illustrates just how far VMS platforms have come and where they are heading next.

Adoption is already widespread. According to SIA, 88% of surveyed organizations in the Americas and 86% in Europe use a VMS, while another 12% in each region are likely to explore implementation over the next two years. Global VMS spend under management reached US$303 billion in 2025, up 7% year over year.

But what stands out from these figures is how much more organizations now expect from these platforms. SIA describes VMS platforms as moving beyond systems of record to become strategic workforce platforms, taking on a broader role in process automation, compliance and risk management, advanced analytics, and data-driven decision-making.

For workforce leaders, the next era of external workforce management will be defined not just by transactional efficiency, but by how effectively organizations can connect technology, data, and intelligence to make better workforce and spend decisions.

Connected data becomes the foundation

As external workforce programs grow more sophisticated, businesses need a clearer view of the people, suppliers, skills, services, and spend supporting their operations.

SIA emphasizes that accurate and well-governed external workforce data is increasingly important for reporting, predictive analytics, workforce intelligence, and AI. Organizations looking to get more value from AI must first prioritize a strong data foundation. Fragmented or incomplete information can limit the quality of the recommendations and insights AI provides.

The SIA findings are encouraging for in this area. The report gives 麻豆原创 Fieldglass a 4.93 out of 5 score for reporting and analytics, with capabilities across workforce analytics, supplier performance, SOW visibility, and workforce planning.

When data is connected and accessible, VMS platforms can do more than show leaders what has already happened. It can help them identify patterns, anticipate what may happen next, and make more informed decisions about workforce strategy. That is when workforce data becomes a strategic asset rather than simply a system record.

Services procurement moves closer to the center

SIA identifies the growing importance of services procurement, with statement-of-work management as a strategic priority for both VMS buyers and providers. The field guide notes that SOW represents 39% of spend, while only 13% of client programs currently manage SOW within their VMS platform.

That gap points to a significant opportunity. Services represent a substantial share of external spend, yet many organizations still manage that spend outside the VMS.

Companies increasingly rely on external providers for much more than individual workers. They bring in specialized expertise, project teams, and service providers to deliver defined outcomes. Managing those relationships requires more visibility into suppliers, budgets, milestones, deliverables, compliance, and performance.

In the SIA assessment, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass scores 4.96 for SOW and services procurement. But the broader takeaway is that external workforce management can no longer treat workers and services as entirely separate areas. As services become a larger and more strategic part of external spend, organizations need a more connected way to manage both and understand how they contribute to business outcomes.

Global scale is really about managing complexity

Managing an external workforce across multiple countries is about much more than geographic reach. Every market can bring a different mix of labor classifications, tax requirements, supplier structures, regulations, and operating models.

Global scale should therefore be measured by more than the number of countries a platform can support. The real challenge is creating consistency while retaining the flexibility to address local requirements.

麻豆原创 Fieldglass earned top scores in areas including supplier and engagement management, compliance and audit, and mobile enablement. The field guide also identifies 麻豆原创 Fieldglass as the leader in geographic coverage and notes support for more than 190 countries and 21 languages.

For global businesses, capabilities such as worker classification validation, supplier qualification workflows, and configurable onboarding requirements can help create a common framework across markets while accounting for local requirements. The real measure of global scale isn鈥檛 simply where a VMS operates. It鈥檚 how consistently it can help organizations manage workforce complexity across those markets.

AI moves from assistance toward intelligence and action

AI is another area where the market is moving quickly, with an important reality check.

SIA finds that while VMS AI is expanding into areas such as AI agents, predictive analytics, and candidate assessment, adoption remains measured. Buyers are also looking for transparency, configurability, human oversight, and clearer evidence of business value.

That balance matters. The most useful question isn鈥檛 simply how many capabilities a platform offers, but how that AI works in practice. Is it grounded in trusted workforce data? Is it built into the workflows where decisions are already happening? Can it help people act in ways that are useful, explainable, and governed?

麻豆原创 Fieldglass received the second-highest embedded AI assessment in the field guide鈥檚 overall summary, driven by capabilities designed to connect data, intelligence, and automation across workforce and procurement processes.

The meaningful shift isn鈥檛 simply toward more AI. It鈥檚 from AI that assists with individual tasks to intelligence that helps inform decisions and, with appropriate oversight, enables action.

That evolution is likely to accelerate. But more AI does not automatically mean more value. Lasting impact will depend on pairing sophisticated AI with the right data foundation, strong governance, and connectivity across the enterprise.

The VMS of the future is a decision platform

麻豆原创 Fieldglass received the second-highest overall capability score in the SIA landscape, with particularly strong performance across supplier management, services procurement, analytics, compliance, and mobile enablement. But the bigger story goes beyond any score.

External workforce management is becoming more connected. Leaders need to understand people alongside services, suppliers, skills, spend, and risk. They need workforce data that can move across business processes rather than sit in isolated systems and intelligence that helps turn that information into better, faster decisions.

The organizations best prepared for what comes next will be those that can bring those pieces together to build a more agile, informed, and resilient external workforce strategy.

That is where the next generation of VMS technology is heading.

Ansley Condon is global GTM lead for 麻豆原创 Fieldglass.

Through a burgeoning array of novel applications, businesses are turning to AI to dramatically expand the value they can create for their customers. Often, such applications involve optimizing internal processes: the data, the workflows, the controls managed inside the four walls of a business. But equally important is the value that AI can help to realize beyond those walls, through collaborative relationships with buyers, suppliers, and other key stakeholders. A firm, after all, is only as successful as its ability to manage spend, suppliers, and risk across its ecosystem. This is why the touchpoints between trading partners鈥攖he digital networks through which day-to-day operational and transactional data flow up and down the supply chain鈥攈old immense potential to unlock value as businesses increasingly become .

Business networks form an interdependent system within which buyers, suppliers, procurement organizations, service providers, financial institutions, and AI agents coordinate decisions, foster collaboration, and deter disruption. As the world鈥檚 largest business-to-business marketplace, facilitates over US$8 trillion in commerce annually across more than 940 million transactions as of the 12 months ending the third quarter of 2026. Aided by an expanding set of AI agents, the network can contextualize vast troves of operational data to help carry out desired tasks within strict parameters set by businesses seeking to manage risk, ensure compliance, and extend competitive advantage. If enterprise resource planning solutions can be thought of as an organization鈥檚 central nervous system, then cloud-based business networks comprise the connective tissue between enterprises seeking to manage spend, facilitate collaboration, and optimize procurement and invoicing processes.

The vision of 麻豆原创 Business Network is to become the intelligence and execution layer for commerce between companies, transforming the market from fragmented, point-to-point collaboration toward a connected ecosystem in which buyers, suppliers, logistics providers, and asset operators can anticipate change and coordinate decisions in real time. By combining the trusted business processes of with multi-enterprise network data, , and , 厂础笔鈥檚 AI solution embedded across company systems and extensible across non-company systems, 麻豆原创 Business Network can enable increasingly intelligent, predictive, and autonomous processes across sourcing, procurement, supplier management, and finance.

Some of the greatest opportunity to harness value from cross-enterprise AI solutions lies in managing spend and supply chains. Consider, for example, the complexities and costs involved in , where a manufacturer must balance revenue, service levels, inventory, and production constraints across multiple parties in real time. To do so, the business runs simulations to surface recommendations for alternative configurations, sourcing strategies, or distribution scenarios, all in hopes of averting disruption that could affect buyers, suppliers, or end-user customers.

Years ago, such efforts might have proved unreliable owing to sheer complexity or, worse, fragmented data. But when paired with trading partners鈥� synchronous operational data converging through business networks, AI can not only produce actionable recommendations but can carry them out with precision and within specified parameters. It can even prompt crucial questions that businesses may have neglected to consider before previously undetected vulnerabilities have the chance to imperil mission-critical processes. When trading partners achieve end-to-end process transparency via the cloud, the intelligence and insights available to them increase exponentially, as do the efficiencies that result.

Yet it bears noting that the capabilities made possible by agentic AI neither replace nor diminish the importance of human involvement. When the C-suite leaders responsible for spend management and supply chain strategy evaluate autonomous solutions, governance emerges consistently as a top priority. To ensure accountability and oversight at every link of the supply chain, a business-to-business platform must offer agentic solutions that operate strictly within an organization鈥檚 authorized guardrails and internal controls. For compliance and audit purposes, it must also document the various factors that contribute to shaping each automated transaction. Transparency, after all, breeds trust, which in turn spurs adoption at scale.

As automated solutions take on a greater share of tactical tasks and routine processes鈥攕uch as generating demand forecasts, processing purchase orders, optimizing shipment schedules, streamlining warehouse operations, and the like鈥攕trategic judgment remains the undisputed province of supply chain and spend management professionals. Because all of the foregoing types of process data weave their way through business networks, they become the ideal fabric on which to embroider agentic AI capabilities.

The age-old problem in supply chain management posed by fragmented data residing on siloed, or even incompatible, systems falls away when core operational data intersects in the cloud at the business network layer. Such networks deliver not only a comprehensive view of the supply chain but also the agentic AI capabilities necessary to avert disruption, mitigate risk, and foster strategic collaboration among trading partners. By relying on operational data both contemporaneous and historical, business networks deliver the context within which enterprises can apply AI solutions reliably to solve many of their toughest operational challenges鈥攁nd to strengthen their trading relationships for long-term mutual success.

Learn more about and .

Joern Keller is executive vice president and chief product officer for 麻豆原创 Business Network.

Procurement leaders operate in a very different environment than they did just a few years ago. Beyond cost and compliance, they must now strengthen resilience, manage supplier risk, support workforce strategies, and help businesses respond faster to changing market conditions.

Yet, many of the systems supporting these responsibilities remain disconnected. Supplier intelligence lives in one place, workforce information in another, and spend data often requires significant preparation before it can drive decisions.

At 麻豆原创 Connect, we announced a series of innovations across the 麻豆原创 Ariba, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass, and 麻豆原创 Concur portfolios designed to help organizations address those challenges: new AI assistants for spend analysis and contingent workforce management, embedded supplier risk intelligence through a new partnership with Moody鈥檚, a new solution extension with ORO Labs that orchestrates procurement across complex enterprise landscapes, and new 麻豆原创 Concur capabilities that simplify high-volume administrative work.

Together, these innovations point to a broader shift toward , a domain within the . AI connects information, insights, and execution, while people remain in control of the decisions that matter most.

Better spend decisions start with better visibility

Many procurement organizations still struggle to turn spend data into actionable insight quickly enough to support decision-making.

According to the 2026 Economist Enterprise report, , sponsored by 麻豆原创, digital transformation is now the top strategic priority for procurement over the next 18 months, and improving spend analytics is one of its biggest drivers, cited by 53% of executives. These findings reflect growing pressure to improve decision-making and business impact.

Earlier this month, 麻豆原创 announced the availability of 麻豆原创 Ariba Spend Analysis and Insights, giving organizations a new way to bring together spend data across 麻豆原创 Ariba, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass, 麻豆原创 Concur, 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP, and other systems into a single foundation for analysis and action.

Building on that foundation, we announced the new Spend Analytics Assistant at 麻豆原创 Connect. Planned for general availability in Q1 2027, it helps procurement teams identify opportunities for cost savings, compliance, supplier consolidation, and risk mitigation. Rather than searching through reports, teams see highlighted areas that merit attention, along with supporting context to help them prioritize and act, so they spend more time on decisions and less on data preparation.

Bringing supplier risk into everyday decisions

Supplier risk is now a strategic concern across every industry, yet risk data often remains disconnected from the sourcing and purchasing decisions where it matters most.

At 麻豆原创 Connect, we also announced a new partnership with Moody鈥檚 that embeds supplier risk monitoring directly into . By bringing financial health, operational risk, and regulatory status into the same environment where supplier performance and relationship data are managed, procurement teams can evaluate risk as part of everyday decision-making rather than periodic reviews.

The partnership also strengthens the foundation for AI-powered procurement. When risk information is embedded directly within procurement workflows, it becomes part of the business context used to help identify emerging issues and support earlier intervention. This gives teams a more complete view of supplier relationships and greater ability to respond before potential disruptions affect operations.

General availability is planned for Q4 2026.

Connecting procurement across complex enterprise landscapes

The disconnection that slows procurement decisions often extends beyond data; it also shows up across the systems themselves. For many organizations, procurement unfolds across a mix of 麻豆原创 and third-party applications, each supporting different parts of the process. Coordinating work across that kind of landscape, without disrupting the systems teams already rely on, can be one of modern procurement鈥檚 more persistent challenges.

To solve this, 麻豆原创 announced a new solution extension developed with ORO Labs: 麻豆原创 Ariba Procurement Orchestration by ORO Labs. It provides a purpose-built orchestration layer that connects procurement experiences, workflows, and systems across complex environments spanning both 麻豆原创 and third-party applications.

For employees, this means a more unified experience and a simpler way to initiate and navigate procurement work. Low-code/no-code workflows let teams adapt processes as business requirements and policies change, without disrupting underlying systems. Organizations can also apply agentic AI within these workflows while preserving the controls, approvals, and human oversight that enterprise operations depend on.

The solution extension works alongside Joule Work, with Joule Work serving as the primary engagement layer. General availability is planned for November 2026.

Making external workforce management more proactive

For many organizations, contingent workers have become an essential part of how they scale skills, execute projects, and adapt to changing business needs. Managing those workers, however, often requires coordination across procurement, HR, hiring managers, suppliers, and compliance teams.

We also announced the new Contingent Workforce Assistant, designed to bring greater visibility to that process. Planned for general availability in Q4 2026, the assistant helps organizations manage the contingent worker life cycle by surfacing issues such as onboarding delays, pending approvals, compliance requirements, and other exceptions before they affect assignments. By bringing relevant information into a single experience, teams can address issues earlier while maintaining governance and auditability.

This proactive approach addresses one of the persistent challenges in workforce management: identifying issues early enough to act before they become operational problems.

Simplifying travel and expense management through targeted automation

Not every productivity challenge in spend management requires a major transformation initiative.

In many organizations, the greatest source of friction in travel and expense management comes from routine administrative work, such as retrieving receipts, locating invoice images, preparing audit documentation, and reviewing user permissions. Individually small, these tasks collectively consume significant time across finance, audit, compliance, and expense management teams.

To address this, 麻豆原创 Concur announced new additions to . Building on capabilities already used to support tax, audit, compliance, and reporting, 麻豆原创 plans to introduce new micro-apps that help organizations export employee expense information, simplify access-governance reviews, and retrieve vendor invoice documentation in bulk.

The approach is intentionally practical: rather than redesigning entire processes, the micro-apps target specific operational pain points. Customer adoption of the existing micro-apps points to strong demand for this focused automation.

Additional micro-apps are planned for general availability in Q4 2026.

Turning spend intelligence into action

Most organizations have plenty of spend data. The persistent challenge is turning that information into timely decisions and meaningful business outcomes.

The innovations announced this year at 麻豆原创 Connect address that challenge from multiple angles, improving visibility into spend, bringing risk intelligence closer to procurement decisions, connecting procurement processes across complex enterprise landscapes, improving external workforce management, and reducing administrative effort across travel and expense.

Better decisions require better visibility, stronger context, and fewer barriers between identifying an issue and responding to it. This is the goal of Autonomous Spend Management: applying agentic AI across every spend process so disconnected workflows operate as one intelligent, governed system.

This matters more as procurement takes on a larger role in driving resilience, growth, and business performance. For organizations that can identify opportunities faster, respond to risk earlier, and spend less time on manual coordination, spend becomes a source of advantage rather than a cost to control.

Baber Farooq is chief marketing officer for Spend Management at 麻豆原创.

We believe this recognition reflects 厂础笔鈥檚 long-term investment in helping manufacturers connect sourcing, engineering, planning, and supplier collaboration on a single foundation.

Direct materials procurement doesn鈥檛 get enough credit for how hard it actually is. Unlike indirect spend, direct materials sit at the intersection of engineering, planning, finance, and supplier relationships鈥攐ften all at once. A design change triggers a sourcing event. A commodity price spike ripples into contract terms. A supplier quality issue lands on the production floor before procurement even knows it happened.

The organizations that manage this well don鈥檛 just have good sourcing tools. They have connected systems, trusted data, and the ability to act quickly when conditions change. Solving for that complexity is what 厂础笔鈥檚 direct spend portfolio is built to do.

Connecting design, sourcing, and execution

厂础笔鈥檚 direct spend offering is built with an industry-specific lens. A cookie-cutter approach to procurement business processes does not work for direct materials.

An engineering-oriented industry like automotive or aerospace, where a design change can trigger a sourcing event, has fundamentally different needs than a brand- or asset-oriented industry such as consumer goods or chemicals, where commodity exposure and supplier scale dominate. 麻豆原创 builds for both, with purpose-built offerings tuned to how each actually works.

What our offerings share is a single, unbroken data model running from new product introduction through sourcing, contract award, and purchase order execution, all within 麻豆原创 Business Suite: no bolt-on connectors, no manual handoffs between systems.

