The Commerce & Contract Management Institute released their 2025 Benchmark Report today.
1,041 respondents. 7 regions. 10+ sectors.
One finding stopped me cold:
70-80% of organizations lack true accountability for the quality and integrity of their transformation processes.
Not the 48% initially reported.
70-80% after deeper analysis.
Here’s why this matters:
For 26 years, I’ve been documenting why procurement transformations fail at a 70% rate.
For the past week, I’ve been posting about the pattern:
- Gartner says 70% of GenAI initiatives underperform
- McKinsey says practitioners don’t understand their business
- Marijn Overvest publishes 12 Procurement Trends for 2026
All identify the problem. None assess readiness first.
Now Tim Cummins (President, World Commerce & Contracting) has just provided institutional validation:
“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.”
Here’s the pattern his report reveals:
88% of executives acknowledge CCM (Commercial and Contract Management) excellence matters.
But 70-80% lack accountability for the process.
So what happens?
CCM transformation lands in senior leadership’s “too difficult” pile.
It gets pushed behind other priorities.
The result?
- Buy-side capability ratio: 0.93 (struggling with uncertainty)
- Sell-side capability ratio: 1.12 (managing better)
- 87% facing high uncertainty as the “new normal”
But here’s the critical insight:
Organizations that have made real progress in contracting capabilities report that managing market uncertainty has become significantly easier.
Translation:
CCM excellence isn’t something you do after sorting everything else out.
It’s a prerequisite for organizational resilience.
Here’s what the report reveals – and what it doesn’t:
What it shows:
- 70-80% lack accountability
- Technology adoption accelerating (40% using AI, 23% reviewing)
- Sell-side outperforming buy-side (1.12 vs 0.93 capability ratio)
What it doesn’t fully quantify: The outcome deltas from process fixes.
We see feature adoption (obligation extraction, analytics, AI/ML).
But what are the measurable results?
- Cycle-time reduction?
- Value leakage prevention?
- Dispute rate decline?
This is where readiness assessment becomes critical.
Organizations are measuring ACTIVITY (features deployed, processes improved).
But not measuring READINESS (can we execute these successfully?).
The result?
Technology adoption without outcome realization.
Process improvement without performance gains.
Investment without return.
That’s the Phase 0 gap.
The report identifies what’s missing: “Clarity of accountability, well-defined roles and responsibilities, leadership development, strategic AI integration, talent strategy.”
Organizations are deploying frameworks (CMS, CLM technology, AI tools) without assessing whether they’re ready to succeed.
This is the pattern across every domain:
- AI implementations fail → lacking governance structures
- Procurement transformations fail → lacking cross-functional alignment
- CCM initiatives fail → lacking accountability
- Manufacturing excellence programs fail → lacking culture for change
An important note:
This report is co-branded with Sirion (a CLM vendor), so the technology trajectory is naturally prominent.
That’s not a criticism – technology DOES matter.
But here’s the critical sequence:
- First: Assess organizational readiness
- Second: Deploy technology aligned with that readiness
- Third: Measure outcomes from technology deployment
The report focuses on steps 2 and 3.
What’s missing is step 1.
As a runner of 5K, 10K, and 21K races, I know one thing:
If I don’t train, I won’t finish the race – let alone win it.
Transformation is no different.
You can’t skip the training phase (readiness assessment) and expect to finish the race (successful deployment).
The organizations that lead in 2026 won’t be the ones who started first.
They’ll be the ones who trained before the starting gun.
Because here’s the truth:
Uncertainty isn’t the barrier—lack of accountable, adaptive contracting is.
Measure behavioral readiness, then invest.
You can’t automate misalignment.
Thank you to Tim Cummins and the CCM Institute for this critical research.
30
Transformation #Contracting #Procurement #OrganizationalReadiness #CCM
Procurement Insights
I’ve Been Tracking a Pattern for 26 Years. Tim Cummins Just Validated It With Hard Data.
Posted on November 3, 2025
0
The Commerce & Contract Management Institute released their 2025 Benchmark Report today.
1,041 respondents. 7 regions. 10+ sectors.
One finding stopped me cold:
70-80% of organizations lack true accountability for the quality and integrity of their transformation processes.
Not the 48% initially reported.
70-80% after deeper analysis.
Here’s why this matters:
For 26 years, I’ve been documenting why procurement transformations fail at a 70% rate.
For the past week, I’ve been posting about the pattern:
All identify the problem. None assess readiness first.
Now Tim Cummins (President, World Commerce & Contracting) has just provided institutional validation:
“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.”
Here’s the pattern his report reveals:
88% of executives acknowledge CCM (Commercial and Contract Management) excellence matters.
But 70-80% lack accountability for the process.
So what happens?
CCM transformation lands in senior leadership’s “too difficult” pile.
It gets pushed behind other priorities.
The result?
But here’s the critical insight:
Organizations that have made real progress in contracting capabilities report that managing market uncertainty has become significantly easier.
Translation:
CCM excellence isn’t something you do after sorting everything else out.
It’s a prerequisite for organizational resilience.
Here’s what the report reveals – and what it doesn’t:
What it shows:
What it doesn’t fully quantify: The outcome deltas from process fixes.
We see feature adoption (obligation extraction, analytics, AI/ML).
But what are the measurable results?
This is where readiness assessment becomes critical.
Organizations are measuring ACTIVITY (features deployed, processes improved).
But not measuring READINESS (can we execute these successfully?).
The result?
Technology adoption without outcome realization.
Process improvement without performance gains.
Investment without return.
That’s the Phase 0 gap.
The report identifies what’s missing: “Clarity of accountability, well-defined roles and responsibilities, leadership development, strategic AI integration, talent strategy.”
Organizations are deploying frameworks (CMS, CLM technology, AI tools) without assessing whether they’re ready to succeed.
This is the pattern across every domain:
An important note:
This report is co-branded with Sirion (a CLM vendor), so the technology trajectory is naturally prominent.
That’s not a criticism – technology DOES matter.
But here’s the critical sequence:
The report focuses on steps 2 and 3.
What’s missing is step 1.
As a runner of 5K, 10K, and 21K races, I know one thing:
If I don’t train, I won’t finish the race – let alone win it.
Transformation is no different.
You can’t skip the training phase (readiness assessment) and expect to finish the race (successful deployment).
The organizations that lead in 2026 won’t be the ones who started first.
They’ll be the ones who trained before the starting gun.
Because here’s the truth:
Uncertainty isn’t the barrier—lack of accountable, adaptive contracting is.
Measure behavioral readiness, then invest.
You can’t automate misalignment.
Thank you to Tim Cummins and the CCM Institute for this critical research.
30
Transformation #Contracting #Procurement #OrganizationalReadiness #CCM
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