New report reveals leadership gaps hinder commercial resilience amid growing market uncertainty

The latest Benchmark Report 2025 exposes widespread governance weaknesses in organisations, emphasising the urgent need for strategic leadership and integrated commercial models to enhance resilience in unpredictable markets.

A recent global benchmark report has laid bare a pervasive structural vulnerability among organisations struggling to manage prolonged market uncertainty despite ongoing investments in technology and digital transformation. Produced by the Commerce...

& Contract Management Institute (CCM Institute) in conjunction with World Commerce & Contracting (WorldCC), the NCMA, and Sirion, the Benchmark Report 2025: The Race Is On – Navigating Uncertainty Through CCM Resilience reveals that 87% of organisations now operate amidst sustained uncertainty but have yet to establish effective leadership and accountability frameworks necessary to navigate it.

According to the report, a critical governance crisis is hampering commercial resilience. Between 70 to 80% of organisations lack a clearly designated owner for contracting performance, resulting in what researchers describe as “diffused accountability.” Despite 88% of senior executives recognising contract and commercial management (CCM) as a key driver of resilience, many continue to treat it as a technical or compliance function rather than a strategic priority. Sally Guyer, CEO of WorldCC, emphasised to Grit Daily that this misplaced approach has created a “structural vulnerability we can no longer afford,” underscoring a pressing need for organisations to elevate contracting excellence as central to business adaptability.

The report highlights a widening capability gap particularly between buyers and sellers. Suppliers outperform buyers by over 20% across key performance metrics, primarily because buy-side organisations have become entrenched in rigid contract templates and compliance-focused approaches that have eroded traditional leverage, especially as contracts grow increasingly complex and interdependent. Conversely, organisations adopting integrated commercial models—where buy-side and sell-side governance functions are aligned—demonstrate higher adaptability and performance, suggesting that clarity of ownership and cross-functional collaboration are essential for resilience.

Technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), is playing an increasingly prominent role, with over 80% of organisations expecting AI to significantly impact contracting within the next two years. AI applications are evolving beyond contract repositories to include contract drafting, summary generation, review, and obligation extraction. Nonetheless, the report cautions against overreliance on technological solutions. Sellers currently enjoy a 37% technology advantage over buyers, utilising digital tools more extensively across post-signature monitoring, obligation management, and digital playbook deployment—key areas linked to commercial agility.

Tim Cummins, Executive Director of the CCM Institute, warned that digitalisation without strong governance exacerbates existing flaws: “You cannot automate your way out of a governance crisis.” Many organisations have prioritised automation tools focused on pre-award efficiency but neglected the post-award management critical to managing risk and performance. This has resulted in ‘data-rich but insight-poor’ environments that fail to convert automation gains into strategic advantage.

Leadership emerges as the determining factor in commercial maturity and resilience. While budget constraints are acknowledged, the report finds that performance disparities align more closely with structural clarity and leadership quality than with financial capacity across sectors. For example, manufacturing achieves higher management ratios and adaptability scores than highly regulated sectors such as aerospace, defence, and public administration, where legacy hierarchies inhibit rapid response. Approximately 30% of executives cited weak leadership as the primary barrier to improvement, alongside unclear roles and structural confusion.

This structural challenge is underscored by complementary research. A 2024 WorldCC and Deloitte report revealed that only 39% of legal professionals believe contracts meet their intended objectives, with 76% citing inefficiencies in contracting processes. Similarly, a study detailed by Mitrade found companies lose up to 15% of their annual business value due to inefficient contract management, including losses amounting to 8.6% in revenue and cost efficiency. These findings highlight the pressing need to shift contracting from a compliance risk document to a strategic financial asset. Research from the CCM Institute also indicates that organisations leveraging contracts as sources of financial intelligence outperform peers by as much as 5.4% of contract value.

The Benchmark Report calls for a fundamental redefinition of governance in commercial and contract management. Organisations are urged to assign explicit ownership for contracting outcomes, align leadership accountability with overall business objectives, and build stronger talent pipelines in commercial and legal disciplines. The report advocates for integrated governance models that foster collaboration between buy-side and sell-side teams, enabling better visibility, reducing friction, and improving agility across contract lifecycles.

Ajay Agrawal, CEO of Sirion, told Grit Daily that intelligence embedded within contracting systems—where data, context, and intent converge to guide decisions—represents the future of the discipline: “We see that evolution taking shape every day.” This sentiment is echoed in broader initiatives within the profession, such as the upcoming CCM Institute Academic Symposium 2025, which aims to bridge academia and industry through collaboration on adaptive and sustainable commercial resilience strategies.

The imperative is clear: organisations that continue to treat contracting as an administrative necessity will falter in the face of ongoing volatility. The race for resilience, according to the CCM Institute, hinges not merely on technological investment but on leadership clarity, accountability, and the strategic elevation of contract and commercial management. As market volatility persists, those who embrace these principles will be best positioned to thrive in an era defined by uncertainty and complexity.

Source: Noah Wire Services