This matters more than it might seem. Data fragmentation across the design-to-source-to-settle workflow remains one of the biggest barriers to AI delivering real value in direct spend. When procurement decisions are connected to engineering, planning, supplier, and financial data on a shared foundation, AI has meaningful context to work with.

A network and ecosystem that extends the core

The sourcing suites are the center of gravity, but what surrounds them is equally important for manufacturers managing complex, multi-tier supply chains.

麻豆原创 Business Network connects millions of trading partners across roughly 190 countries, with more than US$7.7 trillion in annual commerce flowing through it. The network supports forecast collaboration, purchase order execution, inventory management, logistics visibility, quality processes, and supplier communication. For global manufacturers managing complex supply chains, that scale can be operationally significant.

Customers are already seeing the benefits of a more integrated approach to direct spend. For example, selected 厂础笔鈥檚 direct materials sourcing solution because of its close integration with core ERP processes, including bill of materials management, production planning, and cost calculation. By connecting sourcing more closely to product development and manufacturing workflows, the company is helping procurement, engineering, and suppliers work from the same foundation throughout the product life cycle.

Additional 麻豆原创 capabilities extend the process further across product development, commodity management, supply planning, supplier collaboration, financing, and analytics. Together, these capabilities help organizations manage direct spend as part of an integrated process that spans from early design collaboration through supplier payment, supported by a unified data foundation.

Taken together, these capabilities span a much broader scope than traditional sourcing software, from early design collaboration through supplier payment, all governed on 麻豆原创 Business Data Cloud as a unified analytics foundation.

Where AI stands today, and where it鈥檚 going

Today, 麻豆原创 delivers AI-powered supplier and item recommendations, invoice data extraction, category strategy insights, supplier risk scoring, and Joule capabilities embedded throughout the suite. These are production capabilities already helping customers streamline procurement processes.

Looking ahead, 麻豆原创 plans to expand its AI capabilities across the direct spend life cycle, with new agentic experiences focused on areas such as market intelligence, supplier discovery, RFx orchestration, negotiation support, contract authoring, and supply chain impact analysis. These innovations will be delivered through Joule Work and Joule Studio 2.0, a no-code/low-code environment built on 麻豆原创 Business AI that enables organizations to create and manage agents grounded in live business data and end-to-end process context.

The foundation underneath this road map is what makes it credible. Agents are only as good as the data and process context they can access. When that foundation is fragmented across disconnected systems, AI adds noise as often as it adds value. When it鈥檚 unified, agents can execute with greater relevance and accuracy.

Who this is built for

The 麻豆原创 Ariba offering for direct spend works with any ERP backend, with the added benefit of integrating out of the box with 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP. For aerospace and defense customers with data sovereignty requirements, 麻豆原创 offers deployment options for sovereign cloud that few vendors in this space support. For brand- and asset-oriented enterprises, a consolidated source-to-pay platform spanning both direct and indirect spend can simplify governance while reducing complexity.

For manufacturers operating complex global supply chains, the value of a natively integrated approach is straightforward: fewer manual handoffs, better visibility across functions, faster response to disruptions, and AI that can draw on connected business data rather than isolated point solutions.

What this recognition means to us

We鈥檙e grateful to the customers and partners whose real-world feedback shapes how we build these products. We believe an IDC MarketScape recognition reflects their experiences as much as it reflects our road map, and we don鈥檛 take that lightly.

This recognition energizes us. For more than 50 years, 麻豆原创 has helped organizations run their most critical business processes, and direct spend is one of the areas where that experience comes together most clearly. We鈥檒l continue investing in deeper integration, broader network capabilities, trusted AI, and the industry expertise our customers rely on. We鈥檙e grateful to the customers and partners that continue to help shape these solutions and help us deliver meaningful innovation across the direct spend life cycle.

Fang Chang is executive vice president and chief product officer for 麻豆原创 Procurement and External Workforce Solutions at 麻豆原创.
Baber Farooq is chief marketing officer for 麻豆原创 Spend Management.

*IDC MarketScape: Worldwide AI-Enabled Direct Spend 2026 Vendor Assessment, IDC #US54900426, September 2026.

The anniversary offers an opportunity to look beyond any single year and consider how procurement has changed since the first year of this survey in 2022. What stands out is that the function has not followed a simple path from tactical to strategic. Its mandate has broadened, but so has the expectation to prove its value: control cost, anticipate risk, strengthen supply continuity, and turn technology investment into measurable outcomes.

Five takeaways from the research help show where procurement has been and where it may be heading next.

Takeaway 1: cost never left the job description鈥攂ut it鈥檚 now more important than ever

In 2022, procurement leaders were still operating in the shadow of the pandemic. Supply chain risk ranked as the leading organizational risk, while COVID-19 disruption was the top driver of digital transformation.

As conditions changed, procurement鈥檚 agenda expanded to resilience, visibility, supplier diversification, and digitalization. But cost never disappeared. In 2022, cost savings led the areas where respondents believed procurement could deliver greater value. In the 2026 study, 54% of executives identify cost savings and optimization as procurement鈥檚 primary contribution to the organization. The line of questioning is not directly comparable year over year, but the broader pattern reveals that a more strategic mandate has not lessened the importance of financial discipline.

That is not a retreat. Modern cost management requires understanding demand, supplier economics, working capital, risk, and the operational consequences of commercial decisions. Procurement鈥檚 cost mandate has become more sophisticated, not less important.

Takeaway 2: digital transformation has moved from funding to execution

One of the clearest changes is what now stands in the way of transformation.

In 2022, budget was the leading barrier to digital transformation at 30.2%. By 2026, it dropped to fourth on the list, as ease of deployment became the primary concern of 71.7% of executives, a category that did not exist as a response option in 2022. Budget still matters, but it is no longer the defining obstacle.

Procurement spent years making the case for technology investment. The conversation has moved past 鈥淐an we afford it?鈥� to 鈥淐an we actually implement it?鈥� Procurement leaders are now challenged to embed technology across real processes, data environments, and organizations.

The motivation for transformation has also shifted. In 2022, pandemic disruption was driving both preparation and investment. Today鈥檚 expectation of flat-to-cautious growth is more structurally normal, but the pressure to do more with less remains a constant. The question for today鈥檚 procurement teams is whether they can deploy new technology effectively enough to generate repeatable business value.

Takeaway 3: AI has raised both the opportunity and the standard

The latest findings make the scale of the AI shift unmistakable. Sixty percent of executives name digital transformation as procurement鈥檚 top strategic priority for the next 12 to 18 months, up from 38% in , with agentic AI emerging as the most sought-after near-term technology.

But enthusiasm is now accompanied by greater scrutiny. As AI enters category management, intake, sourcing, and other workflows, procurement leaders need to be clear about the business outcome being improved, the data required, and the controls governing how AI acts.

The five-year view shows how quickly expectations have advanced. In 2022, digital technology broadly led the category-management improvement agenda at 35.8%. By 2023 and 2024, priorities had grown more specific, centering on cost analysis, scenario planning, and data quality. By 2026, AI-driven and predictive insight is the dominant category-management priority, cited by 66.6% of respondents.

Technology is shifting from helping procurement professionals find information toward helping them interpret choices and execute defined tasks. As that happens, the value case must move with it鈥攆rom access to information toward measurable improvements in decisions and outcomes.

Takeaway 4: strategic influence is becoming more operational

For years, procurement leaders have talked about earning a 鈥渟eat at the table.鈥� But the research suggests that where procurement sits on the organizational chart may be becoming a less useful measure of its strategic influence.

In 2022, the COO was already the largest procurement reporting line at 33.5%, with the CFO close behind at 29.3%. By 2026, the COO share has risen to 44%, while the CFO share stands at 24.4%, and reporting lines to the CEO have declined from 18.8% to 15.7%.

This suggests that procurement鈥檚 strategic relevance is increasingly expressed through operational execution. Influence comes from improving decisions across cost, supply, risk, and technology鈥攏ot from where procurement appears on an organizational chart.

The results across recent years reinforce that shift. In 2023, 53% of executives agreed that procurement effectively collaborated with the rest of the organization to meet the company鈥檚 vision. That rose to 75% in 2024 and 90% in 2025, pointing to growing integration between procurement and the wider business.

That growing integration does not necessarily mean procurement has secured a permanent strategic role. In 2024, 70% of executives said procurement was actively involved in developing the wider organization鈥檚 digital transformation strategy, although only 18% strongly agreed. By 2026, executive confidence in procurement鈥檚 influence over digital transformation had fallen to 68%, down from 91% in 2025.

The contrast is telling: procurement is becoming more integrated with the business, but greater visibility does not automatically translate into sustained strategic influence. A seat at the table matters less than what procurement delivers once it is there.

Takeaway 5: the skills equation has changed

Technology is not the only thing procurement teams have had to reinvent. The capabilities required to use it effectively have changed just as quickly.

In 2022, skills gaps were relatively dispersed across technology (34.6%), category knowledge (32.0%), risk management (26.8%), and customer experience (25.6%). By 2025, AI proficiency and ethics had emerged as the leading skills priority at 68.2%, far ahead of more traditional procurement competencies at 34.1%.

But there is another part of the skills picture that deserves attention. In that same 2025 research, curiosity was prioritized by just 10% of respondents. That stands in contrast to what I continue to hear from procurement leaders, who increasingly describe curiosity as one of the skills that will separate the teams that thrive in the AI era from those that merely use the technology.

Traditional procurement expertise is not obsolete. If anything, more capable technology increases the value of professionals who understand categories, suppliers, markets, and organizational change. AI fluency on its own is not enough. As technology takes on more work, professionals need the curiosity to question outputs, challenge assumptions, explore what is changing in a market, and bring business context to the decisions technology helps inform.

The opportunity lies in combining deep commercial knowledge with greater AI fluency. The procurement professional of the next five years will need to know not only how to use new tools, but when to challenge their outputs, how to apply business context, and where human judgment still matters most.

The next chapter is about proof

Five years ago, procurement transformation was heavily shaped by external shocks. Today, organizations are making more deliberate choices about AI, analytics, talent, and operating models while being asked to deliver savings, manage volatility, and improve productivity simultaneously.

The next chapter is about forging a clear connection between strategic and cost value, and between human expertise and AI capability. Five years of research suggest procurement has earned a broader role. The next five will be about proving what it can do with it.

Gordon Donovan is global vice president of Research, Procurement, and External Workforce at 麻豆原创.

Even as procurement鈥檚 responsibilities have expanded, its ability to deliver on them is being scrutinized more closely than ever. The 2026 Economist Enterprise report, , sponsored by 麻豆原创, found that confidence in procurement鈥檚 ability to collaborate effectively with the rest of the business fell from 90% in 2025 to 74% in 2026. That鈥檚 a significant drop in a single year, and it points to a gap between what procurement is being asked to do and what it鈥檚 currently equipped to deliver.

The same report also shows where organizations are focusing their investment. Category and demand management is expected to receive the second-highest level of digital investment among procurement disciplines over the next three years, behind only spend and performance analytics. That finding reflects a practical reality that trusted, timely, and complete spend data has emerged as a foundational requirement for procurement teams expected to deliver measurable value.

Today, 麻豆原创 is announcing the availability of , a new solution designed to help procurement leaders turn spend data into intelligent operations.

A unified foundation for spend data

麻豆原创 Ariba Spend Analysis and Insights helps give CPOs and their teams complete visibility into where and how the organization is spending. It can bring together spend data from across the business into a unified layer, drawing from , , , and , as well as non-麻豆原创 systems and external data providers such as market intelligence and economic indicators.

Rather than requiring teams to manually extract and prepare data from each source, the solution can handle that integration continuously, so users can focus on the insights themselves. Because it was built on , all data retains its original business context and relationships across applications, helping to create a trusted foundation for intelligent decisions and AI-driven operations. Spend data is classified to the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) standard and a customer鈥檚 own taxonomy, and enriched with corporate hierarchy information from Dun & Bradstreet on a weekly, soon to be daily, basis.

For many organizations, this represents a meaningful shift. Spend data is often spread across multiple systems, structured inconsistently, and difficult to reconcile鈥攁nd by the time insights are ready, the conditions they describe may already have changed. 麻豆原创 Ariba Spend Analysis and Insights changes where the work begins, so procurement teams can work from data that is already unified and actionable.

That foundation also matters increasingly for AI. According to the same Economist Enterprise report, 60% of executives identified digital transformation as procurement鈥檚 top strategic priority over the next 12 to 18 months, with more than half citing AI as the primary driver. One of the greatest barriers to harnessing AI is the lack of high-quality data. Clean, enriched, and classified spend data feeds into 麻豆原创 Business AI, enhancing its ability to deliver better results over time through Joule Agents and other intelligent tools.

What鈥檚 included at launch

Several capabilities are available from day one, including:

• Automated data ingestion from 麻豆原创-managed source systems鈥斅槎乖� Cloud ERP, 麻豆原创 Ariba, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass, and 麻豆原创 Concur鈥攚ith data accessible within minutes. Customer-managed source systems, whether 麻豆原创 on-premise, non-麻豆原创, or third-party data sets, are supported through flexible integration channels.
• Unified, classified, and enriched spend mapped to UNSPSC v25 or your organization鈥檚 custom taxonomy at 95% accuracy. AI and machine learning models are trained to learn your business, support multiple languages, and are continuously refined with human intelligence built over more than 20 years, with 麻豆原创 among the founding organizations in scaling enterprise-wide spend analysis. 麻豆原创 Ariba procurement benchmarking helps customers compare performance against industry peers and identify where improvement opportunities exist.
• Powerful analytics that help answer not just 鈥淲here did we spend?鈥� but 鈥淲here should we have spent?鈥� and 鈥淲here should we spend now and in the future?鈥濃�攕panning cost savings, risk exposure, compliance, ESG, and productivity.
• Joule can connect users to curated AI-generated recommendations and agents ready to execute within next-gen 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions, helping teams move beyond reporting toward guided action while staying connected to the systems and workflows where decisions are made.
• Native connectivity with 麻豆原创 source-to-pay solutions can make it straightforward to convert analysis into category initiatives with and drive action across other procurement workflows without the manual handoffs that typically slow execution.

An operating model discussion

Procurement鈥檚 mandate has expanded. Its data foundation needs to expand with it.

麻豆原创 Ariba Spend Analysis and Insights is designed to help procurement teams act with greater speed, advise the business with more confidence, and demonstrate value in terms that senior leaders can measure. This is not only an analytics discussion鈥攊t is an operating model discussion.

To learn more, join our webinar, 鈥淩ethinking Spend: The New Role of Spend Data in AI-driven Procurement,鈥� on September 24, featuring Rick Gardner of The Hackett Group. The session will explore how trusted spend data and AI can help procurement teams make better decisions and drive greater business value. .

Organizations that invest in a clean, connected data foundation today will be best positioned to capture the full value of AI tomorrow. With 麻豆原创 Ariba Spend Analysis and Insights, procurement can move beyond fragmented reporting and toward intelligent operations, using spend data not just to understand what happened, but to guide what happens next.

Looking for additional details? Explore our to learn more about the solution鈥檚 capabilities, data foundation, and analytics framework.

Callum Veness is senior director of Product Marketing for 麻豆原创 Procurement & External Workforce.

That is the leadership challenge procurement now faces: accelerating the pace and improving the quality of work while maintaining accountability across every supplier interaction and enterprise transaction. That challenge is especially significant because procurement teams are also being asked to control costs, manage risk, strengthen resilience, and support broader digital transformation efforts.

The urgency is real. In research from the 2026 Economist Enterprise report titled聽“,” sponsored by 麻豆原创, 56% of executives identified AI strategy as the main catalyst for procurement鈥檚 digital agenda. The study, which covered 2,648 C-suite leaders, also recorded lower confidence in the function鈥檚 ability to translate technology investments into consistently better outcomes.

What those findings suggest is that the next phase of AI adoption is not about access to technology. It is about building the governance, accountability, and data foundations needed to turn potential into measurable business value. The practical question is where to start.

Start with the outcome, not the technology

AI programs often begin with finding the best possible tool for a problem. Procurement leaders should reverse that sequence and focus on the desired outcome.

The first questions they should ask are, 鈥淲hat outcomes would impact the broader business, and what decision or workflow needs to improve?鈥� A sourcing team may need to shorten event preparation. A category manager may need earlier warning of price or supply changes. A purchasing organization may want to reduce off-contract buying. Each objective carries different data requirements, risk levels, and measures of success.

Defining the outcome first forces the question early, before deployment choices narrow your options. Leaders can specify which actions AI may complete, which recommendations require review, and which decisions must remain under human control. They can also set escalation rules for exceptions involving sensitive data, high-value commitments, supplier concentration, or regulatory obligations.

This turns governance from a final approval step into part of the operating design.

Build a connected data foundation

AI cannot provide dependable guidance when supplier records, contract terms, spend information, and risk signals are fragmented across systems. More importantly, an agent cannot safely execute work without the context that accompanies this information. Procurement needs unified data governance that covers common definitions, data ownership, access controls, and traceable sources. Without it, AI operates on assumptions rather than facts.

