Intelligent Pricing Needs Intelligent Contracts

CFOs are placing pricing high on the strategic agenda. With trade tensions, shifting supply chains, and cost volatility, organisations are revisiting how they set and adjust prices. But the most important message from the recent Deloitte CFO Signals survey is not simply that pricing matters more, it is that contracts have not kept up.

Pricing is volatile. Most contracts are not set up to handle that volatility and the gap has become costly.

For suppliers, the pressure shows up in margin erosion when input costs rise and contracts offer no relief. For buyers, it comes as unexpected price-increase requests, (or calls for an unplanned price reduction), strained relationships, and difficulty forecasting budgets. When pricing becomes uncertain, rigid contracts become points of friction rather than frameworks for value.

The solution is not to push harder on one side or the other. It is to redesign how pricing is handled in contracts and governed in relationships. So what needs to change?

1. Pricing mechanisms need to be more intelligent.
Fixed prices without adjustment rights no longer reflect market reality. Contracts should incorporate triggers for inflation, commodity shifts, tariff changes, and supply-chain disruptions, based on clear and verifiable rules on how adjustments are calculated. And that means:

2. Both sides need better transparency.
Without visibility into cost drivers or supply pressures, pricing conversations become positional rather than problem-solving. Data-sharing obligations and audit rights can enable more constructive negotiations. And that means:

3. Governance must be more frequent and more commercial.
Annual reviews are too slow. Organisations need structured quarterly pricing reviews, joint risk discussions, and rapid escalation routes when market conditions shift, with some changes potentially automated. And that means:

4. Risk allocation must be revisited.
Inflation, tariffs, regulatory shifts, substitute sourcing are now everyday commercial risks. Contracts should allocate them deliberately rather than remain silent or assume one party can absorb everything. And that means:

5. Contracting teams must step forward.
Pricing is strategic, and contracting is the mechanism through which strategy is executed. Contract professionals need stronger commercial fluency, the ability to model scenarios, and the confidence to negotiate adaptive terms.

The message for both buyers and suppliers is the same: the world has become more uncertain, but most contracts have not adequately adjusted. Those who modernise pricing clauses, strengthen governance, and build more transparent relationships will be better positioned to navigate volatility and to turn uncertainty into opportunity.