Supplier relationships have become a critical factor in how organisations realise value, manage risk, and achieve long-term business objectives. Yet many companies still struggle to move beyond managing individual contracts towards a more structured and scalable approach to supplier management.
Ahead of the 8th World Contract Management Summit, taking place on 17–18 September 2026 in Berlin, we spoke with Linda Tonkes, entrepreneur, CEO and co-owner of CM Partners, Chief Wizard at CATS CM®, and co-author of the internationally acclaimed book Contract Management with CATS CM®. Since 2005, the methodology has been adopted by more than 1,500 organisations worldwide, helping professionals transform contract management into a structured business discipline. In this interview, Linda shares her views on Supplier Relationship Management, the connection between contracts and value realisation, and why the future of contract management depends on bringing greater structure to supplier relationships.
1. What gap in practice — or in the existing literature — made you want to write it?
Over the past decades, we have seen a remarkable maturing of contract management and procurement as disciplines. Yet one critical gap remains: organizations still struggle to shift from managing individual contracts to managing a portfolio of contracts and translate intent into sustained, measurable value on a portfolio level. Much of the existing thinking either remains anchored in strategy (segmentation, supplier tiers, partnerships) in software, or in control (compliance, obligations, and risk). Or it is all about partnerships and relation management. What is missing is a coherent operational model that connects these worlds consistently and at scale with the organizational goals at the center of it all.
For SRM to deliver on that promise, it must evolve beyond concepts and isolated initiatives. It needs to become:
- Structured enough to be repeatable
- Scalable enough to cover the full supplier base
- Integrated enough to connect seamlessly with contract and commercial management
That is the gap this book addresses. With CATS SRM®, the ambition was not to redefine SRM conceptually, but to make it actionable, repeatable, and embedded in daily practice. Because ultimately, the question is no longer whether organizations should manage supplier relationships, but how they can do so in a way that is structurally effective across their entire supplier ecosystem.
2. How does CATS SRM® bridge the gap between contract management and SRM, and why does the distinction matter?
In leading organizations, the traditional boundaries between procurement, contract management, and SRM are becoming increasingly artificial. Suppliers do not experience these disciplines separately; they experience a single relationship that evolves over time.
And that is precisely where things often go wrong. CATS SRM® reframes all processes related to suppliers and contract in an overarching operating model before detailing the blueprint of what process-based supplier management should look like.
3. What do you mean by “structured impact with today's and tomorrow's suppliers”?
The phrase reflects a fundamental shift in how we should think about suppliers. Too often, SRM is reserved for a select group of “strategic” suppliers. But in reality, value, risk, and performance are distributed across the entire supplier landscape.
“Structured impact” means having the ability to:
- Adopt a process-based way of working
- Systematically influence outcomes and therefore the contribution to organizational goals
- Drive portfolio improvements
- Unlock value, regardless of supplier type
“Today’s suppliers” are where organizations often focus. Ensuring continuity, performance, and control.
“Tomorrow’s suppliers” represent something more dynamic: innovation potential, emerging capabilities, and future dependency.
CATS SRM® introduces a graduated and scalable model that allows organizations to:
- Apply the right level of governance to each supplier
- Grow relationships over time
- Avoid both over-engineering and under-management
- Connect pre-award and post-award activities in procurement and contractmanagement by connection future potential and current performance on a portfolio level
The future of SRM lies in managing diversity with consistency, and that is what this methodology is designed to enable.
4. What does good SRM look like at the operational level? Where should professionals start?
For all the strategic discussion around SRM, its success is ultimately determined at the operational level.
Good SRM is not defined by ambition, but by discipline.
You recognize it in organizations where:
- Roles, job functions, process components are clearly defined and interpretated the same by everybody
- Supplier interactions follow clear and recurring rhythms
- Ownership is explicit, not assumed
- Performance conversations are fact-based and forward-looking
- Issues are addressed before they escalate
- And if escalations occur, they are handled in spirit of the SRM-approach
For professionals just starting out, the message is simple: do not wait for a perfect framework to magically happen, start structuring what already exists with the power of the market at your side.
The most effective entry point is to:
- Establish clear ownership of supplier relationships
- Translate organizational goals in supplier objective
- Introduce light but consistent governance moments
- Standardize before you specialize
What matters most is not sophistication, but consistency over time.
5. What did you learn from CATS CM® adoption that shaped CATS SRM®?
The global adoption of CATS CM® provided a powerful reality check: methods succeed not because they are comprehensive, but because they are usable.
Across more than 1,500 organizations, we observed a clear pattern:
- Complexity limits adoption
- Ambiguity limits accountability
- Inconsistency limits impact
At the same time, we saw something else: organizations were already trying to move beyond contract management and procurement, but without a shared structure, those efforts remained fragmented.
CATS SRM® is built on that insight. It is designed as a natural continuation, not a reinvention.
It reflects a fundamental principle: value realization requires the same level of structure as value creation.
6. Which tensions cause the most friction, and how does the methodology help resolve them?
The friction is rarely about intent; it is about misalignment. Procurement optimizes sourcing decisions. Contract management safeguards the contract objectives on a single contract level. The business focuses on outcomes and continuity of projects and services that often combine multiple contracts and the organization’s own effort and capabilities.
Each is valid but without alignment, they create fragmentation in the supplier relationship.
This fragmentation is one of the greatest hidden risks in supplier ecosystems today.
CATS SRM® addresses this by introducing:
- Shared governance models across functions
- Clearly defined and complementary roles
- Alignment of supplier objectives with organizational goals
The real shift is from functional ownership to clear accountability. And that shift is essential if organizations want to move from managing contracts, to additionally managing suppliers and ultimately orchestrating their business ecosystem.
7. What do you hope delegates take away from the session?
More than anything, I hope delegates experience a shift in perspective.
SRM is often perceived as something additional, another layer, another initiative, another complexity.
But in reality, it is the missing capability that allows organizations to fully realize the value of what they have already built.
If delegates leave with one insight, it should be this: the future of contract and commercial management lies not in better agreements alone, but in better-managed supplier relationships of potential and contracted suppliers.
The future of contract and commercial management will not be defined by better contracts, better software solutions, or better people alone, but by how effectively organizations transform ad-hoc activities into process-based management of working relationships with the suppliers that deliver sustained value. Supplier Relationship Management is not the next step, it is the moment where everything we have built so far either delivers impact or falls short. The organizations that succeed will be those that bring structure to that moment.
8. What is consistently misunderstood about SRM?
Perhaps the most persistent misconception is that SRM is reserved for the few (the strategic, the critical, the high-value suppliers).
But the reality is more nuanced and more urgent.
Risk, dependency, the value of customer attractiveness, and major efficiency gains often sit outside that narrow segment.
Another misunderstanding is that SRM is primarily about “relationship” in a human sense. While trust and collaboration matter, sustainable impact comes from structure, clarity, and consistency.
Finally, SRM is often positioned as the next maturity level after contract management. In practice, that creates a divide that should not exist.
SRM is not the next step. It is the continuation of professional contract and commercial management into the phase where value is realized not only on contract level, but also on portfolio level.
And that is exactly where the future of this profession lies.
Interested in learning more? Join us at the 8th World Contract Management Summit in Berlin, where Linda Tonkes will share further insights into Supplier Relationship Management and the future of the profession.