Perfection is not a realistic prerequisite, and waiting for it will stall progress. But organizations should be explicit about uncertainty. When information is incomplete, the system should surface that limitation or route the matter to a person rather than present an assumption as fact. As the Economist Enterprise research highlights, fragmented data remains one of the most significant barriers to realizing AI鈥檚 potential in procurement, and it is a barrier that governance can address.

Apply human oversight where it matters most

The right balance between human and AI involvement varies depending on the procurement activity. Routine, rules-based work can support greater automation, while strategic supplier decisions require a different standard.

The Economist Enterprise research shows that fewer than one in 10 respondents would give AI the lead across most procurement choices within three years. By contrast, 46% expect the technology to assist with tactical work, while people retain authority over strategic matters.

That balance reflects something procurement practitioners understand from experience. Data can indicate that a supplier offers favorable terms or strong performance. It cannot tell you whether that supplier will collaborate during a disruption, bring you new ideas before they to a competitor, or treat your business as a priority when capacity is tight. Those judgments depend on relationships, commercial context, and years of accumulated experience that no system fully captures.

As organizations adopt similar tools and draw from increasingly comparable data, the real source of differentiation will be how procurement leaders interpret those outputs and apply judgment.

Human review should therefore be concentrated where the consequences are greatest, not added indiscriminately to every automated step. Clear thresholds can protect control without recreating the delays AI is intended to remove.

Measure value and risk together

Responsible adoption will not scale through policy alone. Employees need to understand how AI changes their work, when to challenge an output, and who is accountable for the final decision. Procurement, finance, IT, legal, and operations also need a shared view of ownership before something goes wrong rather than after.

Metrics to determine success and failure should be defined before deployment. Cycle-time reduction, contract compliance, spend under management, user adoption, supplier performance, and risk response can all show whether a use case is working. These measures should be paired with indicators such as exception rates, human overrides, data-quality failures, and control breaches.

This matters because AI can produce visible efficiency without improving the decisions that matter most. In the same research, many executives reported that AI has yet to meaningfully improve procurement decision-making quality despite growing investment in the technology. That gap is the real opportunity.

Procurement leaders who link AI to specific outcomes, build connected data, assign clear decision rights, and prepare their teams to work alongside the technology will move beyond isolated automation toward something more durable. The organizations that get this right will not simply be the ones that automate the fastest. They will be the ones where AI amplifies judgement, relationships, and experience that procurement professionals have always brought to the table, and where accountability for the decisions that matter most remains firmly in human hands. 

Gordon Donovan is vice president of Research for Procurement and External Workforce at 麻豆原创.

With updates to and , partners now get a self-service purchasing experience that cuts out that complexity, with pricing transparency comparable to what partners get on AWS and Azure marketplaces.

Smarter path from opportunity to purchase

The updated experience connects the full purchasing journey in one place, 麻豆原创 for Me: from finding the right solution, to submitting a quote, to completing the transaction.

Start with the right catalog

Partners start with a personalized catalog for their specific opportunity. Partner authorization, customer eligibility, product prerequisites, and related products are shown upfront 鈥� searchable, sortable, and packaged in an intuitive way, so there is no need to cross-reference multiple systems or wait for someone else to confirm what can be sold.

Know your pricing before you ask

Price transparency is built into the experience. With shopping carts powered by 厂础笔鈥檚 own commerce solutions, partners can see what features are included in the product and can explore options and simulate quotes with full pricing visibility from the start, without waiting on internal teams to pull numbers together. More than 70% of B2B buyers prefer to research and validate independently before talking to a sales rep, and this experience is built around that.

Guided selling: No guesswork and easier to learn

麻豆原创’s portfolio is broad, and pricing can get complex, especially for partners newer to selling 麻豆原创, that previously had to track price lists, prerequisites, and product relationships on their own before building a quote. The experience now surfaces eligibility requirements, dependencies, and configuration options as partners work, so nobody starts from scratch.

Test scenarios before you submit

Before requesting approval, partners can run simulations to validate pricing and test different quote configurations before quote approval. Fewer surprises going in means fewer revisions coming back.

Faster approvals, less waiting

Internal approvals and administrative complexity have , and for many deals, that friction sits in the quote and approval stage. Partners now submit pre-validated, perfectly priced quotes only when they have tried and tested different pricing possibilities in the cart, and even complex scenarios move through a streamlined approval process with fewer delays.

End-to-end, fully digital

Once a quote is approved, the purchase completes digitally from start to finish: no chasing signatures, no manual uploads, no last-mile handoffs. Self-service e-commerce has become the , and the move to 麻豆原创 for Me and 麻豆原创 Store reflects that shift.

See it in action

The experience looks different depending on your partner model. For CC Flex partners, the journey includes commission visibility at every step, from the configurator through to the approved quote. For VAR partners, the flow moves from cart configuration to fully automated quote generation and straight through to checkout, with a confirmation email from 麻豆原创 once the order is placed.

What’s next

Upcoming enhancements will introduce embedded AI assistance through Joule, guiding partners through the purchasing journey with in-context support at every step. We will also include full partner cloud pricelist coverage and the ability to manage post sales via this kind of guided digital buying journey soon.

Whether you are managing a straightforward opportunity or a complex deal, the updated experience in 麻豆原创 Store and 麻豆原创 for Me gives partners clearer pricing, fewer roadblocks, and more control over how they close.

Start your next quote: Visit .

Shreya Datta is senior director of 麻豆原创 Marketplace Direct Business at 麻豆原创.

Who owns the procurement motion? How does pricing get negotiated? Who handles the contract? What about tax, invoicing, and payment? Which team tracks approvals? And once it’s signed, how does it fit into existing contracts and renewal cycles?

Most of these previously mentioned challenges occur in e-mail chains, spreadsheets, and conversations that no one fully documents. actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach鈥攖hey’ve already done their research by the time they engage. But the internal process of actually completing a purchase remains as manual as it was a decade ago. Research, shortlist, evaluate, and then hand it off to a process that moves at a completely different speed.

This is especially true for organizations with existing 麻豆原创 investments. Expanding a software landscape that’s already complex鈥攁dding new capabilities, aligning contracts, managing co-term timing across multiple products鈥攁dds layers of coordination that can slow even straightforward decisions to a crawl. Every new solution that doesn’t co-term with an existing contract means another renewal date to track, another negotiation cycle to manage, and another piece of the landscape that runs on its own timeline.

麻豆原创 Store exists to help remove those layers and barriers. For 麻豆原创 customers, it’s the single place to discover, trial, and purchase both 麻豆原创 and partner solutions鈥攐ver 3,600 of them鈥攚ithin an environment that’s already connected to their existing 麻豆原创 landscape. When a customer modifies an existing contract through 麻豆原创 Store, new purchases automatically co-term with the original order. Pricing and discounts, if applicable, are inherited from the previous contract. There are no separate renewal cycles to manage, no renegotiations from scratch.

The buying process itself is also built to help remove the common points of friction. Automated entitlement checks confirm compatibility before a purchase is completed. Pre-verified product dependencies prevent deployment issues after the fact. For customers that want to move quickly, many solutions offer a 鈥淏uy Now鈥� path that goes from selection to provisioned access in under 15 minutes. No forms to fill out, no calls to schedule.

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For deals that require more than a standard checkout鈥攏egotiated pricing, custom terms, specific payment methods鈥攑rivate offers on 麻豆原创 Store can keep the entire transaction inside the platform rather than pushing it back into offline coordination. on an e-commerce transaction has grown 83% in recent years; the appetite for completing complex deals digitally is there.

. For 麻豆原创 customers, the shift is already underway, inside a marketplace built specifically for their environment.

to discover 麻豆原创 and partner solutions, request quotes, start trials, and manage purchases through a more centralized experience.

Brent Eason is senior director for 麻豆原创 Marketplace Direct Business.

When suppliers send order confirmations as PDF files, even minor discrepancies in price, quantity, or delivery dates can trigger significant manual effort within procurement. For Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller, one of Denmark鈥檚 largest wholesalers within steel, plumbing, heating and electrical products, this has long been a familiar challenge, consuming substantial time and resources.

The company has now tackled the very point where earlier automation initiatives often stalled. With a new solution based on several specialized AI agents, developed on 麻豆原创 technology and implemented in close collaboration with NTT DATA Business Solutions, supplier PDF order confirmations can now be read, interpreted, compared, and processed automatically鈥攄irectly against 麻豆原创 systems.

鈥淲e have previously tried both RPA and traditional automation approaches without really achieving the desired effect. The key difference this time is that we broke the task down into multiple independent AI agents, each responsible for a specific part of the process. Together, they now handle what previously required manual review,鈥� says Frederik Aakerlund, IT director at Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller.

10 weeks from idea to AI agents in production

The project originated with an e-mail from Jess Frederiksen, an AI鈥憇avvy project manager in Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller鈥檚 Market and Procurement organization. After successfully matching an order confirmation with a purchase order using ChatGPT as an experiment, he approached the IT director to explore whether this could be turned into a fully integrated system solution.

From the initial tests to production deployment, the entire project took just 10 weeks. According to Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller, this short implementation timeline was critical in allowing the solution to demonstrate tangible business value quickly and build internal support.

鈥淭his was not a long-running project. In 10 weeks, we moved from idea to AI agents in production, already delivering measurable value to our procurement officers,鈥� Aakerlund says.

Over time, Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller expects the solution to free up resources equivalent to three to four full-time employees. These resources will instead be redeployed to higher-value activities, including handling the most complex and exception鈥慸riven orders.

鈥淭he objective is not to reduce headcount, but to use our expertise more effectively. The AI agents take care of routine tasks, enabling procurement officers to focus on cases where their experience genuinely matters,鈥� Aakerlund adds.

More than 100,000 order confirmations automated

Each year, Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller sends approximately 175,000 purchase orders to more than 2,000 suppliers. While part of this volume is handled in a structured manner via EDI, around 60% of supplier order confirmations are still received as unstructured documents.

With the coordinated AI agents in place, the company can now automatically identify delays, quantity changes, and price discrepancies鈥攁nd respond significantly faster.

鈥淧reviously, when order confirmations were handled manually, it could take hours or even days before changes were reflected across the organization. Today, the AI agents update the data almost immediately, allowing customers to receive a much more accurate picture of deliveries far sooner,鈥� says Klaus Heinemann, head of 麻豆原创 ERP at Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller, who led the development together with the project team. 鈥淚n addition, we now identify price discrepancies before the final invoice is issued, saving time both for us and for our suppliers.鈥�

Multiple AI agents orchestrated in a single workflow

The solution is built around three cooperating AI agents, each with a clearly defined role in the process. One agent handles incoming e-mails and attachments, a second extracts and structures data from PDF documents, and a third compares the extracted information against purchase orders in 麻豆原创 to determine whether there is a match or a deviation.

As a result, complex and unstructured supplier data can be processed in a unified, automated workflow without requiring procurement officers to open and manually review lengthy PDF files.

鈥淲hat makes this solution robust is the interaction between the agents. Each agent is highly specialized, but they are orchestrated in a way that ensures the process flows seamlessly from start to finish,鈥� Heinemann explains.

During the project, the importance of master data quality also became increasingly clear.

鈥淚n areas such as Incoterms and other master data, we identified improvements that need to be addressed. This has been an important learning not just for this initiative, but for our broader work with AI,鈥� he says.

While it is still too early to measure the full impact on customer experience, error rates, or claims, expectations are that faster and more precise handling of supplier confirmations will, over time, lead to fewer surprises and significantly improved delivery transparency. Internally, the solution has been met with strong interest and curiosity among employees.

鈥淧rocurement officers clearly recognize the value of being relieved from the most tedious routine work. This has sparked a constructive dialogue about how technology can best support their day鈥憈o鈥慸ay responsibilities,鈥� Heinemann says.

Business AI with a clear business outcome

According to Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller, the investment is expected to deliver a return within a relatively short timeframe.

鈥淲e are talking about quarters rather than years when it comes to ROI. That is why it was essential for us to get the solution into production quickly and focus on processes with a clear and measurable impact,鈥� Aakerlund says.

For 麻豆原创, the project serves as a concrete example of how artificial intelligence can be embedded directly into core business processes rather than remaining a disconnected experiment.

鈥淢any companies talk about AI agents primarily in terms of automation. Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller demonstrates that the real challenge鈥攁nd the real opportunity鈥攍ies in coordination,鈥� says David Pontoppidan, head of AI at 麻豆原创 for the Nordics and Baltics. 鈥淚t is the orchestration of three specialized agents directly within the core process that makes this solution robust. This is also where many multi鈥慳gent initiatives fail, not due to limitations of individual agents but because of insufficient coordination. Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller has succeeded by anchoring the solution in its 麻豆原创 landscape, where data, business rules, and governance frameworks are already firmly established.鈥�

He continues: 鈥淚nnovation is not about company size. Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller shows that a Danish organization with short decision paths and a pragmatic approach to technology can move faster than many large global enterprises that are still in the planning stage. Ten weeks from idea to production is far from the norm, but perhaps it should be.鈥�

Designed for operations and scalability

The solution was implemented in close collaboration with NTT DATA Business Solutions, which was responsible for making the solution production鈥憆eady and fully integrated into Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller鈥檚 麻豆原创 landscape.

鈥淏y distributing responsibilities across multiple AI agents, Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller has been able to automate a complex process without losing transparency or control. This has enabled a fast and secure transition from pilot to production and ensures a more robust solution that can easily be expanded as new requirements emerge,鈥� says Kristian Dahl, 麻豆原创 UX manager at NTT DATA Business Solutions.

According to Dahl, the modular, agent鈥慴ased architecture was a key enabler in moving efficiently from proof of concept to live operation.

First step in a broader AI agent strategy

Initially, the AI agents have been deployed for selected supplier inboxes and business areas. However, Lemvigh鈥慚眉ller already sees significant potential in applying the same agent鈥慴ased approach across additional administrative processes.

鈥淭his is the first AI agent solution we have put into production. The experience has given us the confidence to consider similar approaches across other areas, including invoice processing and order management,鈥� Aakerlund concludes.

Ellen Vig Nelausen is a Nordic Integrated Communications Expert at 麻豆原创.

Over the past several years, procurement has steadily expanded its influence inside the enterprise. As supply chains faced unprecedented disruption, procurement leaders became trusted advisors to the C-suite on resilience, risk management, and sustainability. Their visibility increased and so did the expectations placed upon them.

Now, the playbook is being rewritten once again.

Research from the 2026 Economist Enterprise Report titled , sponsored by 麻豆原创, finds that financial performance has reemerged as the primary benchmark of procurement鈥檚 success. Drawing on a global survey of 2,648 C-suite executives, the report found that 54% cite cost control as procurement鈥檚 greatest contribution to the business, up from 43% just one year earlier. The findings point to a function that is increasingly stretched, yet positioned to deliver measurable business outcomes鈥攊f it can navigate a difficult balancing act.

Cost control returns to center stage

The shift is not surprising given the environment. Persistent inflation, tariff uncertainty, and continued investment in supply chain resilience have pushed cost management back to the top of the executive agenda. At the same time, companies are investing in dual sourcing, nearshoring, and inventory buffering to reduce exposure鈥攕trategies that strengthen resilience but often raise costs. Procurement is expected to offset those increases elsewhere.

What makes this moment particularly challenging is that procurement鈥檚 broader responsibilities have not diminished. Teams are still expected to manage geopolitical risk, advance sustainability, and support digital transformation. The mandate has expanded significantly, often without a corresponding increase in capacity, tools, or operating model support. Delivering savings, limiting cost increases, and managing input costs while fulfilling a growing strategic role is the defining tension facing procurement leaders today.

AI is becoming procurement’s digital imperative

Technology, and AI in particular, is increasingly seen as the key to resolving tension. In the Economist Enterprise study, 60% of executives identified digital transformation as procurement’s top strategic priority over the next 12 to 18 months, up sharply from 38% in 2025. More than half (56%) identified AI as the primary driver of that transformation.

The emergence of agentic AI is accelerating expectations further. More than half of executives are planning to implement or evaluate agentic AI capabilities within the next 12 to 18 months. Unlike earlier generations of AI that focused primarily on generating insights, agentic AI introduces the ability to execute workflows鈥攆rom guided buying experiences to automated purchase order creation鈥攅nabling procurement to move beyond recommendations and drive actions.

Even so, executive expectations remain grounded. Only 9% of survey respondents want AI to lead most procurement decisions within three years. Procurement鈥檚 highest-value work continues to rely on human judgment, strong supplier relationships, and the ability to navigate complex trade-offs. AI plays a critical role in strengthening these capabilities, but it does not replace them.

Realizing that potential, however, requires the right foundation. Connected data, clear governance, and close collaboration across procurement, finance, IT, and operations are prerequisites for generating AI outputs that are reliable and accountable.

Category management takes on greater importance

As procurement balances cost pressures with broader business priorities, category management is emerging as a critical discipline. The report found that category and demand management are expected to receive the second highest level of digital investment among procurement disciplines over the next three years, trailing only spend and performance analytics.

