A new global benchmark has revealed that most organizations remain structurally unprepared for prolonged market uncertainty. Despite significant investment in technology and digital transformation, a contracting governance crisis is leaving businesses exposed to inefficiency, risk, and underperformance.
The Benchmark Report 2025: The Race Is On – Navigating Uncertainty Through CCM Resilience, produced by the Commerce & Contract Management Institute (CCM Institute) in collaboration with the World Commerce & Contracting (WorldCC) , NCMA, and Sirion, found that 87% of organizations now operate under sustained uncertainty, yet few have developed the leadership and accountability frameworks required to manage it effectively. The report also reveals that organizations that have successfully made technological advances in their contracting processes are significantly better equipped to navigate market uncertainty.
The data shows that 70 to 80% of organizations lack a clear owner for contracting performance, creating what researchers describe as a system of shared responsibility but “diffused accountability.” Although 88% of senior executives recognize that contract and commercial management (CCM) directly affects resilience, the report notes that progress has been slow because the discipline is often treated as a technical or compliance function rather than a strategic one.
“This report is a clear mandate for immediate action,” said Sally Guyer, Chief Executive Officer of WorldCC. “For too long, organizations have treated commercial and contracting excellence as a complex, second-tier priority, and that has created a structural vulnerability we can no longer afford. The data is definitive: the organizations that will thrive in this ‘new normal’ are the ones who recognize that CCM is the catalyst for business resilience.”
Buyers Are Losing the Capability Race
The 2025 benchmark exposes a widening performance gap between buyers and sellers. Across all key performance metrics, suppliers are outperforming buyers by more than 20%.
Buy-side organizations are far less consistent in their approach to contract negotiation and management. Their extensive use of contract templates and a strong focus on compliance have turned traditional buyer leverage into a source of rigidity, particularly as contract lifecycles grow more complex and interdependent.
Integrated commercial models show more promise. Organizations that align buy-side and sell-side governance functions consistently demonstrate above-average performance capabilities, suggesting that shared accountability and cross-functional visibility yield higher adaptability. The report concludes that resilience cannot be achieved solely through control mechanisms; it depends on an organizational design that allows for flexibility and clarity of ownership.
Technology Amplifies, but Doesn’t Replace, Leadership
Technology remains a differentiator. The findings highlight a sharp decline in scepticism toward AI’s role in contracting, with over 80% expecting it to play a major role within the next two years. It underscores the accelerating presence and importance of AI in contracting. Beyond its established use in contract repositories, AI is increasingly being leveraged for contract creation and drafting, summary generation, and contract review. Obligation extraction has also emerged as a rapidly growing area of focus.
However, the findings caution against viewing AI as a cure-all. The sell-side currently enjoys a 37% technology advantage, averaging 8.41 digital capabilities per person compared with 6.52 on the buy-side. Sell-side teams lead across post-signature monitoring, obligation management, and digital playbook deployment—areas directly linked to commercial agility.
The data indicates that digitalization without governance often amplifies existing flaws. The benchmark warns of “data-rich but insight-poor” environments, where automation improves efficiency but not accountability. Many organizations have prioritized tools over talent, focusing on pre-award efficiency while neglecting post-award performance management.
“Our research uncovers a fundamental governance failure,” said Tim Cummins, Executive Director of the CCM Institute. “When 70% to 80% of businesses lack a single point of clarity for contracting performance, it creates a system defined by inertia and risk. You cannot automate your way out of a governance crisis. The race for resilience will not be won by those who invest the most in new tools, but by those who first establish clear accountability, build adaptive leadership, and invest in the human talent needed for an AI-transformed future.”
Leadership and Accountability Define Resilience
The data points to leadership, not budget, as the key predictor of commercial maturity. While 42% of organizations cite budget constraints as a limiting factor, sector comparisons reveal that performance correlates more closely with structure and leadership than with financial capacity.
Manufacturing achieves a 1.20 management ratio, while the public sector lags at 0.82, despite similar levels of investment. The report also finds that 30% of executives identify weak leadership as the main obstacle to improvement, followed by 27% citing unclear roles and 25 to 30% citing structural confusion.
These weaknesses are particularly visible in highly regulated sectors. Aerospace and defense and public administration score lowest in adaptability, 3.42 and 3.43, respectively, as legacy hierarchies impede rapid response. Conversely, manufacturing and consumer goods sectors perform better due to integrated contracting models and more consistent leadership accountability.
From Awareness to Action
The benchmark calls for a redefinition of governance. Researchers urge organizations to assign explicit ownership for contracting outcomes, align leadership accountability with business objectives, and strengthen talent pipelines in commercial and legal disciplines. The report also emphasizes the value of integrated governance, where buy-side and sell-side collaboration improves visibility and reduces friction across contract lifecycles.
“Eighty-eight percent of enterprises now recognize that commercial and contract management excellence drives performance. The real question is: how do we turn that recognition into meaningful change?” said Ajay Agrawal, Founder and CEO of Sirion. “At Sirion, we see that evolution taking shape every day—as intelligence becomes part of the system itself, where data, context, and intent come together to guide every decision, every agreement, every action.”
A Structural Challenge for the Decade Ahead
The Benchmark Report 2025 frames the next five years as a defining period for commercial governance. With market volatility expected to remain high, leadership clarity and contracting accountability are emerging as core determinants of resilience.
The CCM Institute’s research underscores a simple truth: organizations that treat contracting as an administrative exercise will continue to lag behind those that treat it as a strategic function. The race for resilience, as the report concludes, is no longer about who has the most tools, but rather who has the clearest leadership.
