Spend Under Management: The New Benchmark for Procurement Success

In today’s complex and volatile global economy, procurement has become a critical lever for driving business value, mitigating risk, and unlocking operational efficiency. According to the Ardent Partners 2025 Spend Under Management Report, while traditional metrics like cost savings and cycle time remain essential, a new gold standard is emerging to define procurement maturity: Spend Under Management (SUM).

According to Ardent Partners’ Procurement Metrics That Matter in 2025, procurement departments are managing an average of 70.8% of enterprise spend—the highest recorded in Ardent’s 20-year research history. This shift is not coincidental. Organizations that gain control and visibility over their spend outperform in cost savings, compliance, supplier performance, and resilience.

This blog explores why SUM is now the ultimate benchmark for procurement success, how it impacts enterprise performance, and how organizations can strategically increase their SUM using advanced technology, especially through AI-powered platforms like those offered by Zycus.

What Is Spend Under Management?

Spend Under Management (SUM) refers to the percentage of an organization’s total spend that is actively managed by the procurement function using formal processes, technology tools, and strategic practices. This includes negotiated contracts, guided buying, supplier relationship management, and compliance monitoring.

While unmanaged spend (sometimes called “maverick” or “off-contract” spend) bypasses procurement, SUM ensures spend is visible, optimized, and aligned with business objectives.

Why SUM Matters in 2025 and Beyond

According to Ardent Partners, organizations with higher SUM experience:

• Lower risk exposure
• Greater savings realization
• Improved contract compliance
• Enhanced supplier performance
• More accurate forecasting and spend visibility

Best-in-Class procurement teams—defined as the top 20% of performers—have 91.7% of their spend under management, compared to just 61.1% for all others. This stark contrast illustrates why SUM is more than a KPI; it’s a competitive differentiator.

The Link Between SUM and Procurement Performance

The Ardent Partners report demonstrates that SUM is foundational to performance across key procurement metrics:

These results underscore the ripple effect of SUM. When procurement controls more of the spend, it also gains influence over supplier terms, ensures compliance, and captures more data—enabling predictive analytics, better negotiations, and real-time risk monitoring.

How to Increase Spend Under Management

Achieving higher SUM is not just about mandating compliance. It requires a comprehensive strategy that integrates people, processes, and technology. Below are three key enablers, each tied to Zycus’ AI-driven platform capabilities:

1. Automate Spend Visibility and Classification

To manage spend, you must first see it. Many procurement teams struggle with fragmented data across business units, geographies, and systems.

With Zycus Spend Analysis Software, procurement leaders can:

• Consolidate spend data across sources
• Classify it with AI-driven accuracy
• Identify off-contract or non-compliant purchases
• Track performance by supplier, category, and business unit

Ardent notes that better visibility and analytics is the #1 improvement area cited by CPOs in 2025. Zycus answers that call with automated spend dashboards and drill-down analytics that surface trends and opportunities in real-time.

2. Drive Contract Compliance and Reduce Maverick Spend

One of the main causes of unmanaged spend is non-compliance with established contracts. Ardent research reveals that non-compliant spend can cost an organization 12–18% more than compliant purchases.

Zycus offers robust Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tools, enabling:

• Automated contract creation with AI-suggested clauses
• Real-time compliance tracking
• Contract renewal and expiration alerts
• Seamless integration with procurement workflows

These capabilities ensure that once a contract is negotiated, it is also used—improving SUM while reducing leakage and legal risk.

3. Enable Guided Buying and Supplier Engagement

Ardent’s report shows that supplier enablement is critical, with the Best-in-Class achieving a 40% higher enablement rate than their peers.

Zycus simplifies and scales supplier interaction with:

• Supplier Management Software for onboarding, performance evaluation, and risk monitoring
• Merlin Intake Management is an AI-powered interface that makes guided buying as simple as online shopping
• Self-service supplier portals for real-time collaboration and document exchange

By improving ease of use for both end users and suppliers, Zycus solutions drive higher adoption—and in turn, increase the amount of spend captured within approved processes.

AI’s Role in Achieving and Sustaining SUM

AI is no longer a “nice-to-have.” According to Ardent, 73% of CPOs expect AI to have a transformational or significant impact, and nearly 50% of procurement teams already use it.

Zycus’ Merlin AI Suite empowers procurement teams to:

• Classify spend automatically with high precision
• Draft and review contracts using Generative AI
• Detect anomalies in real-time (e.g., duplicate invoices, unauthorized suppliers)
• Handle tail-spend negotiations autonomously with AI agents

These AI tools not only improve efficiency but also ensure consistent application of procurement policies— expanding and protecting SUM.

SUM in the Context of Volatility

2025 is marked by uncertainty: 90% of CPOs expect more challenges than in 2024—including new tariffs, inflation, and supply disruptions. SUM acts as a stabilizer. It offers visibility to pivot sourcing strategies, manage risks, and maintain compliance across global operations.

Additionally, AI-powered tools enhance resilience by enabling scenario planning, real-time data refresh, and prescriptive insights—all of which support smarter decisions in turbulent times.

How Zycus Helps Organizations Drive SUM Excellence

Zycus provides a fully integrated Source-to-Pay (S2P) suite designed to give procurement leaders complete control over every dollar spent. Its technology suite supports the key levers of SUM:

• Spend visibility (Spend Analysis, eProcurement)
• Contract compliance (CLM, AI Clause Management)
• Supplier engagement (SRM, Risk Management)
• Process automation (eInvoicing, Guided Buying)
• Strategic sourcing (eSourcing, Autonomous Negotiation)

Each of these elements supports the Ardent-recommended path to Best-in-Class procurement—where SUM is not only maximized but used to inform broader business strategies.

Conclusion: SUM as the Cornerstone of Procurement Success

As procurement shifts from transactional to strategic, Spend Under Management has emerged as the true benchmark of success. It reflects not only operational control but also strategic maturity, resilience, and digital readiness.

The most successful organizations in 2025 are those who invest in modern procurement platforms, elevate their AI capabilities, and align people, process, and technology to capture, manage, and optimize enterprise spend.

With Ardent’s findings as a guide and Zycus as a technology partner, your organization can not only raise its SUM—but rise to the top of procurement performance.

Explore Zycus Solutions for Spend Under Management

• Spend Analysis Software
• Contract Lifecycle Management
• Supplier Management
• Source-to-Pay Suite
• Merlin Agentic Platform
• eSourcing

Related Reads:

1. Top Procurement Priorities for CPOs in 2025: What’s Driving the Agenda?
2. The Rise of AI in Procurement: Trends, Tools, and Expectations
3. Top Procurement Tools from the Ardent 2025 Report
4. 7 Steps to Effective Spend Management
5. Benefits and Challenges You Didn’t Know about Spend Management
6. How Can Procurement Spend Management Help Your Organization’s Bottom Line?
7. Driving Success with Spend Management Solutions: Strategies and Best Practices
8. Top 7 Spend Management Software Benefits to Revolutionize your Financial Management
9. Spend Analysis: Making sense of Data