C-Suite Cites Contract Savings as No. 1 Strategy to Combat Tariffs in New Survey from Icertis

Icertis, the global leader in AI-powered contract intelligence, today published a new survey based on responses from more than 1,000 C-suite executives. The survey found that nearly 90 percent of C-suite leaders agree tariffs will impact their bottom line, and among strategies to mitigate the effects, contracts are the first line of defense.  

Results revealed the top five ways executives are navigating the impact of tariffs, all of which call for rapid contract analysis and optimization at scale:  

• Reviewing contracts for potential savings opportunities (55 percent).
• Rethinking long-term sourcing strategies (48 percent).
• Restructuring supply chains (47 percent).
• Rethinking strategic partnerships (46 percent).
• Working to close deals faster to bring cash into the business (45 percent).

In addition to tariffs, C-suite leaders cite inflation and interest rates (54 percent), pressure to show ROI from AI investments (46 percent), pressure to keep pace with AI innovation (46 percent), and supply chain complexity and disruptions (44 percent) as the top factors contributing to stress in their role.  

As these macro challenges build and the need for business agility intensifies, so do the demands that weigh on today’s executives:  

• 90 percent of survey respondents say pressure to deliver business results has increased over the last year.
• 91 percent say it is harder to make the right business decisions today than this time last year.
• Due to the current business environment, more than half of C-suite leaders are considering pursuing a leadership role at another company or in another industry. More than one third are also considering earlier retirement.

“Performance demands on the C-suite have never been higher amidst uncertainties like tariffs, but contracts are the key to capturing savings in supplier relationships, expediting cash flow in customer deals, and optimizing partnerships for commercial benefit. That’s why the Icertis survey points to contracts as the lifeline that business leaders are looking for,” said Bernadette Bulacan, Chief Evangelist, Icertis. “Most enterprises have thousands – if not millions – in unrealized value hidden in their contracts. The power of AI enables enterprises to immediately unlock that value by actioning data-driven insights that lead to better business decisions and measurable ROI.”  

While AI made a prominent appearance among the respondents’ stress factors, the survey also pointed to its duality as both friend and foe to the C-suite:  

• Nearly 80 percent feel pressure to understand complex AI concepts that historically would not have impacted their role.
• Nearly 80 percent find it difficult to determine which AI investments will have the biggest impact on their business, yet 45 percent say AI is already impacting their bottom line and an additional 34 percent say it will impact their bottom line by the end of 2025.
• Nearly 70 percent are already using AI to surface insights from their contract data and 90 percent consider their contracting technology a “must have.”

Icertis Contract Intelligence creates a single source of truth for every business relationship to improve speed and efficiency across contract operations while surfacing value-driving analytics from contract portfolios and optimizing performance to grow revenue and mitigate risk. By developing contract intelligence agents built for the enterprise, Icertis is driving the next era in AI innovation for commercial relationships to further accelerate strategic outcomes and maximize contract value at scale.  

Survey respondents included C-suite executives at companies with more than 5,000 employees across the US, UK, and India. Read Under Siege: How Executives Are Navigating a New Era of Compounded Disruption to learn more and register to attend Tariffs, Trade & Turbulence: Using Contract Intelligence to Navigate Uncertainty.  

About Icertis  

Icertis delivers AI-powered insights and agentic automation to transform static contracts into strategic enterprise advantage. The Icertis Contract Intelligence platform revolutionizes how enterprises manage their customer, supplier, and partner relationships, enabling businesses to grow revenue, control costs, mitigate risk, and ensure compliance. Today, more than one third of the Fortune 100 trust Icertis to realize the full potential of millions of business relationships in more than 90 countries around the world.  

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