The Leading Edge

The margin problem facing CFOs – and the commercial solution

In this episode we explore why revenue growth is failing to translate into margin growth, and how a more integrated commercial operating model could help reduce value erosion while strengthening resilience. View the series and supporting insight papers Register for the supporting January 2027 webinar

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The neglected asset that erodes financial performance

In this episode, we explore how organizations can turn fragmented commercial data into actionable intelligence – giving CFOs greater visibility of emerging risks, opportunities, and future financial performance. View the series and supporting insight papers Register for the supporting January 2027 webinar

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Transforming Contracts at Scale: Seth Claus & Mike Stetz on CLM for Federal Primes

Recorded live at NCMA’s World Congress, Nikki Mackay is joined by PwC Partners and CLM Leaders Seth Claus and Mike Stetz to explore what it really takes to transform contract management at scale. Drawing on their experience advising some of the largest U.S. federal primes, Seth and Mike unpack the common misconceptions that can derail CLM transformation and explore how the right approach can deliver value far beyond efficiency and risk reduction. The conversation looks at CLM’s place within the broader enterprise technology stack, where AI is genuinely changing outcomes today, and where expectations may still be running ahead of reality. They also share the critical decisions organizations need to get right from the outset to turn CLM transformation into lasting business value.

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Legal y Procurement: ¿Socios o todavía están en mundos separados?

Analizar cómo está evolucionando la relación entre Legal y Procurement, dónde persisten los principales puntos de fricción y qué oportunidades existen para que ambas funciones trabajen de forma más integrada y generen mayor valor para el negocio. El episodio explorará no solo roles y responsabilidades, sino también cultura, prioridades, formas de trabajo y el impacto creciente de la tecnología y la IA en esta relación. https://ccm.institute/research/publications/details/the-procurement---legal-relationship

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Powering the Business of Government: Nancy Patel on Connecting Cost, Contracts, and AI

Recorded live at NCMA’s World Congress, Nikki Mackay is joined by Nancy Patel, Vice President of Go-To-Market at Unison, to explore how technology is reshaping the business of government and the future of federal contracting. Drawing on more than two decades of experience spanning software engineering, cybersecurity, defense, and public sector leadership, Nancy shares how her technical and business background has shaped her view of the problems technology should be solving. The conversation explores what organizations gain when they connect contract lifecycle management with cost engineering, creating a more complete picture of cost, risk, and performance. Nancy also discusses where AI is genuinely helping to simplify complex data, regulations, and workflows, where the hype may still be ahead of reality, and the broader shifts needed to make government contracting more efficient, connected, and transparent.

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Speed as an Ally, Not an Adversary: Joseph Lyden on Risk, Agility, and Integrity in NATO Procurement

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Beyond Efficiency: Ivalua’s Paul Zammit on What Agentic AI Really Changes in Acquisition

Recorded live at NCMA's World Congress, this episode brings a perspective The Leading Edge doesn't feature often: the view from inside a software vendor building the tools that power acquisition at scale. Host Nikki Mackay sits down with Paul Zammit, Director of Product Marketing for AI and Platform at Ivalua, whose agentic acquisition software is used by ten U.S. states and major defense contractors alike. Sitting close to both Ivalua's Chief Product Officer and Chief AI Officer, Paul offers a rare, grounded read on where AI in acquisition actually stands — cutting through the marketing hype to talk about what's genuinely deliverable today. The conversation digs into whether government and defense buyers face fundamentally different barriers to AI adoption or share the same underlying challenges, unpacks what "agentic" really means in practice versus repackaged automation, and pushes past the usual efficiency narrative to explore the dimensions of change in acquisition that aren't getting enough attention. A candid, vendor's-eye complement to the government and industry voices this series usually features — and a reminder that this shift is about far more than shaving time off a procurement cycle.