This reflects the growing complexity of procurement decisions. Category leaders are no longer simply awarding projects to the lowest-cost supplier. They are expected to weigh cost, risk, sustainability, and supplier performance simultaneously鈥攁 level of complexity that demands better analytics and faster insight-to-action capabilities.

That level of nuance can strengthen procurement鈥檚 impact, but it can also slow execution. More sophisticated category strategies require better data, sharper analytics, and faster insight-to-action capabilities. The report found that category strategy has become the third most common source of process delays, behind only contracting and sourcing.

Success increasingly depends not on collecting more data, but on turning data into confident decisions quickly. Organizations that close that gap will be better positioned to execute strategy, not simply develop it.

Procurement’s strategic value is being tested

Perhaps the most striking finding in the report is a growing confidence gap. While nearly three-quarters of executives still believe procurement collaborates effectively across the organization, that figure dropped from 90% in 2025 to 74% in 2026. Confidence in procurement鈥檚 role in shaping digital transformation strategy also declined meaningfully over the same period.

These numbers do not signal a retreat from procurement鈥檚 strategic importance. Rather, they reflect a broader shift in how enterprise decisions are being evaluated. As AI democratizes access to data across the organization, more stakeholders have the information to question decisions and demand clearer evidence of value.

Procurement leaders are now expected to control costs, manage risk, strengthen resilience, and help guide AI adoption, often simultaneously and without additional resources. The question is no longer whether procurement belongs at the leadership table. It is whether procurement can consistently deliver the value expected of it across an expanding and increasingly complex set of priorities.

Procurement鈥檚 next chapter

The Economist Enterprise findings paint a picture of a function at a pivotal moment. Cost savings has returned as the primary mandate, yet procurement is still expected to manage risk, protect supply continuity, and lead digital transformation.

Meeting those expectations will require more than layering AI onto existing processes. It demands connected data foundations that make AI outputs trustworthy, visibility across suppliers and spending, and technology that enables teams to move from reactive decision-making to proactive intervention.

The leaders who will define procurement鈥檚 next chapter are those who can turn AI, data, and connected processes into faster decisions, stronger resilience, and measurable business impact.

Gordon Donovan is vice president of Research for Procurement and External Workforce at 麻豆原创.

The technology to do this better has been around for a while, but the habits haven’t caught up. That version exists鈥攎any organizations just aren’t using it yet.

What still happens most of the time: the team finds the tool, sends an email to IT, copies procurement, waits for a vendor quote, chases someone for budget approval, gets the contract sent to legal, and follows up three weeks later to ask where things stand. Somewhere in that chain, someone is managing a spreadsheet no one else can find.

This is not a niche problem. Companies experience significantly higher error rates, longer processing times, and limited visibility into spending patterns, and those inefficiencies compound the longer they go unaddressed. Meanwhile, now say they prefer a rep-free buying experience. They want to research, evaluate, and buy on their own terms, not wait for someone to send them a PDF.

The gap between what buyers expect and what many procurement processes actually deliver is wide, and it’s getting harder to ignore as AI adoption accelerates. Business teams do not want to wait weeks to access a new capability. But the approval chain wasn’t built for that speed.

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麻豆原创 Store was built for exactly this. More than 3,600 麻豆原创 and partner solutions鈥攁pplications, extensions, AI-powered tools, integrations鈥攁re all accessible through a single marketplace where 麻豆原创 customers can explore, trial, quote, and purchase within their existing 麻豆原创 environment.

Listings clearly outline integration requirements, pricing, and deployment options upfront. Many solutions offer free trials or demos with no sales call required. And when a customer is ready to buy, the platform handles automated entitlement checks, pre-verified product dependencies, and flexible payment options, so there are no handoffs to a procurement inbox that may or may not be monitored.

One of the less-discussed advantages is speed of access. Customers can go from purchase to provisioned access in less than an hour: no license delays stalling a project, no waiting on a quote that takes three business days to arrive. And because 麻豆原创 Store integrates directly into the customer’s existing 麻豆原创 environment, new solutions do not require a separate onboarding process to connect with the tools already in place.

Organizations using advanced procurement platforms report compared to traditional manual processes. The operational case is clear. The harder part is cultural: getting teams to actually stop managing approvals through email when that is what they’ve always done.

The companies moving fastest on software adoption right now are not necessarily using better tools. They’re spending less time managing the process around the tools.

To discover 麻豆原创 and partner solutions, request quotes, start trials, and manage purchases through a more centralized experience, .

Don Larcinese is global vice president of 麻豆原创 Marketplace Sales & Enablement.

With the new data center in India complementing existing ones in Europe, the U.S., and Saudi Arabia, 麻豆原创 has dramatically strengthened the data federation capabilities of , linking together the procurement processes of businesses and their trading partners across the globe.

With this milestone, 麻豆原创 has delivered on a crucial promise made to a highly consequential set of customers in the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Later this year, the India data center will extend data federation capabilities for as well.

But what is data federation? And why is it so consequential for organizations in India and elsewhere?

Data federation assembles a unified view of data from disparate sources without physically moving or copying it. Trading partners can thus exchange goods and services across international borders while the data underlying those transactions remains stationary. By preserving the integrity of data where it resides, federation facilitates mission-critical operational processes on a global scale while achieving regulatory consistency with compliance requirements that arise at a national level. For example, if a buyer鈥檚 data resides in 麻豆原创 Business Network鈥檚 India data center but its supplier鈥檚 data sits in the U.S. data center, federation provides both parties with access to each other鈥檚 data without impinging on either nation鈥檚 policies governing the residency of that data. This becomes especially important as new legislation gathers pace around the world in response to rising concerns over individual privacy, national security and commercial sectors considered sensitive.

Enabled by , 麻豆原创 Business Network and its data federation capabilities are now built on the kind of modern, connected foundation required for the next era of cloud-based commerce. Beyond improved scale, resilience, and regional compliance, 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform helps create the basis for agentic artificial intelligence, automation, richer analytics, stronger security, open extensibility, and seamless cross-麻豆原创 workflows and processes. The result is a network that can not only connect partners globally but also help customers to conduct business more intelligently, respond faster to change, and drive greater value from every interaction across procurement, supply chain, logistics, asset collaboration, and working capital management.

To collaborate with their trading partners on these and other core business processes, companies conducting business in India require a cloud-based platform that provides secure infrastructure for building resilient domestic supply chains while maintaining global connectivity, thus maintaining sensitive procurement, supplier, and manufacturing data within Indian jurisdiction. 麻豆原创 Business Network furthers these objectives with our newly launched data center in Mumbai, where data is localized in a manner compliant with (MeitY) guidelines, with a MeitY-empaneled cloud service provider.

While supporting compliance within an increasingly complex regulatory environment, data federation offers numerous technical advantages as well, especially in hybrid or multi-cloud environments. These benefits include cost efficiency, unified governance and security, and faster response times compared to accessing servers in distant regions. Yet the most valuable competitive advantage provided by data federation may be the most elusive: peace of mind for business leaders amid the ever-looming threat to supply chains posed by disruption.

To counter that threat鈥攚hether arising from geopolitical conflict, labor unrest, financial shock, natural disaster, or other upheaval鈥攂usinesses are turning increasingly to data federation and other cloud-based solutions to extend visibility and instill resilience across their operations and those of their trading partners. With the opening of our new data center in Mumbai, we are incredibly excited to strengthen our relationships with customers throughout India and accelerate the value available to them from 麻豆原创 Business Network.

For information on 麻豆原创 Supply Chain Management and how 麻豆原创 solutions are equipping enterprises with the AI capabilities needed to instill resilience, counter disruption, and foster collaboration, visit and .

J枚rn Keller is executive vice president and chief product officer of 麻豆原创 Business Network.

The journey began in early 2019 with the launch of Agile Finance, an end-to-end transformation initiative designed to support the company’s aggressive growth trajectory, which included a goal to double in size. The initiative was built around three strategic pillars: enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the finance organization, promoting career fulfillment, and establishing a robust digital operating model. The impact was significant, with the finance function achieving approximately 35% productivity gains in its labor force.

The third pillar鈥攖he move to a digital operating model鈥攊s where the partnership with 麻豆原创 Taulia began.

鈥淭he 麻豆原创 Taulia Dynamic Discounting solution was introduced not merely as a cost-cutting measure, but as a strategic tool to transform and digitize the interaction with Applied’s extensive, global supplier base,鈥� Junaid Ahmed, corporate VP, Finance at Applied Materials, says. 鈥淲e understood that to reap the benefits of digitization, we had to ensure the suppliers were on board. It needed to be a win-win outcome.鈥�

Unprecedented flexibility for suppliers

The program empowers suppliers鈥攖housands of them worldwide鈥攖o self-select which approved invoices they wish to discount for early payment. This is not a continuous, all-or-nothing commitment but rather a decision made on an invoice-by-invoice basis. This flexibility allows suppliers to manage their working capital needs with greater precision, taking advantage of early payment during their own critical periods, such as quarter-end or year-end, to help meet their own financial targets.

The system also drastically improves transactional efficiency. Suppliers no longer have to call Applied to track invoice status, approval, or payment date. All this information is available 24/7 in the 麻豆原创 Taulia solution, reducing resource allocation on both sides and ensuring both reap the benefits of moving to an integrated, digital system.

Strategic benefits for Applied Materials

For Applied, the program is a testament to its focus on balancing efficiency with strong supplier relationships. The philosophy is a 鈥渨in-win鈥� built on a crucial spread: Applied Materials, as a Fortune 500 company with strong cash flow, has a significantly lower cost of capital than many of its suppliers. By funding the discounts, Applied captures a return鈥攖he discount income鈥攚hile offering its suppliers funding at a rate close to their cost of capital, but with greater convenience.

This relationship-focused approach is critical. Applied鈥檚 supplier account managers actively support the program because they recognize its mutual benefit, not viewing it as a finance mandate to push costs onto the supply base.

Furthermore, the “dynamic” nature of the discount rates is a powerful risk mitigation tool. Unlike fixed contractual discounts, the rates can be adjusted in response to global economic changes, such as shifts in interest rates. When interest rates rose after the pandemic, Applied was able to adjust the discount rates accordingly with minimal pushback, as the core proposition remains the valuable spread between the parties’ cost of capital.

The 麻豆原创 Taulia Dynamic Discounting solution has been rolled out globally, giving all suppliers the opportunity to use it. This has been critical over the last 12 months as many businesses around the globe have been subject to new and often unexpected tariff costs impacting their margin and their liquidity.

鈥淭he flexibility of the solution means suppliers can access funds when they need them, which helps them navigate some of the economic uncertainty that many businesses are facing,鈥� Dirk Holoubek, managing director, Finance Shared Services, explains. 鈥�2025 saw a 23% increase in usage of the discounts, reflecting the pressures that suppliers are feeling right now on their cash flow.鈥澛�

The solution’s capability to drive sophisticated analytics is also a major strategic asset. It helps provide insights into the different costs of capital between Applied and its supplier base. This data allows for targeted outreach and communication, ensuring that the offer of capital support is proactively extended to the suppliers that need it most.

The strategic value of the solution is further cemented by its ownership. The acquisition of Taulia by 麻豆原创 brings several advantages.

鈥淭rust is really important to both us and our suppliers,鈥� Ahmed says. 鈥淔or our suppliers to adopt a new solution, they need to know its technology they can rely on in the long term. Being part of 麻豆原创 creates that assurance in the long-term future of the program.鈥�

Looking forward, Applied Materials is already focused on the next stage of the transformation project: Agile Finance 3.0, which is focused on enabling the organization to become AI-first. The company is deploying a global, organization-wide AI assistant to drive personal productivity, but the strategic application of AI in the supplier management space is even more profound.

AI is expected to transform decision-making enablement by analyzing critical information and communicating effective options. In the future, AI will be able to proactively assess the specific needs and attributes of the supplier base, enabling Applied to address issues more quickly and resolve them earlier. The benefits are already tangible in e-invoicing: AI has made the solution more flexible and “human-like,” capable of reading minor changes in invoice format that would have previously caused electronic errors. This reduced rigidity and increased flexibility are directly contributing to the overall efficiency of the digital operating model.

By leveraging the 麻豆原创 Taulia Dynamic Discounting solution, Applied Materials has not only digitized a process but also strategically transformed its financial operations, creating a system that is agile, resilient, and focused on maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with its global supplier ecosystem.

Cedric Bru is CEO of 麻豆原创 Taulia.

What made the event distinctive was its candor. Customers did not come to present polished success stories. They came to compare realities. And those realities were refreshingly honest.

Why direct procurement is hitting a breaking point

The pressure on direct procurement is not coming from one direction. Geopolitical instability and accelerating technological change are forcing sourcing decisions earlier in the product lifecycle, at precisely the moment when many organizations are least equipped to act. Meanwhile, institutional knowledge is leaving faster than systems are modernizing. The experienced individuals who once held fragile processes together are retiring or moving on, and the systems meant to replace that knowledge are not yet ready.

The result is an operating model that prevents procurement leaders from influencing value at the moments that matter most. Several customers described a tension they are actively dealing with. Sourcing is being pulled upstream into design and development, while the tools and processes that support it are still anchored downstream.

What customers shared about their reality

While all participants operate with a strong 麻豆原创 footprint, spanning and , many acknowledged that direct materials sourcing remains fragmented and disconnected from the digital core. The picture they described was familiar but worth stating plainly: engineers, buyers, and suppliers still collaborating through e-mail, local tools, and disconnected applications; there’s an overreliance on a small number of experienced individuals to make things work; and multiple ERP landscapes run in parallel, with direct sourcing living largely outside all of them.

One observation stood out clearly. The real friction is not the sourcing events themselves. It is the handoffs, the gaps between systems and teams where decisions get made too late, data is reconciled manually, and no single digital thread connects product intent to sourcing execution.

In other words, the process functions, but it functions in silos.

Participants also noted that traditional indirect source-to-pay approaches simply do not support direct materials adequately. They lack native support for procurement embedded in new product development, sourcing scenarios that evolve with engineering change, demand aggregation across programs, and contracts treated as executable objects rather than static documents. That last point came up repeatedly, particularly the need to treat contracts as executable objects. This is also where the add-on in 麻豆原创 S/4HANA is starting to resonate more strongly in ongoing customer discussions.

Where customers are focusing next

What emerged from the discussions wasn鈥檛 a long list of priorities, but a firm shift in where companies are focusing their efforts.

Moving sourcing upstream into product development鈥攔ather than reacting after design decisions are already locked鈥攚as a consistent theme. So was reducing dependency on hero buyers: individuals whose personal expertise and relationships are currently holding critical processes together.

Commodity volatility and renegotiations also came up as structural challenges, not one-time events. Organizations want to handle these systematically rather than heroically. And several participants raised the reality of managing multi-year 麻豆原创 S/4HANA journeys without stalling progress in the meantime鈥攁 genuine tension that demands honest road map planning.

While the direction is widely understood, most organizations do not yet have the setup to execute against it at scale.

These priorities help explain why customers are increasingly adopting the 麻豆原创 Ariba direct materials sourcing add-on alongside , , and 鈥攃apabilities that together can support the connected execution model direct procurement actually requires.

How AI fits into direct procurement

AI generated significant interest, but expectations were measured and, I would say, appropriately so.

The consistent message was this: AI only matters once the fundamentals are addressed. Agent-based capabilities depend on clean processes and consistent data. Without a unified digital thread across product design, sourcing, contracting, and execution, AI does not generate insight鈥攊t amplifies noise.

Leaders also expressed clear skepticism toward black-box automation. They want AI that is explainable and embedded directly into sourcing, negotiation, and execution workflows, not layered on top of broken processes and presented as a fix.

This thinking aligns closely with 厂础笔鈥檚 vision for the Autonomous Enterprise, introduced at 麻豆原创 Sapphire just weeks after our Walldorf discussions. The vision anchors AI agents directly in transactional business processes, data, and governance鈥攅xactly what customers said they needed before they could trust AI in direct procurement environments. Hearing them articulate that requirement so clearly, before the announcement, felt like meaningful validation.

Where this is all heading

The Walldorf roundtable confirmed a clear trajectory. Direct procurement organizations are moving away from heroics and spreadsheets and toward system-led execution. They are aligning sourcing transformation with their 麻豆原创 S/4HANA road maps and preparing their organizations鈥攏ot just their systems鈥攆or a future where AI supports decision-making across the full procurement lifecycle.

Direct procurement, seen through this lens, is not a standalone transformation. It is a foundational building block. Connecting product, sourcing, contracts, and execution through a single digital thread is what enables AI to operate accurately, compliantly, and at scale. That connection has to exist before any of the more ambitious automation goals become realistic.

For 麻豆原创, conversations like the one in Walldorf directly inform our product direction and investment priorities. There is no substitute for sitting in a room with people navigating these challenges every day, without a script.

What was clear in Walldorf is that the direction is no longer in question for participating organizations. The challenge now lies in execution and in how quickly organizations can move from fragmented, person-dependent processes to cohesive models that reflect how direct procurement operates today.

Karolina Bombardelli is global go-to-market lead for Direct Procurement at 麻豆原创.

