Most organizations struggle with a procurement readiness gap, lacking the data, processes, and skills to deliver strategic value beyond cost savings. Only 8% have a defined AI roadmap with clear milestones, while 68% are piloting AI without formal plans, indicating widespread opportunity to transform procurement into a strategic growth enabler through deliberate capability building and AI implementation.
- 69% of organizations expect procurement to deliver both cost reduction and increased strategic value, with only 3% viewing it as a cost control function.
- Only 11% involve procurement during business-case development and requirements definition, the most strategic phase of the purchasing cycle.
- 70% have developing supply chain resilience strategies, while only 8% have proactive, comprehensive frameworks that are continuously tested and updated.
- Just 8% have a defined procurement AI roadmap with clear milestones and active execution, while 68% pilot AI without formal plans and 48% cite poor data quality as the top obstacle to AI value.
- Top AI use cases are contract review and risk identification (58%) and spend analytics (55%), but distinguishing high-value tools from overhyped solutions remains a challenge for 47% of organizations.
Procurement is increasingly viewed as a strategic business function expected to deliver value beyond cost savings. Yet many organizations are still building the foundational data, processes, skills, and governance needed to consistently deliver higher levels of strategic value.
Close to 69% of respondents to ProcureAbility’s “2026 State of Procurement Report” are looking for both cost reduction and increased strategic value from their procurement department. Another 26% are looking for their procurement department to function as a strategic growth enabler helping to drive revenue and innovation. And, only 3% viewed the function strictly as a cost control and compliance function.
“Procurement’s mandate has expanded beyond cost savings, with organizations increasingly looking to the function to drive strategic value, growth, innovation, and resilience,” says Conrad Snover, CEO of ProcureAbility. “The opportunity now is to close the readiness gap by building the capabilities and partnerships that turn procurement’s growing influence into measurable enterprise value.”
Key takeaways:
· While 45% of respondents said procurement is involved before supplier discussions begin, only 11% said it participates during business-case development and requirements definition, which is the earliest, and often most strategic, point in the purchasing cycle. By comparison, 39% said procurement is brought in after suppliers have already been identified, while 5% said it is engaged primarily during contract negotiation.
· 71% of those surveyed stated they have moderate negotiation leverage. 10% of organizations have very strong negotiation leverage and 19% stated that they have poor negotiation leverage because they get involved too late in the process and there are few suppliers to choose from.
· 70% of respondents described their supply chain resilience strategy as “developing” and therefore not yet fully operationalized. Only 8% reported having a proactive, comprehensive framework that is continuously updated and tested.
· 68% said they are piloting AI in select procurement areas without a formal plan, while 24% are still exploring possibilities. Only 8% have a defined procurement AI roadmap with clear milestones and active execution.
· The leading use cases are AI-assisted contract review and risk identification (58%) and AI-powered spend analytics and category insights (55%). However, poor data quality or insufficient data infrastructure, identified by 48%, is the top obstacle to realizing measurable AI value. Difficulty distinguishing high-value tools from overhyped solutions follows closely at 47%.