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Speed vs. Control: What Top Contractors Are Getting Right and How They’re Evolving in 2026

Recorded live at NCMA World Congress in Florida, this special episode of The Leading Edge explores one of the defining tensions in government contracting: how to move faster without sacrificing control. Nikki Mackay is joined by Deniece Peterson, Vice President of Market Analysis at Deltek, to unpack findings from the 2026 Government Contracting Clarity benchmark. They discuss what separates top-performing contractors, why pricing defensibility has become a strategic priority, how AI and accelerated procurement are reshaping delivery, and the capabilities contractors need to build now to stay competitive. A timely conversation about why, for leading organizations, speed and control aren’t competing priorities, they’re disciplines that must evolve together.

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Elevating SRM from framework to competence

Supplier Relationship Management has never been more important—but why do so many organisations still struggle to make it work? In this episode of The Leading Edge, Nikki Mackay is joined by Tim Cummins, Executive Director of the Commerce & Contract Management Institute, to explore how organisations can move beyond SRM frameworks and build supplier relationships that create real business value. Together, they discuss the cultural, commercial, and leadership shifts needed to embed collaboration across the contract lifecycle, rethink performance measurement, and use contracts to strengthen—not constrain—strategic partnerships. If you're looking to turn supplier relationships into a competitive advantage, this episode is packed with practical insights. Read more here.

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Revealing the 2026 US Public Procurement Benchmark: Product vs. Practice, and Will AI Elevate or Eliminate Us?

Recorded live at World Congress, this special episode of The Leading Edge offers an exclusive first look at the findings from the 2026 US Public Procurement Benchmark Report, ahead of its official launch. Host Nikki Mackay is joined by Dr. Dan Finkenstadt and Patrick Hughes to unpack what the latest data reveals about the current state of U.S. public procurement, from contract management capability and technology adoption to talent and strategic maturity. The conversation also explores two of the event's most compelling debates: whether commercial should be viewed as a product or a practice, and whether artificial intelligence will elevate the profession or ultimately replace it. Combining benchmark insights with expert perspectives, this episode challenges conventional thinking and highlights the practical steps organisations can take to build stronger commercial capability in an increasingly AI-enabled future.

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The performance of performance-based contracting in public outsourcing: a meta-regression analysis

In this episode of The Leading Edge, Nikki Mackay is joined by Pedro Espaillat to explore the realities of performance-based contracting in public outsourcing. Drawing on a meta-analysis, Pedro explains why performance-based contracts do not automatically deliver better outcomes and why success depends on effective governance, meaningful performance measures, supplier selection, and collaborative commercial relationships. Together, they discuss the capabilities organisations need to create contracts that drive long-term value rather than simply measure activity, and the lessons that both public and private sector organisations can apply.

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América Latina y China: oportunidades y nuevas exigencias para contratos, procurement y gestión comercial

Analizar cómo la creciente relación entre América Latina y China está transformando los negocios en la región, y qué implicaciones tiene para los profesionales de contratos, procurement y gestión comercial. Show Notes: https://ccm.institute/insights/show/america-latina-y-china-oportunidades-y-nuevas-exigencias-para-contratos-procurement-y-gestion-comercial https://ccm.institute/insights/show/latin-america-and-china-opportunities-and-new-demands-for-contracts-procurement-and-commercial-management

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The Cost of Mismanaged Agreements; Why Contracting Must Reinvent Itself

Recorded live at Docusign's flagship event, Momentum, this episode of The Leading Edge tackles one of the most persistent and under-acknowledged problems in global business: the sheer scale of value destroyed by poorly designed, poorly executed, and poorly managed commercial agreements. Drawing on CCM Institute's Benchmark research series and Docusign's 2026 research with Deloitte, host Nikki Mackay is joined by Tim Cummins, President of WorldCC and Executive Director of the CCM Institute, and Stéphane Barberet, Group Vice President & General Manager, EMEA at Docusign. Together they unpack why this problem is getting worse despite decades of investment in process and technology, and what separates organisations that capture real ROI from those that don’t. The conversation is grounded in what's already working: Experian cut contract cycle times from 10 days to hours by connecting agreement workflows and making contract data instantly accessible; Perceptyx slashed NDA turnaround by 99%, from a week to under an hour; and AON is migrating over 400 million documents into a single intelligent agreement management platform, replacing six legacy vendors and cutting document generation time by 99% freeing its legal team from hours of manual work every week. As agentic AI reshapes what a "contract" even is, moving from static document to operating system for a relationship, Tim and Stéphane make the case that the time for incremental improvement is over. With Docusign IAM, the tools, evidence, and frameworks for redesign now exist. The only question is who moves first.

