While organizations are exploring AI in procurement, just a third have successfully put it into production
REDWOOD CITY, CA, October 15, 2026. Businesses are spending more than $1.5 million a year on manual procurement work that could be automated by AI, according to a new report from Ivalua, the enterprise AI platform for procurement. Procurement teams spend almost a fifth (18%) of their time on manual tasks, yet organizations that have automated this work with AI are already achieving measurable returns.
The report, From Manual Drain to Strategic Gain: How AI Unlocks Procurement’s Hidden $1.5M, is based on a survey of 1,000 procurement decision-makers and CIOs across the US, UK, Germany and France. While 86% of organizations are deploying, piloting or considering AI in procurement, just 34% have put it into production.
“The cost of waiting is becoming harder to ignore,” says Paul Zammit, AI GTM Lead at Ivalua. “Organizations that have taken AI into production are already seeing returns, while those stuck in pilot mode are paying twice: millions spent on manual work, and strategic ground conceded to faster-moving competitors.”
Proven returns, stalled adoption
More than two-thirds (69%) of adopters have already realized ROI, and 72% say AI has increased the time teams spend on strategy and supplier relationship-building, turning hours once lost to manual work into commercial advantage.
For the rest, the biggest barrier to putting AI into production is no longer cost but data. Nearly half (45%) of organizations hold procurement data across four or more separate systems, and half (50%) admit their data is not yet reliable enough to support meaningful AI-driven insights. When information is scattered across disconnected systems, AI works from an incomplete picture. The consequence is a function that knows it is falling behind, with 51% of procurement leaders saying they now lag other business functions on AI.
“The organizations seeing the greatest gains aren’t simply those investing in AI, but those putting the right data foundations in place to make it useful,” continues Zammit. “Connect the data, automate the manual work, and the $1.5 million currently lost each year becomes an investment in supplier relationships, risk management and commercial strategy.”
About Ivalua
Ivalua is the only truly unified, enterprise AI platform for managing spend and suppliers. We seamlessly connect people, AI, workflows, and data, making businesses more profitable, resilient, and sustainable. We are trusted by over 500 of the world’s most admired brands and consistently recognized as a leader by Gartner and other analysts. Learn more at www.ivalua.com. Follow us @Ivalua.
Methodology
This survey was conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of Ivalua in March 2026. It is based on a survey of 800 procurement decision-makers (200 each in the US, UK, Germany and France) and 200 CIOs (50 per market). The $1.5 million figure is calculated from two survey findings: respondents’ average annual spend on procurement and supply chain staff ($8.29 million) multiplied by the average share of team time spent on manual tasks that could be automated or handled by AI (18.6%), giving an annual cost of approximately $1.54 million per organization.
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