They are expected to manage risk, ensure compliance, and deliver strategic value, all while navigating talent shortages and increasing operational complexity. And most are doing it without the end-to-end visibility they need.

Workflows are disconnected, decision-making is reactive, and policies are inconsistently enforced. I have heard this from customers across every industry and, frankly, it is a problem that traditional approaches to procurement technology haven鈥檛 fully solved.

That鈥檚 what makes this moment different. At 麻豆原创 Sapphire, we introduced the Autonomous Enterprise, a fundamental shift in how businesses operate, with AI assistants and agents powering end-to-end execution at scale, with governance built in. Critically, this isn鈥檛 just about adding AI features to existing tools. It is about moving from AI in applications to AI on applications鈥攊ntelligence that works across your entire landscape, not just inside individual products.

Autonomous Spend Management: From concept to reality

Autonomous Spend Management is a core pillar of the Autonomous Enterprise vision, designed to address the fragmentation that holds procurement and finance teams back. By applying agentic AI across procurement, travel, expenses, and external workforce processes, we鈥檙e creating continuity where disconnection exists today鈥攊ntelligent systems that orchestrate activities, connect context, and surface the right insights at the right moment.

What this means for the people doing the work is equally significant. When AI handles routine execution, decision-makers get time and clarity back. They can intervene earlier, with better information, and focus on more strategic work that actually moves the needle.

To bring this to life, we are introducing a new set of Joule Assistants, AI-powered teammates designed to support procurement and spend management across the full life cycle:

• Category Management Assistant: Analyzes spend patterns, delivers market intelligence, and helps build sharper category strategies
• Sourcing Assistant: Manages the entire sourcing life cycle, from drafting RFPs and bids to recommending negotiation strategies
• Supplier Management Assistant: Provides comprehensive oversight of the supply base, from intelligent classification to continuous multi-dimensional risk monitoring
• Contract Assistant: Streamlines contract authoring, flags renewal opportunities, and connects supplier selection through to contract execution
• Requisition Assistant: Guides users to the right buying channel, auto-fills fields, and uses advanced trade-off analyses to help maximize volume discounts
• Buying Assistant:Helps professional buyers identify spend leakage, surface optimal suppliers, and automate order consolidation
• Receiving Assistant: Auto-creates goods receipts and service entry sheets and guides users through quality tracking so nothing falls through the cracks
• Invoicing Assistant: Handles invoice capture, duplicate detection, and payment proposals so finance teams can close faster with fewer errors
• Services Procurement Assistant: Manages the full SOW life cycle from creation through compliance tracking
• Travel Assistant: Simplifies trip planning with pre-spend estimates, streamlined approvals, and built-in compliance guidance
• Expense Management Assistant: Automates expense reporting, capturing details, flagging errors, and keeping everything compliant

The Autonomous Spend Management capabilities run across our cloud ERP application portfolio, including 麻豆原创 Cloud ERP Private, for end-to-end coverage across business processes and systems.

Why connected processes are critical

Connection is just as powerful as intelligence, and that conviction runs through everything we  announced this week. AI can only do so much if the underlying processes are still fragmented.

In next-gen 麻豆原创 Ariba Buying, new Joule Agents support purchasing and policy management through a more intuitive, persona-driven experience, guiding users toward compliant, contract-linked options while improving catalog management and document traceability. Deeper integration with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition and 麻豆原创 ERP Central Component means these capabilities work with existing ERP investments, not around them.

麻豆原创 Ariba Contracts now brings contract creation, approvals, and compliance tracking into a single unified workspace. AI-assisted drafting lets teams create contracts using natural language, while centralized visibility into terms, pricing, and key dates keeps data consistent and connected to downstream procurement processes.

We also introduced a new Joule Agent in 麻豆原创 Ariba Intake Management to automate how procurement requests are captured and routed across 麻豆原创 and non-麻豆原创 systems. And expanded supplier evaluation capabilities in 麻豆原创 Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance let teams segment performance data by geography, business unit, or category 鈥� with insights feeding directly into to inform sourcing and procurement decisions.

Expanding visibility into services spend and supporting adoption

Nowhere is the need for connected processes more apparent than in asset-intensive industries. In oil and gas, mining, and utilities, external workers can make up 40% of the workforce, yet most organizations are still managing them through manual processes and disconnected systems. The risks are real: expired certifications, overpayments, and poor visibility into work billed versus work actually done.

New 麻豆原创 Fieldglass capabilities address these challenges by bringing together the full contractor life cycle, from the moment a worker arrives on site through to final payment. Organizations can now automate time tracking, verify worker credentials and safety requirements before granting site access, maintain tighter controls over equipment, and dramatically reduce the manual effort involved in invoicing.

We鈥檙e also using AI to accelerate SOW creation by automatically recommending worker roles based on the SOW description and historical buyer data, which reduces manual setup and improves consistency from the start. And to support adoption, WalkMe Premium is now integrated with 麻豆原创 Fieldglass and 麻豆原创 Ariba, providing in-app guidance for tasks such as creating statements of work, approving timesheets, and hiring candidates.

The future of spend management

Autonomous Spend Management marks a fundamental shift from managing processes to delivering business outcomes. From chasing cost savings to actively shaping resilience, margin, and growth. From reacting to events to anticipating them.

The real strategic implication is this: Spend does not happen in isolation. Every contract and invoice has a downstream effect on financial performance. When those decisions are made in context鈥攚ith AI connecting procurement, supply chain, and finance鈥攖he enterprise doesn鈥檛 just run more efficiently, it runs as one system.

That鈥檚 what we are building, and what we announced this week marks a significant step forward.

For more details on this week鈥檚 announcements, see the . For more details on the latest updates in travel and expense, please refer to the

Etosha Thurman is co-business lead and chief marketing officer for 麻豆原创 Finance & Spend Management.

The company manages an extensive portfolio of more than 125,000 products. Despite its strong market position, digitalizing procurement across diverse customer environments remains a key challenge, particularly in e-procurement, where large customers often have very different requirements, even when market standards exist.

To address this, W眉rth recognized the need to better connect procurement processes and now collaborates closely with leading e-procurement systems and platforms. The company has driven the harmonization of customer processes and ensured seamless onboarding to . At the same time, W眉rth actively supports its customers in harmonizing and digitalizing their own internal workflows.

As the world鈥檚 largest procurement platform, 麻豆原创 Business Network enables more efficient procurement and automated order processing and provides end-to-end transparency across the purchase-order鈥憈o鈥慽nvoice flow between W眉rth and participating customers. This scope involves purchasing orders, delivery confirmation, and invoices, with exceptions managed through clearly defined workflows.

Save time and boost efficiency: seven minutes saved per order

Manual processing of orders, sent as PDFs or via non鈥慽ntegrated channels, creates disproportionate effort, especially in relation to the order value, since indirect materials often involve smaller order values with many order items.

 With automation, W眉rth saves approximately seven minutes per order on average — approximately 490,000 minutes annually or about 8,167 hours. The platform enables digital order transmission, catalog exchange, and automated invoice matching, materially improving process efficiency.

Seamless customer purchasing journey

With around 3,000 sales representatives in Germany, more than 600 pick-up branches, and numerous on-site storage solutions, including automated dispensing machines, W眉rth offers customers a truly omnichannel purchasing experience. Through 麻豆原创 Business Network, all these touchpoints can be seamlessly integrated, giving customers that adopt this approach full transparency, as every order becomes visible directly within their own system.

One construction industry leader worked with W眉rth to integrate dispensing machines and branch pick鈥憉ps into 麻豆原创 Business Network, digitalizing its procurement processes. This integration has largely eliminated manual activities in day鈥憈o鈥慸ay order handling of standard processes. Exceptions are automatically identified and routed through defined workflows, while payment instructions are triggered once the purchase order, goods confirmation, and invoice are successfully matched.

Stronger supplier-customer partnership

Beyond operational savings and improved collaboration, W眉rth enhances the customer experience through near-real-time integration across procurement, invoicing, and logistics. Digitalized procurement processes help meet customer requirements more reliably and further strengthen the supplier-customer partnership.

To see how W眉rth streamlined procurement with 麻豆原创 Business Network and significantly reduced manual effort, .

I鈥檓 pleased to announce that next鈥慻en 麻豆原创 Ariba is now available, marking the next phase in 厂础笔鈥檚 journey to reimagine source鈥憈o鈥憄ay for the age of AI. This milestone represents the transition from announcement to execution, bringing a fundamentally rebuilt platform into customers鈥� hands.

This milestone comes alongside strong industry recognition. 麻豆原创 has been named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner庐 Magic Quadrant™ for Source鈥憈o鈥慞ay Suites, an acknowledgment that aligns with the delivery of next-gen 麻豆原创 Ariba and our continued focus on platform modernization and AI鈥慸riven innovation at enterprise scale.

Why rebuilding the foundation matters

As procurement leaders know, AI鈥檚 potential is widely recognized, but its impact has often been uneven. Confidence is high, yet results depend on more than algorithms alone. AI only delivers value when it is supported by the right data, processes, and platform architecture. That belief shaped our decision to rebuild 麻豆原创 Ariba from the ground up.

Independent analyst firm as 鈥渁 complete reengineering of the largest and most entrenched source鈥憈o鈥憄ay platform in the world,鈥� emphasizing that this move goes far beyond adding AI features to legacy systems. Instead, it establishes the architectural foundation required for AI to operate reliably and at scale.

This aligns with what we consistently hear from customers that sustainable impact requires modernization at the core.

An AI鈥憂ative source-to-pay platform built on 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform

Next鈥慻en 麻豆原创 Ariba is built on (麻豆原创 BTP), providing a unified, real鈥憈ime data foundation across the source鈥憈o鈥憄ay lifecycle. This shift enables tighter integration with , improved extensibility, and faster innovation delivery.

By moving to 麻豆原创 BTP, 麻豆原创 Ariba can support open APIs, cross鈥憇uite data consistency, and the responsiveness required for intelligent, AI鈥慸riven procurement operations鈥攃apabilities that are increasingly expected of leading source鈥憈o鈥憄ay platforms but are difficult to achieve on legacy architectures.

Current next鈥慻en capabilities will continue to be delivered incrementally throughout 2026 and into 2027, giving customers flexibility to adopt innovation at a pace that aligns with their business priorities.

Embedded intelligence with Joule: moving from insight to action

A defining element of next鈥慻en 麻豆原创 Ariba is the deep integration of directly into procurement workflows. Rather than treating AI as an optional add鈥憃n, next鈥慻en 麻豆原创 Ariba can embed intelligence where work happens鈥攕upporting faster, more informed decisions while reducing friction across everyday processes.

Early capabilities include:

• A Bid Analysis Agent, which can automatically evaluate complex bid scenarios, including total cost considerations
• AI-assisted contract support to help automate routine inquiries, generate summaries, and provide instant access to contract details

These capabilities reflect a broader shift from systems that require constant manual input to platforms that actively support outcomes.

A more unified, intuitive procurement experience

Next鈥慻en 麻豆原创 Ariba also addresses long鈥憇tanding fragmentation across the source鈥憈o鈥憄ay lifecycle.

Key improvements include:

• 麻豆原创 Ariba Intake Management, now globally available, providing a single entry point for procurement requests
• A simplified 麻豆原创 Fiori鈥慴ased user experience, delivered through a central launchpad
• A modernized contract lifecycle, supported through integration with Icertis Contract Intelligence

Together, these improvements are designed to make procurement easier to engage with while working to ensure processes remain connected, compliant, and intelligent behind the scenes.

What this means for customers

For existing 麻豆原创 Ariba customers, next鈥慻en 麻豆原创 Ariba provides choice and continuity. Customers can:

• Transition to next鈥慻en 麻豆原创 Ariba on a voluntary basis.
• Access next鈥慻en capabilities without commercial implications.
• Run current and next鈥慻en environments in parallel during an active transition, reducing risk and disruption.

麻豆原创 is providing tools, services, and advance timelines to support a managed transition, allowing organizations to move forward with confidence rather than urgency.

The foundation for what comes next

Next鈥慻en 麻豆原创 Ariba is not an endpoint, it is the foundation for the future of procurement.

With an AI鈥憂ative architecture, embedded agentic intelligence, and a unified user experience, this new generation of 麻豆原创 Ariba helps organizations move beyond transactional efficiency toward smarter decisions, greater resilience, and measurable business outcomes.

As Ardent Partners observed, this rebuild has the potential to act as a catalyst鈥攏ot just for 麻豆原创 Ariba customers, but for the broader procurement technology landscape. By combining scale, data, and AI in a fundamentally new way, next鈥慻en 麻豆原创 Ariba is helping define what modern source鈥憈o鈥憄ay platforms can deliver.

With the solution now available, we look forward to partnering with customers as they move from vision to value. Together, we can shape the future of intelligent procurement.

Baber Farooq is senior vice president of Product Marketing for 麻豆原创 Ariba and 麻豆原创 Fieldglass.

At , I moderated a roundtable with supply chain and transformation leaders from Toyota, L鈥橭r茅al, Owens Corning, Ecolab, American Airlines, and Bayer. Across industries, one theme was clear: transformation succeeds when it is grounded in clarity, centered on people, and focused on customer impact.

If you can鈥檛 name the problem, don鈥檛 buy the technology

The most effective transformations begin with a clear articulation of the problem to be solved, the value at stake, and the outcomes expected. Too often, organizations chase new technology simply because it is available or gaining attention, not because it is tied to a specific business need. However, technologies like AI only deliver value when applied to well-defined business challenges.

Tying initiatives to measurable outcomes helps secure leadership alignment and supports change management. Clarity creates focus and helps teams understand why transformation matters. At its foundation, successful transformation rests on three pillars: people, process, and technology, all powered by high-quality data.

AI is only as smart as the network behind it

As supply chains become more complex, multi-tier visibility has moved from a nice-to-have to a requirement. Many of the biggest risks today, including regulatory exposure, disruptions, and cost volatility, originate deep in the supply chain, often beyond direct supplier relationships.

AI has emerged as a powerful enabler, but only when supported by trusted, shared data. More than half of the data needed to drive intelligent supply chains sits outside an organization鈥檚 four walls. Without visibility across trading partners, AI鈥檚 impact is limited.

Standardization also surfaced as a recurring theme during our roundtable conversation. While one-size-fits-all approaches rarely work, excessive customization slows progress and undermines scale. Leading organizations are finding a balance by standardizing where it drives speed and consistency, while allowing flexibility where it creates meaningful value.

Transformation doesn鈥檛 fail on technology, it fails on trust

Technology may enable transformation, but people determine whether it succeeds. Change management remains a critical factor, and even well-designed initiatives can stall if employees do not understand the purpose or feel threatened by the change.

Clear communication, local champions, and ongoing engagement help build trust and momentum. Leaders emphasized the importance of reinforcing that technology is designed to elevate roles by removing manual work and enabling employees to focus on higher-value activities, instead of replacing them. Being honest about what is working, what isn鈥檛, and when to pivot builds credibility and keeps teams engaged over the long term.

Customer-centric supply chains don鈥檛 happen by accident

A significant shift underway is the move from inward-facing efficiency to explicit customer-centricity. Many supply chain organizations historically assumed their work benefited customers without clearly articulating how.

Today, customer impact is a unifying principle. Whether serving consumers, passengers, farmers, or B2B customers, supply chains are increasingly recognized as drivers of experience, reliability, and brand trust.

Customer collaboration is also playing a larger role in transformation. Sharing data and aligning processes across networks creates shared value and unlocks differentiated services. Progress must be communicated in terms customers care about鈥攏ot internal metrics, but outcomes that improve service, speed, and transparency.

What the best transformation leaders do differently

Coming out of our conversation, the strongest transformation leaders shared a few defining traits:

• They pivot quickly when something isn鈥檛 working. Rather than protecting sunk costs or rigid plans, they recognize when assumptions change and adjust course. Speed and adaptability often matter more than perfection.
• They invest in people as intentionally as they invest in platforms. Adoption requires time, training, and leadership attention. Workforce readiness is treated as a core deliverable, not a side effort.
• They celebrate progress. Visible milestones help sustain momentum and reinforce positive behavior throughout a long transformation journey.
• They hold themselves accountable for real value creation. Success metrics are defined early and tracked consistently, whether financial, operational, or customer driven.

Turning ambition into measurable impact

What stood out most from my conversation at NASCES25 was the shared recognition that transformation is no longer optional. Supply chain leaders are embracing bold ambitions, people-centered change, and customer-focused innovation to turn intent into measurable impact.

plays a critical role in this journey by helping organizations connect processes, partners, and data across the value chain to improve visibility, resilience, and decision-making at scale. And beyond the network, helps orchestrate people, processes, and technology end-to-end鈥攅nabling leaders to move from intent to impact with integrated planning, execution, and insights that can drive real operational transformation.

To hear more directly from the leaders shaping this future, I encourage you to watch the and continue the conversation on how supply chains can lead meaningful transformation.

Keith Baranowski is global head of Sales for 麻豆原创 Business Network.

Building resilience and control across every category of spend

Organizations are under increasing pressure to manage costs, improve agility, and drive measurable outcomes. 厂础笔鈥檚 connected and intelligence-driven source-to-pay suite is designed to help customers meet these challenges head on.

