Many companies have long treated pricing as a strategic priority – and rightly so. But in today’s exceptionally uncertain environment, even strong pricing strategies and sound processes are being tested.

New tariffs, fluctuating material and wage costs, shifts in customer demand, and competitive pressures – all at once – create a level of external volatility that most pricing systems weren’t designed to handle. What worked before may no longer be enough.

Done well, pricing remains the most powerful lever for profitability. Every extra Euro or Dollar earned through price flows straight to the bottom line. But succeeding now means rethinking both the strategy and the process behind it.

What Does Future-Ready Pricing Look like?

Strategy must anchor pricing in your value proposition, while allowing for fast tactical adjustments when markets shift.

Process must be dynamic and cross-functional – connecting data from Sales, Finance, Marketing, Operations, Procurement, and more – and ideally, AI-enabled to simulate outcomes, flag risks and accelerate decision-making. Marketing plays a pivotal role here: not only in shaping the perceived value that pricing reflects, but in bringing customer, brand and competitive insights into the heart of pricing decisions.

The challenge? Pricing touches every part of the business. It’s complex. Often political. And slow. But in uncertain times, companies can no longer afford reactive, siloed or intuition-led decisions.

We help clients transform pricing by applying a four-step model for successful change:

• Case for Change: Why must our current pricing strategy and process evolve – now? What risks are we exposed to if we don’t?
• Clear Shared Vision: What does “future-ready pricing” look like—both in terms of value creation and operational agility?
• Feasible Plan: How do we get there—balancing quick wins (e.g. AI pilots, governance tweaks) with longer-term structure and alignment?
• Capacity & Capability to Execute: Do our teams – across Sales, Finance, and Marketing – have the tools, data, and confidence to act? Can we empower cross-functional collaboration and real-time decision-making?

In one recent case, we helped a leading industrial player double their annual pricing impact, to €50M—through pricing and process optimisation, applying the 4-step model.

When all four steps are addressed, pricing becomes more than a margin protector. It becomes a driver of resilience and growth – even in uncertainty.

Especially in uncertainty.