Case 4: 🛒 Procurement Paralysis – Why Supplier Negotiations Still Drain CFO Time
A mid-sized European manufacturer with a decentralized purchasing structure faced a familiar situation: thousands of active supplier contracts, many outdated or unreviewed.
Despite having a procurement tool in place, actual renegotiations remained rare. Strategic sourcing initiatives were constantly delayed – not due to lack of data, but lack of capacity.
🧩 The Traditional Way – Manual Negotiation, High Time Cost
Typical Breakdown:
- Annual spend reviews done in Excel or PowerPoint
- Category managers manually assess pricing and contract terms
- Legal and finance teams looped in late for compliance and savings validation
- Many renegotiations deprioritized due to “lack of urgency” or staff shortages
⏳ In one real example:
- 800+ suppliers were deemed “strategic”, yet only 12% had been actively reviewed in the last 12 months
- Manual outreach campaigns required 4–6 weeks of email rounds and status calls
- Estimated internal effort: 60–90 hours per sourcing cycle
💡 Where It Goes Wrong
- ❌ Data sits in silos and isn’t actioned
- ❌ Contract renegotiations are dependent on human follow-ups
- ❌ Legal reviews delay deal execution
- ❌ CFO visibility into realized savings is limited
✅ The Efficient Alternative – Automated Negotiation Agents for Finance
At Dr. Zwezich Consulting, we help CFOs implement AI-powered negotiation support tools that:
- Automatically detect expiring or high-impact contracts
- Trigger outreach to suppliers with pre-approved negotiation levers
- Summarize supplier responses and flag legal risks
- Provide real-time dashboards on savings achieved vs. target
🧠 Why It Matters
Strategic sourcing shouldn’t require strategic bandwidth.
With automation, CFOs can reframe procurement as a continuous, data-driven lever – not a yearly panic.
We enable your teams to focus on complex suppliers, while AI handles the 80% of recurring negotiations that drain your margin.