This podcast, based on GEP's research report, CIPS Global State of Procurement & Supply 2026, explains how procurement has moved to a direct driver of enterprise strategy, and what that shift means for leaders navigating today's volatile business environment.
A year ago, one in seven procurement professionals reported to the CEO. Today, it is closer to one in three. Boards have realized that procurement sits closest to where global risk surfaces, and they are restructuring accordingly.
What is notable is that influence has arrived alongside real pressure. Teams are being asked to do more with capabilities that were not built for this level of responsibility. ESG mandates are becoming contractual obligations. Legacy systems are slowing down the AI investments that are meant to solve these problems. Leading organizations are making deliberate choices now about where to invest, what to automate, and how to build procurement teams that can operate at the strategic level the C-suite now expects.
What's Inside:
- How CEO reporting lines for procurement doubled in one year
- Why Agentic AI is moving procurement from visibility to execution
- How ESG accountability is shifting directly to procurement teams
The next era of procurement leadership starts with the right intelligence.
Listen to the podcast now.
Frequently asked questions
The research points to compounding market shocks, including geopolitical tensions, climate events, and rapid technological change, as the forces behind this shift. As these pressures have grown, executive teams have come to recognize that procurement sits closest to the supplier ecosystem and is best placed to surface early commercial and risk signals. The numbers reflect that recognition: 33% of procurement professionals now report directly to the CEO, managing director, or owner, up from 15% the previous year. The shift is sharpest in manufacturing, transport, and financial services, where a disrupted supply chain does not just affect margins. It determines whether the business can operate at all.
Most AI tools in use today are informational. They can flag a disruption, highlight a delay, or summarize a document, but the response still depends on a human picking up the thread. Agentic AI changes the dynamic. If a port bottleneck is identified, the system can locate alternative suppliers in unaffected regions, check their compliance status, compare pricing, and put a draft purchase order in front of someone for approval, without anyone having to coordinate each step manually. The research is clear that legacy infrastructure is the primary obstacle here. These systems need clean, harmonized data to function, and many organizations are still working through the foundational work required to get there.
Because Scope 3 emissions are generated within the external supply chain, outside the organization’s direct control, the only way to address them is through supplier relationships and contract terms. The research shows that 59% of organizations have set or plan to set Net Zero targets that include Scope 3, while the same proportion now factor ESG performance into supplier selection. Fifty-seven percent are going further, writing ESG obligations directly into contracts. AI-native platforms are making it more practical to track supplier progress and catch compliance gaps early, which means sustainability performance is increasingly something procurement can monitor and enforce rather than simply report on.