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From Contract Management to societal Value Creation: A public Procurement Portfolio Model

In this episode of The Leading Edge, Nikki Mackay is joined by Andrea Patrucco, Robert Handfield, and Daniel J. Finkenstadt to discuss a new approach to public procurement. Together, they explore why traditional procurement models often fail in the public sector and how procurement leaders can better balance accountability, resilience, supplier diversity, and societal value.The conversation examines how public procurement can evolve from a compliance-driven function into a strategic tool for delivering broader economic and social outcomes.

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Desbloqueando el potencial de la Contratación Basada en Resultados

A medida que los gobiernos y las industrias buscan formas de generar más valor con recursos limitados, la Contratación Basada en Resultados (OBC) ofrece una alternativa sólida: cambiar el enfoque de los procesos hacia los resultados. Sin embargo, materializar su potencial requiere más que nuevas plantillas; exige un cambio cultural, definiciones más claras y una colaboración más sólida. En este episodio, analizamos qué está impulsando el resurgimiento de la OBC, qué obstáculos enfrenta y cómo las organizaciones pueden convertir la ambición en un impacto medible. Outcome Based Contracting in the US Government

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The Role of Lawyers in a Changing World

In this episode, we explore how the role of lawyers is evolving in response to shifting market dynamics, technological disruption, and new contracting models. We examine how legal professionals are moving beyond traditional risk management toward becoming strategic partners in designing resilient, adaptive, and outcome-focused commercial relationships.

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Decades of Lost Potential in Defense Research and Development

In this episode, we unpack a deep and systemic challenge at the heart of U.S. defense innovation: how a flagship program intended to catalyse breakthrough technologies has, over decades, evolved into an engine of bureaucratic inertia and entrenched incumbency. Using the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program as a case study, we explore how misaligned incentives, flawed policy design, and organisational risk aversion have constrained entry for truly innovative firms, starved defence research of fresh ideas, and squandered taxpayer resources. More than a critique of one program, this episode surfaces strategic questions about how defence innovation systems reward incumbency, how they bridge early-stage research to real operational impact, and what meaningful reform would require in an era of rapid technological challenge and great-power competition.

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China's CCM capability gap: a strategic inflection point for global commerce

In this episode, we explore whether China’s transition from manufacturing to services is truly constrained by a lack of Contract and Commercial Management (CCM) capability – or whether the reality is more nuanced. We examine how different operating models – from scale-based manufacturing to more flexible, scope-based delivery – create very different commercial demands, and why China’s rapid capability development may be less about absence and more about compression. Ultimately, we’ll explore whether this moment represents a true capability gap – or a transitional phase that is already reshaping global competition. Read more.

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¿La IA es la oportunidad que Procurement (Compras / Abastecimiento) estaba esperando para reinventarse?

Enfoque: En este episodio exploramos cómo la IA está transformando el panorama de Procurement, no al mejorar el modelo tradicional, sino al cuestionar su propia existencia. A medida que los sistemas inteligentes automatizan tareas tradicionales, el enfoque debe pasar del control y el cumplimiento hacia la creatividad comercial, la integración estratégica y el valor a lo largo de todo el ciclo de vida del contrato. Analizaremos cómo podría verse esta reinvención y qué está en juego si no damos ese salto. Leer más. Este episodio forma parte de nuestra serie en español, presentada por Cinthia Nazario.

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To become ‘commercial’, public procurement must confront its contradictions

In this episode, we explore the uncomfortable truth behind the push for “more commercial” public procurement. Governments want faster delivery, better value, and more innovative partnerships with suppliers. As markets become more volatile, interconnected, and risk-laden, we examine why procurement systems built for compliance, control, and public perception struggle to operate in environments that demand adaptability, shared risk, and commercial judgment. Meaningful reform will require rethinking how trust, accountability, and commercial capability actually work in the public sector. Read more.