Procurement Moves Closer to the CEO, but Execution Gaps Still Slow Results

Procurement leaders spent years trying to earn a seat at the executive table. Now many finally have one. The harder part starts next.

The latest Global State of Procurement & Supply 2026 report from CIPS and GEP shows procurement teams gaining direct access to CEOs and executive leadership at a much higher rate than before. One-third of procurement leaders now report directly to the CEO, managing director or owner, up from just 15% the previous year.

That shift matters because the world changed faster than most operating models could keep up with.

Tariffs move overnight. Supplier risk spreads across regions in hours. Cyber threats now sit inside procurement conversations alongside pricing and sourcing. Meanwhile, inflation pressure refuses to disappear completely. Procurement teams sit in the middle of all of it.

Companies know this. Boards know this too.

The old perception of procurement as a cost-control function no longer fits the reality inside global enterprises. Procurement teams increasingly shape resilience planning, supplier continuity, sustainability reporting and operational risk management. The report calls procurement “the connective tissue of all business activities.”

Still, the report reveals a contradiction.

Procurement has more visibility than ever before, but many organizations still struggle to turn insight into coordinated action.

That problem keeps surfacing across sourcing, supplier management, and supply chain execution.

Visibility Improved. Execution Still Lags

The data points tell the story clearly.

Fifty-two percent of procurement leaders say their influence over organizational spend is growing. Yet only 37% describe procurement as a “trusted business partner truly embedded in spend decisions.” In many organizations, procurement still gets pulled into decisions too late. Teams react instead of steering outcomes early.

The problem rarely comes from lack of information anymore.

Most enterprises already have dashboards, supplier reports, forecasting tools and spend analytics. What slows execution is fragmentation. Procurement systems remain disconnected from supply chain operations, finance workflows and supplier collaboration platforms.

The result feels familiar to many sourcing leaders. Teams identify risk early but fail to act quickly enough because approvals, data and workflows sit across different systems.

GEP’s foreword in the report addresses this directly. Organizations can already “see risks, understand trade-offs and identify opportunities in real time.” The challenge lies in translating that visibility into action consistently.

AI Expectations Have Become More Practical

That gap explains why AI conversations inside procurement are changing tone.

A year ago, discussions centered around dramatic automation and rapid workforce changes. This year’s findings look more measured. Procurement leaders still expect AI to improve operations, but expectations have cooled significantly in several areas.

The market appears to be moving from experimentation toward operational realism.

Only 7% of organizations describe themselves as highly automated today. Most remain partly automated or are still building toward broader adoption. Larger organizations continue to move faster because they have stronger data infrastructure and larger technology budgets. Smaller firms often struggle with fragmented systems and inconsistent supplier data.

That difference is becoming more visible across the market.

Research referenced in related GEP studies shows that 64% of organizations are very likely to invest in agentic AI. Yet more than half still lack unified procurement data systems.

That rarely holds up in production.

AI performs well only when supplier, spend, contract and sourcing data connect cleanly across the organization. Many companies still operate with procurement, supply chain and finance data spread across multiple environments. AI cannot coordinate decisions effectively if the underlying processes remain disconnected.

Procurement Orchestration Is Becoming More Important

This is where procurement orchestration and agentic AI start gaining attention.

Traditional automation handles isolated tasks. It routes approvals, processes invoices or flags supplier risks. Agentic AI works differently. It carries decisions across workflows and systems while adjusting actions in real time.

That matters in sourcing.

If a supplier disruption appears in one region, procurement teams cannot wait days for manual coordination between sourcing, logistics and operations. They need systems that identify exposure, model alternatives and trigger action immediately.

Several GEP studies attached to the broader procurement research point toward this shift. AI-powered orchestration now helps companies align sourcing, supplier management, logistics and risk decisions in real time.

Tariffs and Supply Chain Risk Are Changing Procurement Priorities

The timing makes sense.

Procurement leaders face pressure from every direction simultaneously. Tariff instability continues forcing companies to rethink direct material sourcing strategies. Manufacturers increasingly need real-time visibility into supplier exposure, forward pricing and regional sourcing alternatives. Manual sourcing processes move too slowly when market conditions change weekly.

Many companies are already restructuring supply chains because of this pressure.

Some are shifting production closer to regional markets. Others are decentralizing supply operations into smaller regional networks. The objective is straightforward: reduce dependence on single geographies and improve response speed during disruptions.

Procurement sits at the center of those decisions now.

Procurement’s Role Keeps Expanding

The profession also carries growing responsibility for sustainability programs. Ninety-three percent of procurement and supply leaders say ESG importance is either growing or remaining stable. More organizations now place ESG accountability directly inside procurement functions instead of separate sustainability teams.

That expansion changes the skills procurement leaders need.

Technology skills, risk management and negotiation now rank as the top development priorities globally. Procurement professionals increasingly need to interpret market signals, understand AI-enabled workflows and navigate geopolitical uncertainty alongside traditional sourcing responsibilities.

The role looks far broader than it did even five years ago.

Procurement teams now influence operational continuity, supplier resilience, cybersecurity

exposure and sustainability performance. Yet many organizations still run procurement processes through fragmented systems built for a slower business environment.

That mismatch becomes harder to sustain every year.

The Next Phase Depends on Execution

Companies that modernize procurement around connected workflows, unified data and AI-driven execution will likely widen the gap over competitors still relying on disconnected tools and manual coordination. The report hints at this divide already emerging between mature procurement organizations and those still building foundations.

Procurement finally has leadership visibility. Now leadership expects results at speed.

The organizations that close the execution gap first will shape what procurement looks like over the next decade.