Procurement teams seek to streamline sourcing and broader procurement to boost efficiency and value capture in the face of the various challenges such as macroeconomic uncertainties, supply chain volatilities, and geopolitical shocks that enterprises face today. Agentic AI, a configurable layer of autonomous agents, now makes it possible to generate content, derive insights, collaborate with humans-in-the-loop, invoke tools and APIs, and execute decisions end-to-end. Applied across S2P, agentic AI can triage intake, identify and qualify suppliers, assemble events and documentation, administer and monitor events, analyze proposals, support negotiation and awards, resolve PO/invoice exceptions with autonomous three-way match and fraud checks, enable guided tail-spend buying, and continuously sense third-party, ESG, and compliance risks. In this report, we examine agentic AI applications built for procurement and present detailed provider profiles, analyzing capabilities across procurement activities. The report is designed for procurement teams seeking to optimize sourcing and procurement through agentic AI by clarifying where to start and which solutions best fit their operating context.

Procurement organizations prioritize reducing costs, managing risks, and creating business value. Category management helps achieve these goals by optimizing category spend, identifying cost-saving opportunities, and improving operational efficiency. In the face of emerging agentic AI use cases and ongoing uncertainties, life sciences enterprises are accelerating IT adoption, embracing cloud migration, AI/ML for drug discovery, digital twins for manufacturing, IoT for supply chain visibility, and cybersecurity for connected devices. Commercial functions are projected to see the fastest growth (~7% CAGR, 2025-27), while clinical development is expected to grow at 6.0-6.5% CAGR. These trends reflect not only sector-wide digital transformation but also rising momentum in AI adoption. This report equips buyers of life sciences IT services with the market intelligence required to design informed category strategies. It delivers in-depth insights into industry trends, supplier landscapes, pricing structures, and category management best practices. The market intelligence report should be used in tandem with Everest Group’s ready-to-use category strategy tool kit, which helps conduct a thorough internal assessment of the category. Together, the report and the tool kit allow category managers to integrate and align evolving market dynamics with internal priorities, driving effective, actionable, and future-ready category strategies. The report offers detailed coverage of the following areas: Evolving supplier landscape Technology trends and market dynamics Pricing trends and cost structures Insights on key strategic considerations for category managers, including risk factors, supplier diversity, and location-specific insights

Procurement leaders are navigating an increasingly complex landscape, marked by heightened demands for cost efficiency, sustainability, and risk mitigation. Traditional automation tools are no longer sufficient to meet these challenges. Enter Agentic AI – a transformative technology characterized by autonomous decision-making capabilities that can revolutionize procurement processes. In this webinar, our experts Bhanushee Malhotra, Prateek Singh, and Amit Lad delved into the concept of Agentic AI within procurement. This webinar explored the technological landscape, functionalities, and transformative impact of Agentic AI across various procurement processes. Attendees gained clarity on Agentic AI’s role, potential benefits, and key considerations for successful implementation. What questions did the webinar answer for the participants? What is Agentic AI, and how does it differ from traditional procurement automation tools? Which procurement processes are most suitable for Agentic AI adoption? What are the various Agentic AI use cases currently offered by procurement technology providers? What are the essential functionalities and capabilities to look for in AI agents within procurement solutions?

Procurement leaders today face multifaceted challenges marked by macroeconomic uncertainties, geopolitical turmoil, evolving regulations, cost pressures, and supply chain volatility. Amid these challenges, they are expected to optimize savings, manage supplier risks, ensure compliance, and meet sustainability goals – all while constrained by fragmented, reactive legacy systems. These legacy procurement systems fall short, often leading to reactive decisions, poor visibility, compliance lapses, and operational inefficiencies. This Viewpoint introduces Systems of Execution (SoE) as the next evolution for procurement: an intelligent, autonomous decision-execution framework orchestrating AI agents and operating seamlessly across the Source-to-Pay (S2P) value chain. By overlaying and embedding SoE capabilities into existing systems, procurement organizations can shift from static, reactive processes to dynamic, proactive workflows, enabling an intelligent, autonomous, agile, and execution-oriented procurement ecosystem. Scope All industries and geographies Contents In this report, we explore: SoE-led procurement transformation Functional transformation across the S2P value chain An implementation roadmap for procurement Strategic considerations for chief procurement officers