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Businesses are transforming procurement from a function focused mainly on buying, processing orders and reducing costs into a more strategic capability: one that helps manage risk, improve decisions, collaborate with suppliers and contribute to business performance. In 2026, digital tools—especially AI—are part of that shift, but technology alone does not deliver it. Results depend on sound data, redesigned processes and roles, skilled people, effective governance and closer integration with the rest of the business.
The figures below come from different surveys and research summaries, not one common forecast. They indicate the direction of change, but should not be treated as universal adoption rates or guaranteed outcomes for an individual company.
What is changing in business procurement?
Procurement teams are being asked to do more than secure goods and services at a lower price. They must also help the organization respond to supply disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, regulatory pressure, supplier risk and digital change—while maintaining speed and cost control. Deloitte’s 2025 global survey of more than 250 chief procurement officers (CPOs) across 40 countries describes rising demand and complexity alongside greater responsibility for the function.
This changes procurement’s place in the organization. Rather than acting primarily as an order taker, it can help shape business planning, supplier choices and commercial decisions. McKinsey describes this shift toward a more embedded role. In practice, it means involving procurement earlier in decisions that affect demand, specifications, sourcing strategy and risk—not only after a business unit has decided what to buy.
The work is also broader than replacing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system or installing source-to-pay software. Deloitte identifies areas such as third-party risk, tariff and commercial management, process orchestration, analytics and data management as part of procurement transformation. These capabilities connect purchasing activity to business priorities; they are not simply additional software modules.
How are AI and digital tools changing procurement?
AI can help with tasks such as reviewing information, producing analysis and supporting routine work. But the central question is not just whether a team has access to AI. It is whether the organization can redesign work so that individual time savings become better team decisions or measurable business outcomes.
In a Gartner survey of 101 CPOs conducted in January and February 2026, 36% said they were very confident in their ability to redesign procurement roles and processes around AI. Gartner cautions that productivity improvements at the individual level are not yet consistently translating into broader team or enterprise results. As Gartner Senior Director Analyst Fareen Mehrzai put it in the May 19, 2026 release: “Procurement teams are seeing productivity gains from GenAI, but without intentional redesign of roles and processes, those gains remain confined to the individual level.”
Adoption figures describe different things
Survey percentages can look contradictory if “AI adoption” is treated as a single measure. The summaries below use different categories and populations; they should not be combined into one market-wide adoption rate.
| Source and year | Reported measure | Finding and context |
|---|---|---|
| The Hackett Group and GEP, 2026, as summarized by GEP | Agentic AI deployment and pilots | About 17% of organizations reported moderate-to-large-scale deployment, while 44% reported piloting agentic AI. GEP identified data quality as a key barrier to scaling. |
| Ardent Partners, 2026, as summarized by GEP | AI initiatives, pilots and live operations | Nearly 60% had AI initiatives underway, 35% were piloting use cases and 22% had AI in live operations. Separately, 61% of CPOs viewed AI as an enabler of productivity and scale. |
These measures are not interchangeable: a pilot, a live AI use case, an initiative and moderate-to-large-scale agentic deployment can mean different things. The summaries do not establish identical sampling or definitions, so they show activity—not a directly comparable ranking of adoption.
What to change when introducing AI
Gartner recommends distinguishing tasks suited to AI from work that depends on human judgment, directing productivity gains toward outcomes such as cost optimization and revenue growth, and updating productivity measures to recognize innovation, complexity and new outputs. These are recommendations, not a universal operating standard. Their practical implication is to decide in advance what people will do with the capacity AI creates and how the business will assess whether that change matters.
For example, if an AI tool shortens a review or analysis task, the transformation plan should specify whether the saved time will support deeper category analysis, faster stakeholder service, supplier collaboration or another defined priority. Without a redesigned workflow, new ownership and a way to measure the resulting output, a faster individual task may not improve the process as a whole.
Why operating-model, data and workforce changes matter
Digital systems work best when they fit processes that have clear ownership and dependable information. GEP’s 2026 summary identifies data quality as a key obstacle to scaling agentic AI. Deloitte’s survey highlights data management, analytics and orchestration as enabling capabilities, while Gartner’s findings underscore the need to redesign roles and processes. Together, these findings point to a practical foundation: establish usable data, connect workflows and decide who is accountable for each decision and handoff.
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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Procurement’s structure may also need to distinguish strategic work from transaction processing. In McKinsey’s research, two-thirds of survey respondents reported separating strategic and transactional procurement activities, with differences by industry; more than half reported having a dedicated center of excellence (COE). These are reported organizational patterns, not requirements for every business. A COE or equivalent team can provide concentrated expertise in areas such as category management, analytics or cost engineering, while the right structure depends on the organization’s size, complexity and needs.
