Procurement metrics that matter in 2026: what the top 20% do differently

Best-in-Class procurement teams manage 90.2% of spend. Everyone else sits closer to 60%. That is not an edge. It is a different operating reality.

Ardent Partners surveyed 311 procurement leaders to find out what separates the top 20% from the rest, and the answer is not effort. The rest are not doing less. They are doing the same things without the leverage that makes them compound: sourcing coverage, compliance that sticks, and technology teams actually adopt.

In this on-demand session, Andrew Bartolini walks through the 2026 benchmark data live, and Alexa Bradley translates it into what a CPO in the bottom 80% should do first (and what they should not touch yet). No product pitch. Just the numbers, the gaps, and the plan.

What you’ll see:

• The five benchmarks that define Best-in-Class in 2026, and where average organizations leak value on each
• Why only half of addressable spend is sourced competitively, and why the savings gap is bigger than it looks
• Leaders out-invest peers in tech by 42% to 181%. Why owning the systems still doesn’t close the gap
• Why most AI efforts stall at pilot stage, and where procurement really sits on the AI maturity model
• The four dials that accelerate AI adoption, plus where agentic AI delivers ROI a CFO will sign off on
• One move each from Andrew and Alexa: the single most important step to break into the top 20% in six months