they wrong in pushing this down the priority list? Our 2025 report suggests that the answer may be yes, that in reality, commercial and contracting resilience may be the catalyst for meaningful business discipline and growth.

While this study reveals many individual improvement initiatives, most lack a fundamental ingredient – consistent and well-defined process. Without process, there is confusion, and with confusion, there is delay, discord and a lack of resilience.

The good news? As of June 2025, there is a Global Contract Management Standard (CMS).

Through adoption of the CMS, organizations can make a break-through and generate the foundation for excellence.

The business landscape is demanding. Far from a ‘return to normal’, our latest research shows that 87% of organizations are dealing with high levels of uncertainty – and recognizing that it represents a ‘new normal’. In terms of commercial and contracting capability, current conditions demand a fresh attitude to risk and highly adaptive processes and skills.

This report also points to a growing divide between sectors, buy-side and sell-side, and leaders and laggards. The changes we have identified are not random – they reveal how we are in the midst of profound, often chaotic transformation with:

No consensus on organizational model
AI is forcing restructuring around new capabilities
Resource constraints are driving changes as much as strategies
Simultaneous external and internal change creating role / structure confusion
Different maturity levels across organizations and supply networks creating performance variation.

In this environment, we see organizations experimenting with different models, at different speeds, with different resource levels, and with inconsistent deployment and limited visibility of impact. Again, without a defined process, sustained improvement will not occur.

This matters because today we are facing fundamental questions about how to organize ourselves and our supply networks, what our workforce will look like, and how AI is going to change everything. This report represents important reading for the insights it provides and the reflection that it should provoke. Are you providing the leadership needed to support this critical capability?

48% of respondents acknowledge there is no clarity over who is accountable for the quality and integrity of the contracting or commercial process. And following analysis of the answers from those who believe there is clarity, it quickly becomes evident that the real number isn’t 48%, but 70-80% of organizations lack true accountability. CCM is the victim of shared responsibility – superficial structure without genuine ownership. It’s a recipe for inertia and poor performance. This is a fundamental governance failure that no amount of centralization, AI tools, or skills uplift can fix.

Contracting is a catalyst for resilience: Despite the “new normal,” with 87% of organizations facing high levels of uncertainty, contracting is often deprioritized. Treating CCM as a core capability drives meaningful business discipline and growth.
Knowing vs. doing: While 88% of executives understand the importance of CCM, action is often delayed. This executive awareness is a window of opportunity to demonstrate the value CCM can deliver in a changing market.
Growing performance divide: Sell-side organizations consistently outperform buy-side teams, driven by stronger technology adoption and more adaptive capabilities. Integrating buy-side and sell-side resources can help close this gap.
Leadership and structure are key barriers: High uncertainty, weak leadership, and unclear roles are cited as the main obstacles. Creating clarity, accountability, and adaptive leadership is essential for sustainable improvement.
Focus on root causes, not symptoms: Many organizations focus on tools, terms, or analytics, but true improvement requires addressing structural issues like accountability, leadership development, and strategic talent management.

The data reveals that most organizations, regardless of buy-side, sell-side, sector, or size, face a damaging mismatch between the uncertainty they face and their capacity to manage it.

Organizations often pursue the wrong solutions because they’re not learning from others: they engage in minimal benchmarking activity and make no investment in CCM research. One result is that the top 5 actions they are taking (tools, analytics, skills, terms, simplification) address symptoms, not root causes.

What’s missing? Accountability clarity, well-defined roles and responsibilities, leadership development, strategic AI integration, talent strategy. There is no consensus on organizational structure (four models in use), on reporting lines (seven different functions) or on how to measure and monitor performance and value. While 48% acknowledge these problems, 52% claim accountability is clear, yet their responses reveal that many do not even understand the question. They confuse transactional responsibility with overall process ownership. As a result, there is often shared responsibility across multiple parties (‘business owns,’ ‘committees decide’), senior titles without clear performance measures, role confusion between contract management, procurement, legal and commercial management.

Sell-side’s technology advantage directly enables their superior performance, but still leaves them struggling to exert influence and deliver the outcomes that are achievable. Too often, they have implemented technology without process integration, made investments that do not create strategic insight and failed to gain recognition at executive level. The result? Continuing as operational executors rather than strategic partners, unable to leverage the CCM discipline as a catalyst for business transformation.

These structural inconsistencies also create unnecessary friction. Buyers and suppliers operate with different mental models, different priorities. Many buy-side processes are optimized for cost control, while sell-side is a mix of either risk mitigation or value creation. While some variation is necessary (different business models require different approaches), much of it creates waste, confusion, and poor outcomes.

Contracting becomes adversarial by default due to structural misalignment, Organizations can’t build adaptability without the right people, can’t execute transformation without evolved leadership.

While it’s easy to see uncertainty as a challenge, if we can flip our mindset to seeing it as an opportunity with Contracting Quality as the enabler of adaptability and resilience then in many situations it can become a source of competitive advantage. That is what the many people who report their contracting quality as high have done. From the insights of this benchmark survey it is apparent that they are on a journey. One which has flipped the narrative and taken a systematic approach to re-positioning contracting as a business level process that creates and captures value in line with their

organizational strategy.

The market realities demand that organizations rethink the balance between risk and opportunity. Those who remain inward-looking, who allow CCM to be relegated to the back of the queue, who pursue tools without addressing governance – will fall further behind.

The data shows the path forward, and the fact that you are still reading this report makes it likely that you have an aspiration to move towards where the leaders of the pack are, in terms of contracting quality.

The question is: are you ready to invest the time and effort required to challenge old perceptions and build capability in this neglected business process?

Tim Cummins

President

WorldCC

Ajay Agrawal

CEO

Sirion

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World Commerce & Contracting

Benchmark Report 2025

The race is on: navigating uncertainty through CCM resilience

Executive summary

Benchmark Report 2025

The core dilemma

Key takeaways

Next steps: Conclusion

Next steps: Self-assessment of CCM status

Next steps: Call to action

Benchmark Report 2025

Written by

Tim Cummins

Ajay Agrawal

Resources

Become a member

Benchmark Report 2025

The race is on: navigating uncertainty through CCM resilience

Executive summary

Benchmark Report 2025

The core dilemma

Key takeaways

Next steps: Conclusion

Next steps: Self-assessment of CCM status

Next steps: Call to action

Benchmark Report 2025

Written by

Tim Cummins Follow me on LinkedIn

Ajay Agrawal Follow me on LinkedIn

Resources

Become a member

Tim Cummins

Ajay Agrawal