Contracts ‘set the tone for the relationship’, especially in more strategically important interactions. The design of the contract, the way it is worded and negotiated, all have a psychological impact on the parties, influencing the way they perceive the counter-party and subsequently behave.

IACCM is about to enter its 20th year. Back in 1999, very few people cared about commercial or contract management. While they existed as job titles, there was no consistent definition of role or purpose. I remember a common reaction to IACCM’s incorporation was “It will never survive”. Now, so much has changed ….

As we enter a new year, it is a time when many people wonder about their future. The holiday period causes many to reflect on whether they are doing the right thing, in the right place, with the right people.

If your job involves writing, negotiating or managing contracts, should you be worried about automation?

In 2018, the International Association for Contract & Commercial Management grew by more than 25%. Growth came from multiple sources – so what are the factors that have resulted in a total membership now exceeding 53,000?

Are you feeling uncertain? Do you watch the chaos of politics, the tensions over world trade, and wonder where we are headed?

This year’s IACCM benchmark study of the contracting process shows no improvement in typical cycle times for reaching contract signature. At a time when digitization and robotic process automation are streamlining many other business processes, the continued bottlenecks that delay contract closure are not good news.

IACCM is pleased to announce that it has been working with the Business School and Law School at Leeds University in the UK to develop a new Masters program (MSc or LLM) in International Commercial and Contract Management. Available as either a two year part-time or one year full-time course, this represents a unique collaboration between a leading business school, law school and professional association.

To be agile is to move quickly and easily. As a project management method, it is characterized by the division of tasks into short phases of work and frequent adjustments of plans. As a contract management method, it is characterized by collaborative relationships with outcome and performance-based contracts, designed to deal with high levels of uncertainty. The fundamental premise is that you can’t plan or contract for what is unknown, so decisions are made along the way as better information becomes available through experimentation and client feedback. This allows you to adapt as circumstances change and to counter predictive risk.