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Technology adoption remains uneven in the McKinsey account. Among participants at its latest forum, 60% of large organizations and 30% of small organizations had a procure-to-pay system, and only one-third of forum participants that year reported using e-sourcing. Those forum findings are not representative estimates of all businesses. They do, however, illustrate why a roadmap should address both systems and actual usage, rather than assuming that buying a platform completes the transformation.
People and organizational conditions can constrain value as much as technical capability. Deloitte’s 2025 U.S. release reports that respondents identified siloed working (57%), competing priorities (46%), organizational or technology capability (40%) and talent gaps (34%) as barriers to value delivery. Procurement therefore needs cross-functional agreements about priorities, decision rights and data responsibilities, alongside workforce development in digital, analytical and commercial skills.
How procurement transformation supports resilience and supplier relationships
Resilience is not achieved through sourcing price alone. It depends on seeing risk early, having viable alternatives and working with suppliers to share relevant information. In Deloitte’s 2025 U.S. release, surveyed respondents named the following among their most effective risk-mitigation practices:
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| Practice | Share of Deloitte respondents, 2025 | Operational purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Maintaining active alternative sources | 74% | Preserve sourcing options if a supplier or route becomes unavailable. |
| Increasing supply-chain visibility | 64% | Improve awareness of exposure and potential disruption. |
| Sharing information and collaborating with suppliers | 61% | Support coordination and a more timely response to changing conditions. |
These are survey respondents’ reported practices, not proof that any one measure will prevent disruption. They do show that resilience combines sourcing choices, visibility and supplier relationships. GEP’s summary of The Hackett Group’s 2026 report adds a coverage concern: proactive risk monitoring covered an average of 43% of purchasing categories in that survey. That is an average for the reported sample, not a universal benchmark; it suggests organizations should examine which categories are outside their monitoring approach rather than assuming coverage is comprehensive.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare procurement transformation options
There is no single winning platform or operating model established by these studies. Compare proposed roadmaps and tools against the outcomes and readiness they address, rather than selecting on AI features alone.
| Decision area | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Business value | Which financial or operational outcomes should improve—such as savings, margin protection, cycle time, revenue contribution or innovation—and how will those outcomes be tracked? Gartner recommends connecting AI gains to financial outcomes. |
| Risk and resilience | Will the approach improve supplier visibility, alternative sourcing, category risk monitoring or information sharing? |
| Data and integration | Are data quality, analytics and workflow connections adequate across procurement and partner functions? |
| Work and role design | Which activities are transactional, strategic, suitable for AI or dependent on human judgment? Who owns each decision and handoff? |
| Adoption and usability | Does the process fit users’ work, and will stakeholders use it consistently? McKinsey identifies user experience and underused systems as adoption concerns. |
| Talent and governance | Are skills, oversight, accountability and measures in place to sustain the change and recognize value beyond task-level productivity? |
For AI specifically, Deloitte’s reported returns vary with the maturity group and the measure used. Its 2025 survey page reports average returns on GenAI investment of 2.8x for organizations it labels “Digital Masters” and 1.6x for “Followers.” Deloitte’s 2025 U.S. press release gives a different comparison: Digital Masters achieved an average 3.2x return, while Followers saw a projected increase slightly above 1.5x. These figures come from differently worded reports and should not be merged into one estimate or interpreted as a return a particular company can expect. The survey comparisons do not establish that maturity labels alone caused the difference.
What a practical transformation roadmap should include
A useful roadmap ties technology choices to operational changes in a sequence the organization can manage. The steps below are a planning approach, not a claim that every company must follow an identical implementation.
- Set business outcomes. Identify the financial, service, resilience or innovation results procurement is expected to support, and agree how they will be measured with business stakeholders.
- Map work and risk. Separate strategic and transactional activities, identify decision points and handoffs, and determine which categories and suppliers need stronger visibility or alternatives.
- Check foundations. Assess data quality, workflow integration, process ownership, existing system use and workforce capability before expanding automation.
- Redesign roles and controls. Define the division between AI-supported work and human judgment, assign accountability for outputs, and put governance and escalation paths in place.
- Implement around adoption. Choose tools that fit the process, support users and connect with relevant functions; develop the skills needed to use them consistently.
- Measure and adjust. Track the intended business outcomes as well as adoption and operational performance, then revise the process if task-level productivity is not improving broader results.
This approach reflects the central challenge for procurement in 2026: technology can expand capacity, but the organization must decide where that capacity goes, equip people to use it and connect the work to business priorities.
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