麻豆原创 Ariba solutions can deliver broad and deep functionality across the full source-to-pay lifecycle, spanning sourcing, contracting, procurement, invoicing, and supplier management. With the industry鈥檚 largest supplier network, 麻豆原创 enables buyers and suppliers to collaborate with confidence, consistency, and scale.

厂础笔鈥檚 investment priorities: platform modernization and agentic AI innovation

Rather than reflecting external judgments, 厂础笔鈥檚 strategic focus is centered on advancing its platform foundation, AI capabilities, and user experience to help customers operate with greater intelligence and agility. Our long鈥憈erm investments concentrate on three core areas:

Modernizing the platform for the future

A platform update arriving in 2026 will complete the modernization of 厂础笔鈥檚 technical architecture. This modernized foundation can deliver greater extensibility, improved performance, and faster delivery of innovation, particularly in agentic and generative AI.

Built as an AI-native architecture, the next-generation platform can embed intelligence directly into workflows to help anticipate needs, guide decision-making, and automate actions across the entire source-to-pay process. This positions 麻豆原创 to deliver the first truly AI-native source-to-pay suite built for the future of procurement.

Expanding intelligence with Joule

plays a central role in bringing intelligence and insight to every stage of the source-to-pay process. Joule鈥檚 advanced AI agents can help automate tasks, support decision-making, enhance compliance, and unlock new productivity across sourcing, procurement, and supplier collaboration.

Reimagining the user experience

麻豆原创 is delivering an updated, consistent UI/UX across 麻豆原创 applications. For procurement teams, this means smoother navigation, modernized interfaces, and enriched contextual intelligence, including enhanced supplier 360 profiles and strengthened collaboration capabilities.

Strengthening global scale and operational flexibility

麻豆原创 continues to demonstrate industry-leading global scale, supporting high-volume transactions and diverse compliance requirements across regions and industries. With multiple cloud deployment options across major hyperscalers and a robust portfolio of security and regulatory certifications, including FedRAMP, customers can operate confidently wherever they do business.

Connected solutions across 麻豆原创 Business Network and the intelligent suite

麻豆原创 Business Network remains the largest supplier network in the source-to-pay market, spanning more than 190 countries. 厂础笔鈥檚 broader spend ecosystem鈥攊ncluding innovations such as , , and 鈥攅nables organizations to unify data, intelligence, and processes across sourcing, procurement, invoicing, and spend management.

Importantly, 厂础笔鈥檚 capabilities extend well beyond traditional source-to-pay. Through connected solutions covering travel and expense, contingent workforce management, external labor, and additional spend categories, 麻豆原创 provides a truly comprehensive spend management platform that can deliver visibility and control across the full spectrum of enterprise spend.

As organizations increasingly operate in heterogeneous application landscapes, 麻豆原创 helps deliver openness, security, and extensibility so customers can maintain cohesive and connected processes throughout 麻豆原创 and non-麻豆原创 environments.

Customer impact: outcomes that scale

Customers across industries and regions continue to demonstrate what鈥檚 possible with 厂础笔鈥檚 source-to-pay solutions. Organizations report meaningful improvements in areas such as compliance, cost optimization, supplier collaboration, operational efficiency, and workforce productivity鈥攆rom managing millions of invoices to running global sourcing initiatives to scaling AI-powered automation across distributed operations.

麻豆原创 remains deeply committed to helping procurement and finance organizations navigate complexity with confidence. Our investments in platform modernization, agentic AI, user experience, and cross-suite integration are all grounded in a single mission: to help customers achieve sustainable, long-lasting impact.

We’re grateful for this recognition and energized by the opportunity to deliver even greater value in the years ahead.

. Read the full Gartner Magic Quadrant for Source-to-Pay Suites report .

Fang Chang is EVP and chief product officer for 麻豆原创 Procurement and External Workforce Solutions.
Baber Farooq is senior vice president and head of Market Strategy for 麻豆原创 Procurement and External Workforce solutions.

*Gartner Magic Quadrant for Source-to-Pay Suites, January 21, 2026 – ID G00833291, by Micky Keck, Kaitlynn Sommers, Lynne Phelan, Magnus Bergfors, Alex Brady

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Gartner and Magic Quadrant are a trademark of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates.

External talent already represents a significant share of the labor: about 20% in the UK and 40% in the U.S., with projections reaching 50% globally by 2050. This surge reflects the growing demand for specialized skills and flexible cost structures.

A and conducted by Economist Impact captures this shift. Drawing on insights from more than 2,000 C-suite executives across industries, the report, 鈥淔rom Cost to Capability: Redefining External Workforce Strategy in 2025,鈥� reveals how the external workforce is evolving from a transactional resource into a core capability that drives adaptability and resilience in the AI era.

The findings underscore a critical imperative: organizations must rethink how they engage talent, integrate technology, and foster collaboration across procurement, HR, and finance to unlock the full potential of external workers.

From cost to capability: a strategic pivot

In 2023, nearly one-third of organizations cited risk reduction as their primary reason for using contingent labor and service providers. By 2025, that number dropped to just 6%. Today, cost efficiency (74%) and access to specialized skills (62%) dominate the list.

Cost efficiency is no longer about short-term savings. It鈥檚 about managing broader business risks, from financial exposure to talent scarcity. As Professor David Ulrich of the University of Michigan notes in the report, 鈥淭o mitigate risk, businesses need to reduce fixed costs, and labor is often a high fixed cost that needs to be seen as a source of growth.鈥�

Leaders increasingly view external talent as a long-term solution for project-based and technology-driven work, especially in fast-moving fields like AI, automation, and data science. Looking ahead, 64% of executives plan to expand their talent networks within three to five years, up from 54% last year鈥攃lear evidence that external workforce strategies are becoming integral to workforce planning.

Building a holistic talent ecosystem

Economist Impact鈥檚 research points to the rise of holistic talent supply chain management鈥攁 model that unites HR, finance, and procurement to forecast talent needs, close skills gaps, and treat the workforce as a dynamic ecosystem rather than a fixed headcount.

This evolution builds on the themes from previous Economist Impact reports, where procurement shifted from cost controller to strategic orchestrator of risk, sustainability, and innovation. Forward-looking organizations now embrace 鈥渢otal talent management鈥� models that integrate people, platforms, and partners while aligning culture and communication across internal and external teams.

Breaking down silos and embedding digital tools for real-time visibility will be essential to managing an integrated, skills-based workforce that adapts quickly to business needs鈥攚hile ensuring external workers feel valued and connected to enterprise goals.

Procurement at the center of workforce transformation

Procurement leaders are moving beyond sourcing and compliance to orchestrate entire talent ecosystems built on governance and collaboration. Yet the function faces challenges: confidence in procurement鈥檚 workforce management skills fell from 51% in 2024 to 43% in 2025, reflecting the complexity of its expanded scope.

CFOs and COOs are also taking a more active role, linking external workforce oversight to financial, compliance, and ESG performance. This trend echoes Economist Impact鈥檚 鈥溾�� report, which showed procurement鈥檚 remit expanding as risk management becomes central to business strategy.

To succeed, procurement must double down on visibility, digital integration, and strategic alignment. Platforms that unify workforce data鈥攆rom contingent contracts to skills mapping鈥攚ill enable teams to balance cost optimization with agility and governance.

AI: driving agility and accountability

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how organizations manage external talent. According to the report, 68% of procurement leaders cite AI proficiency and ethics as their top development priority over the next 18 months. AI can predict workforce needs, automate sourcing, and fill gaps in emerging fields like agentic AI and automation. The payoff: higher productivity and faster decision-making.

But AI also raises a critical questions: who benefits from efficiency gains? How should productivity improvements be measured? Answering these will require new cost models and shared accountability across the enterprise.

As seen in earlier Economist Impact research, AI is once again a catalyst for transformation, redefining how organizations manage, measure, and mobilize external talent.

The external workforce of the future

The evolution of the external workforce underscores a broader truth: agility, capability, and collaboration now define competitive advantage.

Organizations that treat external talent as a strategic asset鈥攊ntegrating governance, data, and culture across internal and external teams鈥攚ill be best positioned to respond to technological change and seize new opportunities.

To meet these demands, companies are turning to solutions like and , which help connect procurement and external workforce management. These solutions can deliver the visibility, intelligence, and agility needed to manage today鈥檚 dynamic workforce ecosystem.

Gordon Donovan is global vice president of Research, Procurement, and External Workforce at 麻豆原创.

Yet a curious trend has emerged: many companies are pursuing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals more discreetly, a phenomenon known as 鈥済reen-hushing.鈥� In fact, found that while some companies have pulled back, about 84% are either maintaining or strengthening their climate commitments, even as they become less vocal about them. This demonstrates that despite shifting political winds, businesses recognize that sustainability initiatives remain fundamentally good for business.

A comprehensive and conducted by Economist Impact confirms this shifting landscape, revealing growing confidence in procurement鈥檚 capacity to deliver on ESG performance indicators. While risk factors are rising, so is readiness鈥攁 shift that is especially encouraging for procurement executives overseeing ESG performance. The data shows approximately 90% of respondents report strong internal collaboration between procurement and other departments, up from 75% last year.

The external picture is equally promising: over 90% of executives report that deeper supplier partnerships are yielding benefits, particularly in driving innovation and sustainability outcomes. For procurement leaders, the data tells a clear story: collaboration may be the new currency of success.

Collaboration: The silent engine of progress

Procurement鈥檚 strategic influence is expanding through tighter integration with internal stakeholders. As teams become more embedded across business functions, they鈥檙e unlocking new value through improved orchestration and proactive planning. Specialized business partner groups that bridge strategy and execution are helping meet cross-functional needs.

This enhanced collaboration has yielded key benefits, including cost savings (74%) and improved digital adoption (61%). However, a gap remains between these immediate gains and longer-term value drivers like innovation and agility. As procurement operations continue to digitize, talent development must adapt. AI proficiency and ethical technology have emerged as the top skill priorities for procurement hires over the next 12-18 months (68%), followed by sustainability expertise (55%).

Enabled by digital tools that deliver 鈥�360-degree visibility,鈥� procurement executives are seeing alignment between category strategies and broader enterprise objectives, helping them spot risks, understand market shifts, and manage supplier performance more effectively.

Supplier partnerships: Accelerating ESG progress and innovation

Forward-thinking procurement organizations are now partnering with suppliers to introduce solutions like recyclable packaging, greener materials, and low-emission logistics. These collaborations are accelerating decarbonization efforts while helping future-proof supply chains.

Despite decreased governmental prioritization of sustainability in some regions, smart companies continue pursuing ESG goals when they align with business objectives. Nearly half (48%) of executives report improved sustainability performance from closer supplier ties, and 38% cite more supplier-driven innovation.

Many procurement teams are navigating uncertainty around their ESG approach, questioning whether to lead sustainability initiatives boldly or keep their efforts under the radar amid regulatory shifts. Regardless of this strategic tension, the value of supplier collaboration remains undeniable, particularly as these efforts often improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.

Procurement can strengthen this momentum by investing in platforms that track emissions, monitor regulatory developments, and support compliance. Many organizations are expanding efforts to address Scope 3 emissions鈥攖ypically the most challenging to measure鈥攚ith increasing sophistication around supplier data collection and performance expectations. This shift reflects increased accountability across the value chain and reinforces procurement鈥檚 pivotal role in advancing ESG objectives.    

While public sentiment and political consensus may fluctuate, regulators continue to advance mandatory disclosure requirements and climate accountability measures. Preparation is especially urgent as new policies鈥攆rom the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive to Germany鈥檚 Supply Chain Due Diligence Act鈥攊mpose stricter requirements on businesses.

Even if some regulations face delays or deprioritization, they are not disappearing. Organizations that act now will be best positioned to lead when enforcement inevitably intensifies.

Meeting elevated standards through supplier collaboration

The evolution of procurement鈥檚 influence rests on one fundamental capability: collaboration.

Internally, effective collaboration drives digital adoption, reduces costs, and breaks down organizational silos. Externally, it powers sustainability initiatives and fosters innovation. Without it, even the most sophisticated ESG strategies risk faltering. Poorly structured collaboration leads to critical data gaps, duplicated effort, and supplier fatigue. Today鈥檚 procurement executives must ensure their ESG and risk management approaches don鈥檛 overburden suppliers, or they risk disengagement precisely when long-term innovation is needed most.

Increased collaboration is consistently cited as the primary driver of accelerated ESG progress. Maintaining this momentum requires balance: bold action tempered by operational pragmatism, and clear expectations paired with tools that support supplier compliance and success.

Procurement鈥檚 moment of opportunity

Procurement is uniquely positioned to translate sustainability ambitions into measurable, scalable outcomes. By fostering collaboration across business units and with suppliers, it can shape the future of responsible business.

Even when ESG ambitions are pursued discreetly, the business case for action remains compelling鈥攂oth for organizational performance and broader societal benefit. Companies that maintain sustainability initiatives despite changing political priorities position themselves advantageously for the future while capturing immediate operational benefits. Procurement鈥檚 ability to embed sustainability considerations into core decisions consistently and collaboratively will define its impact in the years ahead.

solutions can integrate seamlessly with and to help businesses better track, manage, and reduce their environmental impact across the supply chain. These solutions can enable organizations to incorporate sustainability metrics into procurement decisions, improve transparency with trading partners, and help ensure compliance with evolving environmental regulations.

Many of the insights above were explored during the following Economist Impact webinar, 鈥淢easuring up: Balancing risks and goals for strategic procurement.鈥� To delve further into these topics and hear expert perspectives, . For those eager to continue the conversation and engage directly with leaders in the field, the upcoming 麻豆原创 Connect event鈥擮ctober 6-8 in Las Vegas, Nevada鈥攐ffers an excellent opportunity to join on-site and gain deeper insights into strategic procurement, ESG initiatives, and innovation. .

Baber Farooq is senior vice president and head of Market Strategy for 麻豆原创 Ariba.

In a , Economist Impact highlights this continuing shift in perception and performance, revealing a rising confidence in procurement鈥檚 ability to make business impact. This is the fourth consecutive year that 麻豆原创 and Economist Impact have partnered on a study, and the survey includes responses from more than 2,000 C-suite leaders globally.

The report, titled 鈥淭he Resilient Edge: Procurement in an Era of Polycrisis,鈥� also underscores procurement鈥檚 growing influence in advancing AI adoption and sustainability performance. However, the field still faces obstacles in assuming this larger role, including readiness for technology and building a future-proof workforce.

Still, the overall trend is clear: procurement鈥檚 fundamental transformation is putting it in a position to play an important role in business strategy.

Growing confidence in procurement to drive strategic value

Businesses today face a convergence of crises鈥攁 鈥減olycrisis鈥濃�攚hich includes environmental shocks, shipping delays, and growing regulatory restrictions. Tariffs are the latest disruption, prompting businesses across sectors to seek quick solutions to avoid price hikes.  

Weathering this storm requires procurement leaders to take on higher risk as they navigate this uncertainty. The Economist Impact report finds that geopolitical risk has emerged as the top concern for procurement leaders, with 64% listing it as their top focus over the next 12 to 18 months, up from just 30% in 2024. This surge reflects both the growing complexity of global operations and procurement鈥檚 expanding influence.

As risk becomes more multifaceted and severe, procurement professionals have a role beyond sourcing supplies at the lowest cost. Instead, they are developing robust strategies to identify, assess, and mitigate risk. This strategic pivot is also reflected in growing cross-departmental trust. In fact, 78% of respondents expressed confidence in procurement鈥檚 ability to manage external risk鈥攁 37% increase from last year鈥攕ignaling procurement鈥檚 growing value as a strategic partner.

AI has a central role in procurement

From detecting demand signals and enabling scenario planning to automating routine workflows, AI is dramatically expanding procurement鈥檚 capabilities.

The Economist Impact report notes that organizations are prioritizing AI proficiency more than any other skill over the next 12 to 18 months, including predictive analytics, demand forecasting, and managing data bias and privacy concerns. These skills are essential for procurement teams that need to pivot quickly in response to unexpected disruptions.

Most importantly, AI will be at the center of procurement鈥檚 continued transformation. An overwhelming 89% of respondents in the study said they are confident in their ability to adopt and apply AI to improve efficiency and productivity. This confidence is grounded in tangible benefits that AI can provide, including identifying early demand signals, optimizing supplier performance, and simulating risk scenarios to support better decision-making

Simply put, AI is no longer optional鈥攊t is essential to procurement success and relevance.

Improved environmental results

Sustainability has climbed to the top of corporate agendas, and procurement is now on the front lines of this effort, managing supplier emissions and ensuring ethical labor practices. Over half (53%) of survey respondents named sustainability as their top strategic priority for the next 12 to 18 months.

Cross-departmental collaboration is central to these efforts and has enabled procurement to align with key financial and environmental goals. Tools like ESG scorecards and supplier decarbonization plans are now standard practice for measuring environmental impact. These innovations are helping companies meet rising expectations from customers, regulators, and shareholders alike, while also reducing long-term operational risks.

