The Contract Was Signed. The Value Is Still at Risk.

The Contract Was Signed. The Value Is Still at Risk.

A signed contract is not a result. It is the start of an operating obligation. If nobody owns the commitments, notices, price changes and renewal dates, the business is relying on memory to protect commercial value.

World Commerce & Contracting reports an average 11% of contract value is lost after signature in its procurement value-gap research. Treat that as a warning signal, not a forecast for your organisation. The controllable question is whether your teams can see and act on the promises already made. WorldCC, Closing the Procurement Value Gap

Turn contract language into owned actions

For each material agreement, identify the obligations that affect cash, service, risk or customer outcomes. Give every obligation an accountable owner, due date, evidence requirement and escalation route. “The business owns it” is not an owner. Name a person or role that can act.

Prioritise commitments that can change the economics: service levels and credits, volume tiers, indexation, rebates, acceptance criteria, notice periods, audit rights and dependencies on third parties. Do not bury them in a repository and call that contract management.

Control changes before they become facts

Scope changes, informal approvals and operational workarounds can alter the deal without updating the record. Set a clear route for variation: who can approve it, what commercial impact must be assessed, and where the signed change is stored. Reconcile operational reality against the executed terms at a defined cadence.

A variation log should show the request, decision, value impact, approver and effective date. If delivery teams are working to a different scope from the contract, surface the gap while it can still be corrected.

Make renewal a commercial decision

A renewal date is not a reminder to extend by default. Start early enough to assess performance, usage, alternatives, exit assistance, price changes and the cost of switching. Bring procurement, legal, finance and the service owner into one decision, with the evidence in front of them.

Measure what the operating model changes

Track obligations completed on time, open exceptions, unapproved variations, missed notices and renewal decisions made before the deadline. These are management signals, not vanity dashboard counts. Link them to avoided cost, recovered value or protected service where evidence supports the connection.

The executive test is simple: can the business tell you what it promised, who owns delivery and what happens when performance slips? If not, the signature has created exposure, not control.