Procurement cycle time

30-day gap between new purchases and renewals

The data reveals a clear efficiency gap: contract renewals now take an average of 30 days longer than new purchases. What used to be routine renewals are now increasingly complex re-negotiations, often delayed by internal approval bottlenecks or late initiation. With average renewals stretching toward 80 days, the traditional 30-day "heads-up" is no longer enough to prevent service interruptions or auto-renewals.

This isn't a temporary blip. Compared to last year, the procurement lifecycle is consistently lengthening, driven by three compounding pressures: the "AI Tax", which adds rigorous security and legal scrutiny; a shift from "growth at all costs" to value discovery, requiring deeper financial justification; and new regulatory and ESG reporting requirements. Together, these create a bottleneck of transparency that manual processes and spreadsheets can't handle.

For procurement teams, moving from reactive buying to proactive orchestration is now essential. Orchestration software can automate multi-stakeholder approval loops, trigger renewal workflows 120 days in advance and ensure contracts are negotiated on time. Without a centralized digital layer, organizations risk slowing innovation and missing out on the substantial savings achievable in today’s market.