These developments show that procurement isn鈥檛 just supporting sustainability鈥攊t鈥檚 driving it.

Procurement鈥檚 inflection point between strategy and cost-cutting

While cost control remains a key part of procurement鈥檚 mandate, the balance for today鈥檚 procurement teams is shifting鈥攆rom tactical cost-saving measures to strategic contributions that enhance agility, foster innovation, and safeguard reputation.

To manage these dual demands, companies are turning to procurement technology, like , to address key priorities and reduce siloes across the organization.

The insights above were explored in depth during an Economist Impact webinar titled,鈥淢easuring up: Balancing risks and goals for Strategic Procurement.鈥� To delve further into these topics and hear expert perspectives, .

Gordon Donovan is global vice president of Research, Procurement, and External Workforce at 麻豆原创.

In a previous article, I explored how 麻豆原创 Business Network can deliver measurable value for buyer organizations by accelerating order cycles, improving efficiency, and generating significant ROI. Now, I’m turning my attention to the other side of the equation: the suppliers.

A recent IDC white paper sponsored by 麻豆原创, , sheds light on how business networks can help organizations meet key goals by improving efficiency, reducing costs, and driving innovation. Let鈥檚 delve into the findings and explore how 麻豆原创 Business Network can transform the supplier experience.

Cutting costs through visibility and information sharing

Technology plays a critical role in the buyer-supplier relationship. Traditional collaboration tools, designed to bring buyers and sellers together, are increasingly limited in today鈥檚 rapidly evolving technological landscape. To meet new demands, organizations are turning to modern business networks that enable more efficient ways to collaborate with partners.

These networks offer greater convenience, speed, and a broad selection of products and services, transforming how businesses sell products and manage their end-to-end supply chain. To succeed, teams need meaningful visibility into supply chain activity. Discovering opportunities to improve operational efficiencies and deliver business value requires access to real insights across key metrics. Business networks make this possible by enabling end-to-end tracking of orders, shipments, and inventory. This transparency also contributes to stronger collaboration with customers, allowing teams to respond quickly to changes in demand, optimize inventory levels, and maintain more reliable and accurate forecasts.

These benefits can be realized through automation capabilities contained within the platform, bringing further cost savings. For one customer using 麻豆原创 Business Network, automated order processing eliminated manual checks and data entry, significantly reducing costs. While manually processed orders cost around $30 each, automated orders cost them less than a dollar.

Beyond order processing, automation and data visibility also improved demand forecasting. Users reported a 19% increase in forecast accuracy, which helped reduce stockouts, overproduction, and production waste. These improvements not only delivered operational efficiencies but also contributed to higher renewal rates and new business opportunities.

Driving value while staying efficient

Automation through 麻豆原创 Business Network helps companies reduce manual tasks, saving employees鈥� time and resources while improving accuracy, efficiency, and compliance. These process improvements can also enhance employee performance, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks that drive better business outcomes.

Tasks like customer support see major benefits from efficiency gains through business network automation. Structured data ensures deeper integration with other systems, allowing employees to quickly access complete storefront and portfolio data to respond to customer inquiries faster. Business networks can also provide better visibility and near-real-time data, leading to faster, more accurate responses to customer needs and boosting customer satisfaction by nearly 37%. These improvements help reduce product turn-times and allow companies to deliver products promptly, benefiting both employees and customers.

麻豆原创 Business Network customers also saw invoice approvals and shipping notices processed 50% and 48% faster with automation compared to manual methods. This also led to a 21% increase in on-time document delivery, reaching 91% overall, highlighting the significant impact of 麻豆原创 Business Network on operational efficiency.

With fewer errors, faster payments, and enhanced visibility into financial data, automation through 麻豆原创 Business Network helps procurement teams do more than streamline operations. It can empower them to deliver the added value that companies have been searching for.

Strengthening and streamlining business development efforts

Strong visibility helps teams understand customer needs and use a data-driven approach to identify new opportunities more quickly. Business networks can even help boost a supplier鈥檚 profile as well, with certification and trust ratings that help bring in more business. These metrics can help translate new opportunities into bigger picture products and solutions.

Process automation and accelerated payments inherently increase customer value by responding to their needs faster. At the same time, they give organizations additional time to reach and maintain more customers to drive growth through new agreements that could allow them to scale further. 麻豆原创 Business Network helped customers accelerate their go-to-market speed by 20%, reducing the time from product development to market launch.

Businesses using 麻豆原创 Business Network also report that the effects of speeding up and simplifying the selling processes were crucial to overall business success, showing a 36.8% increase in customer satisfaction and a 53.8% improvement in sales administration efficiency. The total annual revenue gain through these means added up to $2 million per organization.

Leveraging 麻豆原创 Business Network as a supplier

As companies search for solutions that enable them to build resilient, agile, and sustainable supply chains, business networks have emerged as a powerful tool to meet performance goals, improve efficiency, and comply with regulatory requirements.

麻豆原创 Business Network takes this a step further by integrating with both traditional and emerging supply chain management applications. By enabling suppliers to grow their customer base and build stronger relationships through increased visibility and trust, 麻豆原创 Business Network helps empower suppliers to operate more strategically and competitively in today鈥檚 digital economy.

The benefits highlighted in this research complement the buyer-side advantages explored in my previous article, underscoring the holistic value that 麻豆原创 Business Network can bring to the entire supply chain ecosystem. As we continue to navigate the complexities of modern procurement and supply chain management, platforms like 麻豆原创 Business Network will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the future of business collaboration and efficiency.

Tony Harris is SVP and chief marketing and solutions officer of 麻豆原创 Business Network.

Amid the ongoing stresses to global supply chains exerted by tariffs, geopolitical tensions and the proliferation of mandates in many countries regarding electronic invoicing and materials traceability, how can organizations best deploy cloud-based business networks and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to extend visibility, steady the flow of commerce, and mitigate third-party risk?

To instill resilience throughout mission-critical operations and those of their trading partners, businesses are turning increasingly to AI-powered cloud solutions to orchestrate complex, often volatile, supply chains. But the sheer volume of transactions and rigor of processing across vast troves of underlying data require that digital commerce be anchored within an infrastructure durable enough to withstand today鈥檚 pace of change yet supple enough to sustain tomorrow鈥檚 scope of innovation.

That is why some of the most significant innovation underway for , the world鈥檚 largest business-to-business platform, involves its ongoing move to (麻豆原创 BTP), a shift with profound implications for 麻豆原创 customers and their ability to counter disruption.

The cloud-native architecture of 麻豆原创 BTP optimizes collaboration and innovation capabilities for organizations large and small, and the platform offers the scalability that 麻豆原创 Business Network customers and their trading partners require to perform at their peak as business needs evolve. With its high-performing infrastructure, 麻豆原创 BTP ensures seamless connectivity not only between 麻豆原创 Business Network and other 麻豆原创 solutions but across third-party systems as well.

Meanwhile, as differing regulatory regimes for electronic invoicing and materials traceability take effect in various countries, the built-in security and compliance features of 麻豆原创 BTP ensure that businesses can manage multi-tier supply chains while adhering strictly to regional requirements. In addition, ongoing innovation to 麻豆原创 Business Network takes full advantage of extensive AI capabilities in 麻豆原创 BTP to automate complex workflows and securely augment applications with agentic capabilities.

Facilitating carries the obligation that a business network continually earn anew the trust of the enterprises that rely on it for operational continuity, data security, decision-support quality, and regulatory compliance.

For 麻豆原创 Business Network, this means reinvesting on a regular basis in the architecture and infrastructure necessary to accelerate the speed of transactions, responsiveness to up-to-the-minute fluctuations in supply and demand, scalability to support business growth, streamlined integration across 麻豆原创 and non-麻豆原创 systems, greater extensibility and deeper functionality, an intuitive user interface that reduces complexity and friction, and the most advanced, AI-augmented analytics capabilities available anywhere.

The ongoing transition for 麻豆原创 Business Network to 麻豆原创 BTP accomplishes all of the above. Over the long run, however, the change that customers are likely to appreciate most is the ease with which they can innovate alongside their trading partners and shape new business models through the insights harnessed by AI applications drawing upon sprawling repositories of accumulated day-to-day operational data.

While 麻豆原创 Business Network upgrades its platform, it continues to innovate with several new capabilities announced at 麻豆原创 Sapphire. To provide additional support for product compliance and quality control, is introducing these features:

• Mass upload of certificate documents: Suppliers can now bulk upload quality and compliance certificates directly within the advance shipping notification (ASN) upload template at the line-item level, significantly reducing manual effort and improving data accuracy
• Buyer-controlled document mandates: Buyers can specify which type of certifications are required for each purchase order, automatically enforcing compliance and quality standards while streamlining the process

These capabilities simplify the tracking of critical certifications, including sustainability credentials, carbon footprint documentation, and industry-specific certifications. Benefits include improved compliance, reduced delays, enhanced process adoption, and improved traceability, thus supporting regulatory compliance and sustainability goals throughout the supply chain.

To enhance supply chain efficiency and sustainability, is introducing these features:

• Enhanced greenhouse gas emissions tracking: Integration of actual emissions data from carriers and logistics service providers into , enabling planned versus actual analysis, marks a crucial step toward capturing and analyzing data from external sources
• Extended ocean freight support: New ocean tendering and dispute handling functionalities within 麻豆原创 Transportation Management are essential as the global container shipping market is to around US$15.87 billion in 2028

To strengthen the ability of operators, manufacturers, and service providers to manage equipment and other physical assets via a digital network for resiliency and transparency, is introducing these features:

• Cloud-based ERP integration: Users can now initiate and manage ERP integration directly from the cloud, offering greater control over data synchronization
• Enhanced material and model integration: Bi-directional integration of materials and models between 麻豆原创 Business Network Asset Collaboration and ERP systems
• Inbound integration for shared functional locations: Synchronizing shared functional locations to improve collaboration between operators and service providers
• Asset administration shell (AAS) file upload for equipment creation: Automate equipment creation and associated document management through AAS file uploads, reducing manual data entry
• Quality inspection checklists: By the integration of checklists into 麻豆原创 Business Network Asset Collaboration, operators can share their inspection checklists and characteristics with service providers, who can in turn record the results for the operator

All of these enhancements are scheduled to be available by the end of 2025, offering businesses across industries the opportunity to transform their supply chain operations, drive sustainability initiatives, and attain new heights in efficiency, visibility, and competitive advantage.

J枚rn Keller is executive vice president and chief product officer for 麻豆原创 Business Network.

This is true for each function within an enterprise. Teams within HR, Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Spend are positioned to drive impact in every aspect of business — from revenue growth to cost management to overall business agility and resilience.

The innovations shared at 麻豆原创 Sapphire in 2025 reflect our commitment to bringing out your best, providing a clear path to guide organizations toward certainty in a time where that is rare. These innovations will empower organizations to navigate the complexities of the current landscape and emerge stronger, more adaptable, and better equipped to face the future. 

Here are a few innovations that we announced that support Finance and Spend teams in delivering increased value.

Introducing embedded virtual cards in 麻豆原创 Ariba

Many organizations work to be nimble as it relates to finding the right supplier at the right time, which can mean introducing one-time vendors into the supplier landscape. While this helps with business agility, it often comes with a cost: time-intensive supplier onboarding processes that involve manual effort that is better used elsewhere. Traditional payment methods, like checks and physical credit cards, not only require more work, they can introduce fraud risk and security vulnerabilities.

That is why 麻豆原创 is embedding virtual card payments into 麻豆原创 Ariba Buying and . We are supporting the flexibility and agility needed to help businesses run at their best. At no additional cost, our customers can now use virtual credit cards for pay on purchase order transactions. With virtual cards, customers can:

• Prevent overcharges and fraud
• Enjoy payment flexibility
• Better manage spend security
• Reduce manual effort of supplier setup processes
• Enhance vendor payment efficiency
• Maintain control of payments made outside of procure-to-pay ERP processes

Using virtual cards requires minimal change management efforts, giving buyers the ability to adjust card parameters based on enterprise-wide objectives without disruption.

麻豆原创 integrates WalkMe Premium with 麻豆原创 Ariba and 麻豆原创 Concur

In a time when digitalization is imperative, minimizing obstacles and reducing change management efforts is key to a smooth business transformation. Time and time again, I hear leaders report that one of the biggest challenges of implementing new software is employee change management.

Introducing WalkMe Premium for 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions, a platform that provides real-time, in-app guidance for users to reduce the time and effort associated with adopting new technology in the workplace, empowering employees to maximize business value with 麻豆原创 Ariba. Customers can also take advantage of , which offers users valuable, easy-to-follow training content, all within the 麻豆原创 Concur user interface.

The WalkMe solution is a digital learning platform that helps users apply process knowledge in real time to navigate complex software tasks. With WalkMe Premium integrated directly into 麻豆原创 solutions, employees can access in-app prompts for standard tasks, like creating purchase orders or managing approvals, with pre-configured industry templates that eliminate the need to learn overly technical processes.

The in-app workflow guidance can be adjusted as needed to keep processes up-to-date, allowing for little to no change management effort to ramp employees up faster than ever — all while preserving process compliance. At 麻豆原创, we know that clear, concise user guidance is key to accelerating technology adoption. I expect that the integration of the WalkMe solution into 麻豆原创 solutions will be a gamechanger for organizations experiencing technology updates and changes.

New Joule Agents enhance finance and spend functionality

New agentic AI capabilities are coming to finance and spend solutions with Joule agents that will be integrated across 麻豆原创 Business Suite. These new agents include:

• Expense Report Validation Agent: Uses alerts and guided experiences to help employees fix issues based on past data, company policy, and patterns before submitting reports
• Sourcing Agent: Uses past event data and supplier information to autonomously create sourcing events tailored to specific needs and users can easily modify these events to efficiently manage supply chain disruptions.
• Dispute Resolution Agent: Analyzes dispute details and relevant business records to validate cases and propose solutions
• Accounts Receivables Agent: Uses data related to overdue receivables to perform appropriate follow-up tasks with customers

Additionally, 麻豆原创 Ariba Procurement customers will soon be able use Joule to enhance daily tasks such as retrieving supplier bids, displaying past purchases and approvers, and providing easy access to supplier information. Joule innovations will also be available soon in 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions, enabling users to accelerate existing workflows and processes.

麻豆原创 Taulia Receivables directly integrated into 麻豆原创 finance solutions

Embedded finance capabilities have been expanded with the integration of Receivables Finance, powered by , in 麻豆原创 finance solutions. Finance teams now have a fast, scalable way to unlock capital from outstanding receivables in a time when businesses are battling inflationary pressures, tariffs, and supply chain volatility. This capability can be activated immediately in .

Once activated, 麻豆原创 Taulia Receivables enables users to:

• Dynamically manage working capital
• Accelerate receivables through true sale
• Use Joule-powered insights to make informed liquidity decisions

New 麻豆原创 Ariba Procurement and expense management offerings in 麻豆原创 Business Suite

In keeping with our promise to deliver a connected, suite-first experience for our customers, 麻豆原创 Business Suite includes extended 麻豆原创 Ariba and 麻豆原创 Concur functionality.

The newly announced 麻豆原创 Business Suite application packages align with the strategic business needs of our customers with line of business-specific bundles, delivering an improved buying experience. With strategic sourcing package, our procurement customers can manage the source-to-contract process from start to finish. Within the 麻豆原创 Finance Premium package, customers have access to operational procurement capabilities, including requisitioning, invoice management, and B2B collaboration, along with expense management capabilities from 麻豆原创 Concur.

Achieving success in a new era of procurement

Amid the unpredictable nature of today鈥檚 finance and spend landscape, agility is the secret to long-lasting success. 厂础笔鈥檚 advanced AI capabilities, powered by harmonized data and paired with an integrated suite of applications, ensure productivity, accuracy, and an optimized employee experience.

With 麻豆原创, you can handle anything that comes your way.

If you did not get a chance to attend 麻豆原创 Sapphire, access .

Etosha Thurman is chief marketing officer for Finance and Spend Management at 麻豆原创.

This is where the rubber meets the road, where well-crafted plans deliver tangible results. Enter , the powerhouse solution that can turn procurement strategies into reality.

The power of precision execution

In the world of procurement, even the most brilliant strategy is only as good as its execution. 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing is designed to help quickly bridge the gap between planning and results, empowering your team to act with precision, speed, and intelligence.

Let鈥檚 dive into how 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing can bring your procurement strategies to life.

Seamless integration with category management

One of the most powerful features of 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing is its tight integration with . This connection helps ensure that the objectives and strategies developed in the planning phase are seamlessly carried forward into the execution phase.

Imagine your category managers have identified a need to diversify suppliers in a critical component category to reduce risk. With 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing, this strategy can be immediately visible to the sourcing team, helping to guide their actions as they create and manage sourcing events.

AI-powered supplier selection

麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to help select the right suppliers for each sourcing event. The system can analyze your existing supply base, market data, and your specific requirements to suggest suppliers that best fit your needs.

For instance, if your strategy calls for reducing carbon emissions in your supply chain, AI can highlight suppliers with strong sustainability credentials. Or if you鈥檙e looking to mitigate geopolitical risks, it can suggest suppliers from diverse geographical regions.

