Procurement leaders are ramping up investment in generative AI as pilots deliver strong returns in analytics and contracting, according to a recent survey report by Deloitte. But uneven data, legacy systems, and a shortage of skilled talent reveal how difficult it will be to scale the technology across global operations.
AI Spending Rises as Pilots Show Payoff
A Deloitte survey of more than 100 chief procurement officers across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific shows that 92% are assessing or planning generative AI investments in 2024. Nearly 11% of companies have already committed more than $1 million annually to AI-enabled procurement tools, with that figure expected to double to 22% by 2025. The use cases range from auto-generating RFx documents and summarizing contracts to powering “intelligent category workbenches” that analyze spend data and issue sourcing recommendations in real time.
Returns are also materializing. Deloitte’s findings indicate roughly half of early adopters have doubled their ROI compared with traditional methods, with some implementations reporting fivefold gains. The strongest value reported comes not from cost-cutting or productivity boosts, but from richer analytics and decision-making. That aligns with broader procurement trends: recent trade reports show companies are leaning on AI to reduce value leakage in supplier negotiations and to improve visibility across multi-tier supply chains.
Obstacles Remain: Data, Integration, and Skills
Despite the momentum, only 37% of CPOs are actively piloting or deploying generative AI. Internal IT maturity remains the top constraint, with many organizations undecided between building their own AI capabilities, buying external platforms, or waiting for established providers to embed the technology into existing procurement suites. Data quality is another stumbling block: poor categorization and inconsistent governance can undermine AI-generated insights.
External risks are also mounting. Nearly all respondents cited data privacy and security as the leading concern, given the sensitive information involved in supplier negotiations and contracts. Compounding the challenge is a shortage of generative AI talent. While curiosity and adaptability are viewed as critical traits, procurement teams face a skills gap that threatens execution quality. According to industry analysts, this shortage could widen disparities between “orchestrators of value”, organizations that use AI to reshape category strategies, and peers that remain locked in manual processes.
Why Timing Matters More Than Technology
The race to embed generative AI in procurement is less about who adopts first and more about how intelligently it is integrated. The most advanced teams are not chasing automation for its own sake but using AI to embed decision logic into workflows that cut across finance, supply chain, and operations. This convergence suggests a shift in how procurement will be judged in the years ahead, less by the savings it secures and more by the strategic intelligence it contributes.