The contract management profession is on the up. The European School of Contract Management, in conjunction with e2cm Consulting, conducted a nationwide survey of this community. The aim was to measure trends: the presence of French Contract Managers, their day-to-day practices, and the maturity and outlook for Contract Management.
The full results of the survey have been available since the beginning of April in the Journal du Management Juridique et Réglementaire, the magazine for legal departments. DiliTrust’s enterprise-wide contract management solution deciphers the main results for you.
Delays in orders and payments, difficulties in obtaining supply chain information… The negative effects are manifold. But analyzing contracts and managing contractual risks are ways of dealing with them.
Contract Manager, an increasingly popular term
The evolution of interest in this search
Google Trends, the Google tool that tracks the frequency with which a term is typed into the search engine, tells us that over the past 10 years, French web users have become increasingly interested in the term Contract Manager.
But what exactly is behind this term?
A study carried out in early 2020 by the European School of Contract Management, in conjunction with e2cm Consulting, sheds some light on the subject. More than 265 respondents helped to map the main trends and practices in this business.
The results have been divided into four parts: the geographical presence and distribution of French Contract Managers, the practice and maturity of this profession, and finally, its outlook.
Part 1: Presence and distribution
Geographical presence
Looking at France – Contract Managers are less and less concentrated geographically. Whereas 4 years ago, 75% of them were based in the Ile-de-France region, by 2020, 54% of them are. 7.2% of Contract Managers even work abroad!
More precisely, the majority of Contract Managers are located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and PACA regions.
Practice sectors
Four years ago, the majority of contract managers worked in industry. Today, only 24.9% of them do so. The previously rather discreet construction and civil engineering (21.9%), IT and telecoms (21.1%) and energy (21.9%) sectors are now represented in 2020. Research and pharmaceuticals will also be making an appearance (1.5%). Last but not least, banking and insurance services will hold steady at 3.4%.
Company sizes
The recruitment of Contract Managers is still very much concentrated in large groups: 50.9% of Contract Managers are employed by companies with over 5,000 employees. However, the number of contract managers is increasing among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies (MSEs).
Contract management structures are multiplying within companies, either within general management or in another separate department. A quarter of all Contract Managers work in teams of 2 to 5 people, and a fifth in departments of 10 to 50 people.
Part 2: Day-to-day business
The study shows that Contract Managers are increasingly attached to operational staff. The figures show that 4 years ago, 67% of Contract Managers were attached to the legal department, compared with 26% in 2020. Today, they are mainly attached to general management or purchasing.
With regard to the background of Contract Managers, 43% are engineers and project managers, and 33% are lawyers. Buyers are also increasingly present. In 2016, 51% were lawyers and 27% operational staff.
Contract Managers’ commitment to the contractual life cycle
Contract Managers are mobilized for the entire contractual life cycle, although their post-sales involvement is gaining ground. In reality, they are often recruited to manage a project precisely on this “post-sales” part, and in a hurry.
Pre-sales work is becoming a minority activity, reserved for other professions such as sales, legal or bid managers.
The tools of choice for Contract Managers
The study reveals that the overwhelming majority of Contract Managers (79.2%) use a standard office suite to carry out their tasks. This is rather surprising, given that the trend is towards the automation of time-consuming tasks, thanks to technology and artificial intelligence in particular. What’s more, tools dedicated to managing contract cycles receive even lower scores than in 2016.
Part 3: Contract Management maturity
Years of global experience
The study reveals that 75% of French Contract Managers have more than 10 years’ experience. The reasons given for this figure :
Years of experience as a Contract Manager
28.3% of Contract Managers have between 2 and 5 years’ experience exclusively in Contract Management.
Business maturity from the point of view of Contract Managers
For 55.1% of respondents, the contract management profession is still developing, and much remains to be done.
Part 4: Outlook for the Contract Manager function
The study shows that, thanks to the multi-disciplinary nature of the Contract Manager function, bridges between this and other professions are becoming increasingly common. We note that a quarter of participants did not identify any career springboards, particularly in small companies.
Contract Managers’ salaries
On this subject, the news is rather good! The study reveals that 35.1% of Contract Managers earn between 50 and 70,000 euros gross per year (up 10 points in 4 years).
