The Hackett Group and Zycus Release the Inaugural โAgentic AI in Procurement Adoption Index โ 2026,โ Establishing the First Annual Benchmark for Source-to-Pay Transformation
A new yearly reference point helps CPOs quantify readiness, prioritize investments, understand risk thresholds, and benchmark ROI as agentic AI reshapes procurement
Princeton, NJโ [2nd Februaryโ26] โ The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT) and Zycus today announced the release of The Hackett Group Agentic AI in Procurement Adoption Index โ 2026 (Inaugural Edition), the first annual benchmark tracking agentic AI
Agentic AI is redefining S2P, but the pace of change is uneven. Many organizations are still forming a shared understanding of what agentic AI can do, what governance it requires, and which use cases deliver the highest returns. The new Index provides an evidence-based baseline to guide CPOs through what The Hackett Group and Zycus describe as one of the most significant technology shifts the function has faced in a generation.
Why this Index matters to CPOs now
With agentic AI moving from experimentation to enterprise roadmap decisions, procurement leaders face a common challenge: making high-stakes choices without reliable benchmarks. The Index was created to close that gap โ providing a consistent, year-over-year yardstick to evaluate readiness, de-risk deployment, and align stakeholders around a pragmatic adoption path.
โAgentic AI will not be won by hype or isolated pilots,โ said Richard Gardner, Senior Director, Advisory Market Intelligence, The Hackett Group. โCPOs need a clear baseline and a trusted benchmark to prioritize where to start, how to govern risk, and how to invest for measurable outcomes. This Index is built to be that annual reference point.โ
โProcurement leaders are seeking clarity: which architectures scale, where ROI appears first, and what risks must be managed,โ said Aatish Dedhai, Founder & CEO, Zycus. โThe Adoption Index brings structure and comparability to decisions that many teams are making for the first time.โ
What the 2026 Index reveals
The inaugural Index surfaces clear signals about where procurement stands today โ and where itโs heading:
- The Readiness Baseline: Only 60%ย of procurement executives are confident their teams understand agentic AI capabilities โ establishing a starting point for industry-wide maturity.
- The Architecture Direction: 65%ย of leaders are prioritizing orchestrated workflowsย over point agents โ indicating where adoption is heading as organizations look to scale beyond isolated use cases.
- The ROI Priorities: The top expected return areas include spend analytics, PO processing, market intelligence, supplier onboarding, and contract managementย โ highlighting where leaders anticipate early value.
- The Risk Map: The highest perceived implementation risks are fraud detection, autonomous negotiations, contract management, payables, and stakeholder managementย โ emphasizing where governance and controls are essential.
- The Investment Trajectory: Procurement organizations expect to allocate 12%ย of procurement technology budgets to agentic AI within three years โ underscoring urgency and the need for disciplined investment planning.
A practical benchmark procurement leaders can use immediately
Beyond insights, the Index is intended to support executive action: calibrating readiness, shaping an adoption roadmap, informing governance, and aligning procurement, finance, IT, and legal leadership on where to deploy autonomy โ and where to keep tighter controls.
The report is authored by Pierre Mitchell, Distinguished Research Analyst, and Richard Gardner, Senior Director, Market Intelligence, and was developed by The Hackett Group in partnership with Zycus.
About Zycus:
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Zycusย delivers procurement outcomes and not just transactions. Its leadership inย Source-to-Payย is independently recognized byย leading analysts, and customers worldwide.
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By moving beyond Source-to-Payย to Intake-to-Outcomes, Zycus is defining the next generation of procurement. Its unified platform uniquely combines native Intake, agentic AI, and an end-to-end S2P core in a single architecture.
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The Merlin Agentic AIย Platform brings this vision to life โ guiding every request through Merlin Intake, unlocking hidden savings through Autonomous Negotiation, and continuously executing toward outcomes, not workflows.
About The Hackett Group
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The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT) is an IP-based, Gen AI strategic consulting and executive advisory firm that enables Digital World Classยฎ performance. Using AI XPLR โ our AI assessment platform โ our experienced professionals guide organizations to harness the power of Gen AI to digitally transform their operations and achieve quantifiable breakthrough results, allowing us to be key architects of their Gen AI journey
Pooja Newar
Senior Manager โ Marketing,
Zycus Inc.
pooja.newar@zycus.com
