Coupa: Why Procurement Teams are Struggling to Scale AI

Spend management specialist Coupa has unveiled its Clarity AI Impact Report, which attempts to discover why so many major AI initiatives are struggling to deliver ROI.

The study, delivered in conjunction with Incisiv Research, saw more than 600 business leaders surveyed. 

Coupa's findings demonstrate that the barrier to achieving success is not necessarily the technology, but a a profound disconnect in the AI skills gap among executives.

This has created a strategic vacuum between the leaders funding these AI projects and the teams expected to implement them, leading to projects stalling in pilot mode or remaining unfinished.

The skills gap holding back AI investment

Coupa's research highlights a clear disconnect which is holding back organisations from shifting basic pilots to drivers of enterprise-wide AI value.

It shows that only 5% of executive decision-makers use AI on a daily basis, compared to 57% of their technical teams.

This significant fluency gap means the people funding multi-million-pound AI initiatives often lack the hands-on understanding of AI to set realistic goals and strategies.

A staggering 86% of companies recognise AI as essential for survival, yet just 29% of companies have a clear, company-wide strategy for implementation – proving that enterprise AI ambition currently far outpaces execution.

Pilot purgatory and unrealistic expectations

Coupa finds that 72% of AI initiatives and projects remain stuck in pilot mode, yet 47% of executives still expect meaningful business payback within 6–12 months.

More than three-quarters (77%) of organisations cite data quality and system integration (including legacy IT) as the primary barriers to real results.

"This research is a wake-up call," says Dennis Bruder, Chief Product Officer of AI at Coupa. "The days of funding AI based on hypothetical results or unproven potential are over. The bar for ROI on AI investments has been substantially raised, and decision-makers are looking for technology to drive meaningful value.

"To achieve the aggressive projections – 69% of organisations anticipate substantial AI-powered automation by 2030 and 83% by 2035 – executive leaders must move past theoretical commitment and focus on the strategic platforms that provide both the necessary technical infrastructure and the embedded governance to enable workforce adoption.

"Execution now depends on platform selection more than many other factors."

The shift to unified platforms

There exists a rapid shift in the market towards unified AI solutions that close the execution gap and deliver speed with proven time-to-value.

Coupa finds 80% of companies prefer to purchase AI through external unified platforms rather than build it internally, with only 10% opting for custom in-house solutions. Yet just 2% of AI investment is currently dedicated to orchestration, despite 77% of leaders prioritising simple task automation. This mismatch shows a critical failure to move beyond isolated AI tasks or tools to achieve enterprise-wide, exponential value.

Although 65% of executives favour "human-in-the-loop" oversight to mitigate the risk of critical errors, 56% are unsure whether their company even has an AI governance policy. Without robust governance frameworks, this human safeguard risks becoming a major bottleneck that slows automation rather than enabling it.

The gap between AI ambition and ROI persists because success demands much more than theoretical commitment. Executive focus must shift from hype to realistic, sustained strategies that move beyond isolated task automation and instead orchestrate value through unified AI platforms.