At the start of this week, I had two very different conversations. In each case, the conversation was with the global head of the Commercial & Contract Management function and in each case they were handling major outsourcing and services agreements. But at this point the story starts to diverge. They are summarized below:

Contracts – and especially contract management – continue in many organizations to be seen as largely administrative. For those who perform tasks in this area, that is never good news. Not only does it mean they lack influence and status, it means they are also often seen as dispensable.

The Royal Commission on Financial Services in Australia continues to unearth unprincipled and sometimes illegal activity within many of the industries leading players. These include the enormous scale of commissions paid for the sale of useless products.

At a recent IACCM roundtable, participants discussed the seemingly insoluble issue of maximising value from supply relationships. It was widely agreed that loyalty and collaboration are important characteristics, since they support more open communication and opportunity evaluation. Yet loyalty and collaboration depend on levels of long-term trust and integrity that are rarely achieved. The key issues – especially for buyers – are ‘How do I stop suppliers taking advantage of me and how do I ensure I’m not overpaying or missing out on innovation?’

Competitiive bidding lies at the heart of most procurement strategies. In the case of the public sector, it is foundational to  public procurement regulations.

Elon Musk is on a mission. Writing on Twitter, he said: “We’re trying to get rid of contracts completely. Should just be ‘tap here & you get your car’. Then, if you don’t like it for any reason, just return it like any other product.”

IACCM has recently announced the formation of the IACCM Council, an elected body of members who will be key in the Association’s governance and value delivery. Council delegates will benefit from their unique connection to a powerful network of professional thought-leaders and their access to world-class research. This article provides background to this exciting new development.

At its simplest, the word ‘negotiation’ means no more than having a discussion that is aimed at reaching an agreement. In this context, it seems safe to say that negotiations will survive; it is the current approach to negotiating that, while not yet dead, is in terminal decline.

A few years ago, IACCM explored the range of job titles involved in performing the end to end commercial and contracting process, both buy and sell side. We found approximately 65 titles in common use.

Quality, time and cost are critical indicators for most business functions as they compete for funding and resources.