By Fayola-Maria Jack

For too long, commercial conflicts disputes with suppliers and subcontractors have been viewed as unfortunate anomalies — temporary hurdles that teams must grit their teeth and work through. But the reality painted by fresh global data is stark: conflict is no longer occasional or peripheral. It is frequent, costly, and dangerously under-managed. In a world of complex supply chains, evolving expectations, and high-stakes contracts, the ability to manage commercial disagreements must be seen as a critical function of procurement excellence.

New global research conducted by CIPS and Resolutiion has exposed a sobering reality: procurement is facing a conflict crisis, and the cost is compounding. This is not hyperbole.

The data reflects a cross-industry, cross-regional picture in which over 70% of professionals acknowledge that the costs of dealing with supplier and subcontractor disputes (be they financial, operational, or reputational) are increasing.

Timeframes are extending, tensions are rising, and the systems in place to respond are lagging. At a time when agility and value are paramount, these inefficiencies pose a significant threat to performance.

The numbers speak for themselves:

Nearly half of procurement professionals report that it typically takes up to six months to resolve a serious disagreement with a supplier.

For a function tasked with delivering value, ensuring continuity, and sustaining trust, this kind of delay is a massive operational liability. The situation is made worse by a lack of specialised support.

Despite nearly three-quarters of respondents agreeing that bringing in the right help improves outcomes, most organisations still rely primarily on untrained team members to resolve disputes as an add on to their core responsibilities.

This is despite the fact that the management and resolution of disputes is a very specialist skillset, both complex and demanding, and requires training. This misalignment between belief and behaviour is both telling and risky.

Underestimation and blind spots

This is more than a process issue — it’s a strategic blind spot. It reflects a systemic underestimation of what it takes to handle complex, high-value supplier relationships in the modern economy. Procurement cannot fulfil its growing strategic role while it continues to treat conflict resolution as an administrative inconvenience. The truth is that effective conflict management is a cornerstone of commercial maturity. Ignoring this puts long-term value, innovation, and relationships at risk.

Conflicts in procurement aren’t just painful — they’re expensive.

Nearly half of the professionals surveyed have been directly involved in disputes valued at more than £1 million. Some have managed conflicts exceeding £5 million in value.

These figures are not just statistics — they represent stalled projects, delayed deliveries, derailed partnerships, and reputational damage. Often, the source of the problem is entirely preventable: misalignment on deliverables, inadequate contract language, delayed payments, and reactive contract administration. Each of these issues points to a lack of integration between procurement’s strategic objectives and its operational processes.

Procurement leaders overwhelmingly agree that conflict resolution is no longer a legal department issue, it’s part of the procurement DNA.

When 90% of procurement professionals say that conflict management should be a core competency of the function, that’s not a suggestion, it’s a directive.

It reflects a fundamental shift in expectations. Today’s procurement professionals are expected to be more than buyers. They are relationship architects, risk managers, and commercial strategists. Managing conflict constructively is central to all three of those roles.

The data is clear: current approaches are outdated, reactive, and too reliant on informal negotiation or chance. It's time for a fundamental rethink. Procurement must move from a reactive posture to a proactive, process-led model of conflict resolution. This means creating structured frameworks with clearly defined escalation points, timelines, and resolution pathways. It also means adopting digital platforms designed to facilitate efficient and pragmatic resolutions. These tools can transform the way disputes are managed, making resolution faster, more transparent, and far more effective.

There’s also some education to be done. A dispute is not just a legal claim, it is what is says on the tin – two parties in a tense disagreement. ‘We don’t have any conflict' is naive – every business faces regular conflict, internally and externally. Conflict is something that will never go away, it is part of human nature that plagues our personal and professional lives. 

‘We don’t have any disputes’ is dangerous – every business battle complex issues with suppliers daily, an activity that takes time, resilience, and focus. It requires acknowledgement, so that professionals engaged in this demanding and stressful activity can be better supported. And the survey drew out just how much resilience it requires of an individual – a lot.

AI to the rescue

Trying to manage commercial conflict in spreadsheets and email threads is like doing risk management with a blindfold on. In today’s volatile procurement landscape, where even small issues can escalate quickly into million-pound disputes, organisations must adopt tools that match the complexity of their environments.

Platforms like Resolutiion utilise AI specifically designed for dispute resolution to deliver transparency, precision, and speed – three factors that significantly improve outcomes. Without these, procurement teams are not just under-equipped, they are exposed.

These early insights are just the tip of the iceberg. The full Global Procurement Conflict & Dispute Resolution Report, launching shortly, will dive deeper into the data and draw a more complete picture. It will unpack global and regional variations, sector-specific pressures, and the practical steps organisations are taking – and failing to take – to respond. It will provide a roadmap that procurement leaders can use to benchmark their performance, identify capability gaps, and chart a path toward becoming a conflict-resilient function.

This is not just another report. It’s a rallying cry, and a roadmap to better outcomes and better supplier relationships. It signals a new phase of maturity for procurement, one where commercial conflict is treated with the same rigor, investment, and foresight as supplier performance and risk management.

Conflict is very much a risk activity, with material financial impact. The report will serve as a critical resource for anyone serious about elevating procurement’s strategic impact within their organisation. It will also highlight the early adopters, those pioneering new models of dispute management that are faster, smarter, and more constructive.

If there’s one takeaway from this research, it’s this: the future of high-performing procurement depends on how well we manage conflict.

Conflict is not going away. On the contrary, it is becoming more complex and more frequent. The difference between organisations that thrive and those that falter will often come down to how they respond to the obvious state of play. Those who build capability (through systems, through skills, through culture) will turn disputes into opportunities to strengthen relationships and drive innovation. Those who do not will be left reacting to problems, rather than shaping solutions, and the huge financial loss that many are failing to measure will just continue to get steeper.

In a volatile, fast-moving global supply chain environment, those who can manage conflict confidently, constructively and quickly will not only avoid risk, but they’ll also build trust, unlock value, and win. They’ll be the ones who deliver resilience under pressure, who turn breakdowns into breakthroughs, and who lead supplier ecosystems defined not by friction but by collaboration. These are the hallmarks of next-generation procurement leadership.

The procurement profession has never been more strategically positioned. With growing visibility, increased influence, and rising expectations, procurement has both the mandate and the means to lead on conflict resolution. But that leadership must be intentional. It must be supported by investment in tools like Resolutiion. Most of all, it must be built on a new mindset that conflict is not a sign of failure, but a test of capability.

Stay tuned as the full report is coming soon. It will offer the insights, data, and direction needed to act with confidence. For now, procurement professionals should reflect on this: if conflict is inevitable, what are you doing to manage it better than your competitors?

Because in the high-stakes game of global commerce, those who master conflict will define the future of procurement and build the strongest relationships that deliver the most value – a key enabler of growth.