Adaptive & Agile: turning words to reality

Adaptive and agile. These are words that keep appearing in the context of how business (and government) must change. Adaptive and agile process. Adaptive and agile systems. Adaptive and agile workers. Adaptive and agile supply chain. The list goes on. Strangely enough, one of the few areas that has been missing is a call for adaptive and agile contracts – even though this is perhaps one of the most critical enablers of change. The rigidity of most contracts, along with serious under-investment in contracting process and capability, has become glaringly obvious throughout this pandemic.

Calls for adaptability and agility are scarcely new. The experience of coronavirus has shown that progress in embedding these capabilities and behaviors has been limited, especially in key aspects of supply relationships. The most recent IACCM report on the business impact of the pandemic draws from input by more than 2,000 commercial, legal and sourcing practitioners to identify not only the challenges, but more importantly what needs to change. The infographic below summarizes how our new commercial world must look if we truly want to build capability in managing uncertainty – to be adaptive and agile.

Next week, in webinars entitled ‘Emergence – Commerce & Contracting Post-COVID-19‘, IACCM will set out these findings in more detail and outline the steps being taken to truly ‘re-imagine commerce’ and make it truly adaptive and agile.