Tom Mills recently posted a Top 10 Procurement Trends in 2026 post on LinkedIn that made me ask Really? Basically, I’ve been reading, and writing, about the majority of the “trends” for two decades. As per my recent 34-part series on you don’t need to read another state of procurement report for five years!, nothing has really changed in the last five years. In fact, not much has changed in the last ten, if not twenty, years. All that ever changes is the tech-du-jour, which particular risk is the most prominent, which particular process is the most recommended, and whether the trend is in-sourcing solutions, out-sourcing solutions, or hybrid models.
To make this oh-so-clear, we’re going to conclude Tom’s list and provide some colour commentary!
6️⃣ AI Becomes Core but our Readiness Lags
This is the only “sort of new” trend, except it has been the “sort of new” trend for three years now, but when you realize “AI” is the “tech-du-jour”, you realize that, again, nothing has changed for the past two-plus decades because the “tech-du-jour” is always the 10th trend. And for every
tech-du-jour that becomes core, our readiness lags. Over the past 25 years we’ve had these five tech-du-jours (that tend to last for around 5 years).
- WWW
- SaaS
- The Fluffy Magic Cloud
- Predictive Analytics
- AI
7️⃣ Data Quality and Governance as a Prerequisite
For all advanced tech, data quality has ALWAYS been central and paramount. Ever since the introduction of optimization, and in our space, strategic sourcing decision optimization (SSDO), data quality was key. With traditional (MILP) optimization, one value in one million can tank an entire model (because if a decimal point error makes one product 50X cheaper, then the allocation will obviously go to the wrong supplier). Moreover, if there are capacity constraints, minimum allocations, maximum supplier counts, etc., this will result in cascading incorrect assignments and allotments across the entire model. Then came should cost modelling, and again, without good data quality and governance, it didn’t work. Then spend analysis, which needed proper market baselines. And now AI, which is garbage in, hazardous waste out. Even with perfect data you can still get hallucinations, so you definitely don’t want even the slightest error!
8️⃣ Orchestrated Procurement Ecosystems
In Procurement, which has NOT fundamentally changed since the first manual was written 139 years ago, the story remains the same — only the names have changed! AI may be the tech-du-jour, but orchestration is the term-du-jour. But it’s not new. The automated coordination, management, and sequencing of multiple distinct processes, systems, or components to achieve a unified, higher-level goal has been a goal of Procurement for decades — except back in the 2000s the term-du-jour was “metaprise”. (And Jon W. Hansen can also fill you in on the history here.)
9️⃣ Talent as the Transformation Multiplier
We’ve been talking about this for decades. I wrote a 7-part series 20 years ago when I first started SI. Talent is not only necessary, but it’s the way you truly succeed. Talent that designs better processes, selects better technologies, and, most importantly, makes better decisions that allows the organization to be more strategic and more effective is not only transformation, but a transformation multiplier.
🔟 Procurement as an Enterprise Value Driver
Ever since AMR first started covering the space in the early 2000s, we’ve been told that Procurement is the Enterprise Value Driver. That strategic sourcing, when utilizing the right technology (namely optimization and analytics) would consistently identify year-over-year savings of 12%. That m-way matching, which ensured the payment matched the invoice matched the PO matched the contract would prevent (often unrecoverable) overspend. That spend analysis can identify real value drivers. The whole space was defined as a value driver. Nothing has changed.
The GruntMaster 6000 was engineered for longevity and has a long memory. And his long memory tells him that the more things (are purported to) change, the more they stay the same!