Real-time market intelligence

In today鈥檚 volatile market, having access to real-time market intelligence is crucial. 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing can provide up-to-date information on market trends, pricing, and supplier performance, allowing your team to make informed decisions during negotiations.

For example, if there鈥檚 a sudden spike in raw material prices, your sourcing team can immediately adjust their negotiation strategy, potentially saving millions in costs.

Collaborative sourcing events

麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing can enable truly collaborative sourcing events. Multiple stakeholders can participate in the process, from defining requirements to evaluating bids. This helps ensure that all relevant perspectives are considered, leading to better outcomes.

Picture a scenario where you鈥檙e sourcing a new IT system. With 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing, your IT team can provide technical specifications, your finance team can set budget parameters, and your legal team can ensure compliance requirements are met鈥攁ll within the same platform.

Advanced analytics and reporting

The solution can provide powerful analytics and reporting capabilities, allowing you to track the progress and success of your sourcing events in real-time. You can easily measure how well your execution aligns with your strategic objectives and make data-driven decisions to course-correct if needed.

For instance, you can track savings against targets, monitor supplier diversity metrics, or assess the impact of your sourcing decisions on risk profiles鈥攁ll with the click of a button.

Continuous improvement loop

Perhaps most importantly, 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing helps close the loop in the triple crown strategy. The results and insights gathered from sourcing events can feed back into , providing fresh data for analysis and informing future strategy development in 麻豆原创 Ariba Category Management.

This can create a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement, where each iteration of the process becomes more refined and effective.

The human element in action

While 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing can bring powerful technological capabilities to the table, it鈥檚 crucial to remember that it鈥檚 designed to augment, not replace, human expertise. The solution can empower your sourcing professionals to focus on high-value activities like relationship building, complex negotiations, and strategic decision-making.

For example, while AI might suggest a list of potential suppliers, it鈥檚 your sourcing team鈥檚 expertise that will determine which suppliers are the best fit for your company鈥檚 culture and long-term goals.

Looking ahead: The future of strategic sourcing

As we conclude our exploration of the triple crown of strategic procurement, it鈥檚 clear that we鈥檙e at the cusp of a new era in procurement. With solutions like 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing, we鈥檙e not just improving our execution鈥攚e鈥檙e reimagining it.

We鈥檙e moving from siloed decision-making to collaborative action, from gut-feel negotiations to data-driven engagements, from reactive purchasing to proactive value creation. We鈥檙e creating a future where procurement is a true strategic partner, driving innovation, sustainability, and competitive advantage for the entire organization.

The triple crown of strategic procurement鈥攊nsights, planning, and action鈥攔epresents a holistic approach to procurement excellence. By leveraging 麻豆原创 Spend Control Tower for insights, 麻豆原创 Ariba Category Management for planning, and 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing for action, organizations can create a powerful, continuous cycle of improvement.

As we face an increasingly complex and volatile business environment, this approach provides the agility, intelligence, and precision needed to not just survive, but thrive. The race is on, and with the right tools and strategies you can be poised to win the triple crown of strategic procurement.

Are you ready to take action and transform your procurement function? The finish line awaits, and with 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing, you鈥檙e equipped to cross it in style.

Sudy Bharadwaj is global vice president of Strategic Engagements for 麻豆原创 Finance and Spend.
Cindy McKendry is director of Corporate Communications for Finance, Spend, and Supply Chain at 麻豆原创.

厂础笔鈥檚 game-changing solution, , is now available globally to help suppliers overcome these hurdles.

This innovative commercial offering is designed to amplify a supplier鈥檚 discoverability and provide a comprehensive suite of value-added features. The promote subscription empowers suppliers to differentiate themselves on 麻豆原创 Business Network, attract new customers, and ultimately grow their business in ways previously unimaginable.

Building trust, streamlining procurement

At the heart of this new offering is the understanding that trust is paramount in any new business relationship. Suppliers that opt for the promote subscription can verify their company details, establishing a solid foundation of trust for buyers seeking new sources of supply. This verification process not only enhances credibility, but also sets the stage for more meaningful and productive business interactions.

The promote subscription goes beyond traditional supplier discovery methods by seamlessly integrating with buyers鈥� 麻豆原创 procurement applications. This integration enhances and simplifies the entire procurement process, creating a more streamlined and efficient experience for all parties involved. Moreover, the subscription leverages leading technology, including two generative AI features, to take supplier visibility and effectiveness to new heights.

Key features

Let鈥檚 delve into some of the features that make the promote subscription standout in the world of B2B commerce.

• Verified status and profile badge: Subscribers gain a competitive edge by showcasing a verified badge on their company profile within 麻豆原创 Business Network. This badge appears in search results and 麻豆原创 procurement applications, such as 麻豆原创 Ariba Sourcing and 麻豆原创 Ariba Supplier Management, instantly boosting credibility and attractiveness to potential buyers.
• Dedicated insights and analytics: The subscription provides suppliers with powerful tools to enhance their catalog performance. Through contextual calls to action, suppliers can leverage keyword recommendations, track profile traffic, and gain insights into the types of buyers viewing their company. This data-driven approach allows suppliers to increase their visibility in search results by taking actions, such as verifying their profile with targeted keywords and sustainability ratings.
• Enhanced network catalog tools: Promote subscribers can effortlessly respond to inquiries, receive new orders, and upload their full suite of products and services onto the 麻豆原创 Business Network catalog. This comprehensive catalog becomes searchable by 麻豆原创 buyers, dramatically increasing exposure. Additionally, subscribers gain access to generative AI for enhancing product descriptions and summaries, as well as open APIs for automatic loading and maintenance of network catalogs.
• Match and respond to qualified leads: The subscription enables suppliers to match with leads from 麻豆原创 Business Network Discovery, 厂础笔鈥檚 intelligent matchmaking solution. Suppliers can swiftly respond to requests for information by using generative AI to create their responses. They can also track performance with new discovery insights and take advantage of contextual calls to action, such as updating recommended keywords for better matching.

Revolutionizing supplier-buyer connections

The global availability of the promote subscription represents a significant leap forward in 厂础笔鈥檚 commitment to fostering meaningful connections between suppliers and buyers. With this offering, 麻豆原创 is improving the procurement process by leveraging generative AI to enhance supplier responses, leads, and product descriptions. This provides valuable insights and analytics while creating a trusted environment where verified suppliers can showcase their offerings to potential buyers.

With millions of companies conducting more than $6.3 trillion in commerce annually on 麻豆原创 Business Network, the promote subscription presents a substantial opportunity for suppliers worldwide to accelerate growth and expand their reach. As of now, all suppliers can easily access the new network storefront and add the promote subscription to their account with the simple click of a button. This annual subscription empowers suppliers with enhanced visibility and tools to boost their presence on 麻豆原创 Business Network, regardless of their geographical location.

By simplifying complex processes, leveraging AI technology, and providing crucial insights, we鈥檙e not just facilitating transactions — we鈥檙e fostering lasting business relationships on a global scale. As we continue to fuel the largest B2B network in the world, we invite suppliers to join us in this exciting new chapter of digital commerce, where opportunities are boundless and success is within reach for businesses of all sizes.

Val Blatt is chief revenue officer for 麻豆原创 Supply Chain Management.

New research from IDC shows how 麻豆原创 Business Network can speed up product and order delivery, accelerate go-to-market speed, and deliver significant ROI to drive procurement success.

In today鈥檚 interconnected business landscape, procurement and supply chain management have evolved from back-office functions to strategic drivers of success. As organizations seek to build resilient, efficient, customer-centric supply chains, the adoption of innovative technologies becomes crucial. Enter 麻豆原创 Business Network鈥攁 game-changing platform that鈥檚 revolutionizing how companies procure products and services and manage their end-to-end supply chains.

A recent IDC white paper, sponsored by 麻豆原创, titled 鈥�,鈥� reveals the remarkable impact of 麻豆原创 Business Network on buyer organizations. The findings, based on in-depth interviews with existing customers across various industries, showcase the impressive improvements in efficiency, cost savings, and revenue growth. Let鈥檚 delve into the transformative power of this technology and how it鈥檚 reshaping the procurement landscape.

Accelerating revenue growth through agility and transparency

When organizations can better monitor and share global trend data across teams, they can respond to market demands quicker and accelerate their go-to-market strategy. According to the research, 麻豆原创 Business Network empowered these organizations to:

• Launch products and services 30% faster than before
• Monitor global trends and redirect stock to high-demand areas with agility
• Share real-time data and analytics across teams for quicker market responses

The result? An average annual revenue gain of $66 million, or $1.2 million per 100 trading partners. This impressive growth contributes to an average three-year ROI of 404% for organizations using 麻豆原创 Business Network, with a payback period of just 14 months.

Maximizing efficiency from partner onboarding to order processing

Global supply chain success relies on making repetitive, but essential, tasks as efficient as possible. The respondents indicated that 麻豆原创 Business Network delivered substantial improvements in this area:

• Partner onboarding time reduced by 70% (from 54 days to 16 days)
• Invoice processing time cut by 59% (from 16.3 days to 6.7 days)
• Percentage of invoices processed without exception increased from 64% to 89%
• 60% reduction in full-time equivalents (FTEs) responsible for invoice-related processes

These efficiency gains were particularly significant given that procurement team sizes have remained steady despite increased focus on business strategy and execution. By automating repetitive tasks and providing real-time data for informed decision-making, 麻豆原创 Business Network freed up team members to focus on strategic initiatives.

Similar effects were felt in procurement and supply chain planning, where respondents reported the number of FTEs necessary for these activities decreased by 19% and 47%, respectively.

Realizing millions in total cost savings

麻豆原创 Business Network provides capabilities to help streamline operations, reduce manual interventions, and optimize resource allocation across various functions. The result, as found through the research, was significant cost savings across departments for interviewed companies.

• IT maintenance: Average annual savings of $6.59 million
• Warehouse and logistics: Cost reductions totaling approximately $6.5 million annually
• Inventory management: Optimized stock levels, with one pharmaceutical respondent reducing on-hand safety stock by 50%

In total, respondents experienced average annual cost savings of $13.58 million through reduced operational costs and improved efficiency.

Streamlining operations for enhanced performance

The impact of 麻豆原创 Business Network on operational efficiency was truly impressive:

• Unified IT infrastructure: Elimination of multiple systems, leading to streamlined operations
• Enhanced supplier collaboration: Freeing up team members for strategic tasks
• Improved order tracking and shipment utilization
• Better demand forecasting and stock management

Real-world success

The transformative power of 麻豆原创 Business Network is best illustrated through the experiences of its users. One pharmaceutical company reduced its on-hand safety stock by half, while others reported significant improvements in transportation processes and demand forecasting.

These success stories underscore the network鈥檚 ability to deliver tangible benefits across various industries and business functions. Real-time data and analytics helped companies respond to shifting market demands and capitalize on new opportunities, allowing organizations to launch products and services and get to market on average 30% faster than they did previously.

The findings from the IDC white paper paint a compelling picture of the potential of 麻豆原创 Business Network to revolutionize procurement and supply chain management. By enabling faster go-to-market strategies, improving operational efficiency, and delivering substantial cost savings, the network is helping organizations thrive in an increasingly complex business environment.

As we look to the future, it鈥檚 clear that platforms like 麻豆原创 Business Network will play a crucial role in shaping the next generation of procurement and supply chain excellence. Organizations that embrace this technology stand to gain a significant competitive advantage, driving growth and innovation in ways previously unimaginable.

Next steps

Ready to explore the potential impact of 麻豆原创 Business Network on your organization? Here are some resources to help you get started:

• for an in-depth look at the findings.
• featuring representatives from 麻豆原创 and IDC discussing key findings from the business value study. 
• Try out developed by IDC for a personalized organizational assessment of the ROI 麻豆原创 Business Network could deliver for your company.

Stay tuned for upcoming insights that will highlight the benefits of 麻豆原创 Business Network specifically for suppliers, complementing the buyer-focused insights presented here. The future of procurement is bright, and 麻豆原创 Business Network is leading the way in unlocking procurement and supply chain management potential and driving business success.

Tony Harris is SVP and head of Marketing & Solutions for 麻豆原创 Business Network.

This recognition, we believe, is a testament to our unwavering commitment to delivering innovative, comprehensive solutions that empower businesses to optimize procurement processes and enhance bottom-line results.

We feel it serves as validation for the strength of , and our continued focus on delivering experiences premised on data, intelligence, and suite.  We believe that in a dynamic and unpredictable world, a partner with the breadth and depth of 麻豆原创 is uniquely positioned to unleash success on these principles across your business, and we are humbled by this recognition.

厂础笔鈥檚 source-to-pay offerings and investment focus areas

麻豆原创 Ariba has been a leader in the development of cloud-based technologies that help buyers and suppliers collaborate to unleash the power of procurement. As the first product to offer these services in a multitenant cloud framework, 麻豆原创 Ariba has developed deep functionality to handle complexity, while its focus on user experience has enabled simplicity.  This has allowed an offering that can span all industries, all geographies, and all spend types. Our global customer base is proof of this achievement.

Our future focus is on ongoing innovation and improvement across our portfolio. Building use cases for intelligence is at the heart of our product strategy and defines the next generation of user experience for our products. Unparalleled applications in spend management have enabled our globally diverse customers to bring all spend under management: direct, indirect, MRO, and services.  This provides the world鈥檚 largest, unmatched dataset for procurement and is the fuel for the delivery of an unrivaled AI roadmap.

simplifies complex tasks across the source-to-pay process. Each use case has been built to enhance productivity, allowing procurement organizations to achieve more with less. Joule鈥檚 agentic AI framework will be directly applicable and available for spend applications from 麻豆原创, allowing customers to build agents that can operate on data from across their business landscape.

While companies today are sometimes told to mind their business, 麻豆原创 realizes that no business does business alone. Our product road map is predicated on collaborative trading partner experiences through 麻豆原创 Business Network, the largest supplier network in the industry, operational in 190 countries. This is exemplified by , a new product built with an AI-first mindset. Its category agents have value because they are business network-aware and process-aware; the product is integrated across the network and source-to-pay suite, as it helps develop a category strategy and then monitors execution.

offers comprehensive visibility across all spend systems, with zero integration effort for data originating from 麻豆原创 cloud ERP solutions, 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions, or 麻豆原创 Concur solutions. Broadly speaking, this is fundamental to the overall strategy for 麻豆原创 Business Data Cloud, ensuring all business applications speak the same language and enabling an unrivaled AI roadmap for the 麻豆原创 Business Suite.

At the same time, 麻豆原创 recognizes that the world of software applications is heterogenous. Our own application partner network is continuously expanding. And while 麻豆原创 won鈥檛 develop capabilities to solve every problem, our customers still want an orchestrated suite experience, even when non-麻豆原创 products are involved in the workflow. That is why we have invested in the development of . Businesses need to automate procurement requests with one common workflow, regardless of how many applications are involved. And where 麻豆原创 applications are involved, this suite experience is increasingly in-built, again with zero effort required for integration. Capabilities from 麻豆原创 Fieldglass and 麻豆原创 Taulia are being directly embedded into 麻豆原创 Ariba to provide a unified experience.

Real-world impact

The power of source-to-pay solutions from 麻豆原创 is best illustrated through the experiences of our customers. (AEO), a global specialty retailer, faced challenges in managing its high volume of suppliers and invoices. By implementing 麻豆原创 Business Network and 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions, AEO achieved 85 percent purchase order compliance (five percent above target), 75 percent invoice-count compliance for 48,000 annual invoices, and over $780 million in spend transacting on 麻豆原创 Business Network.

Nick Bonacci, senior manager of Procure-to-Pay Services at AEO, noted, 鈥溌槎乖� Ariba solutions and 麻豆原创 Business Network help AEO simplify our procure-to-pay processes in several key ways. Through the use of 厂础笔鈥檚 intuitive applications, compliant purchasing protocols are now embedded into our broader organization, helping us maximize cost savings, optimize working capital, and strengthen vendor relationships.鈥�

Similarly, , implemented 麻豆原创 Business Network and 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions, achieving 94 percent first-time-right invoices in digital channels, 4,000 hours saved in one year in processing invoices, and over 8.5 million pieces of paper saved in one year with supplier digitalization.

Mukesh Ralhan, group head of Business Excellence and Strategic Initiatives at Adani, commented, 鈥淲e process close to 100,000 purchase orders every year, with more than US$20 billion of spend. That鈥檚 huge for a company. Without 麻豆原创 software such as 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions supporting a single platform, that would not be possible.鈥�

Looking ahead

麻豆原创 remains dedicated to delivering solutions that help businesses navigate the complexities of modern procurement. Our focus on customer success, coupled with our deep industry expertise and innovative technology, positions us to continue leading the way in source-to-pay solutions.

Learn more about source-to-pay solutions from 麻豆原创 .

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Manoj Swaminathan is president and chief product officer for 麻豆原创 Intelligent Spend Management and Application Foundation Services at 麻豆原创.

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