Zip's State of AI in Spend 2026: Builders See 6x the ROI of Pilot-Stuck Bystanders

Zip's State of AI in Spend 2026: Builders See 6x the ROI of Pilot-Stuck Bystanders

Zip published the annual State of AI in Spend 2026 report on July 23, 2026 — a survey (with research firm Prolific) of 1,050 procurement, finance, IT, and operations leaders who manage spend, skewed large-enterprise: 74% at organizations with 1,000+ employees, 15% at 50,000+. The report's core claim is that the market has split into two cohorts — "Builders," who deploy AI deeply and see measurable returns, and "Bystanders," stuck in pilots — and that deployment depth, not budget size, is what separates them.

Key numbers from the release:

• Depth beats budget, by 6x. Organizations deploying AI widely are 6 times more likely to report clear ROI than those still piloting or exploring (39% vs. 6.5%).¹ Only 17% of all organizations have unlocked clear ROI so far.
• Scale doesn't buy returns. Organizations with 50,000+ employees are the most likely to deploy AI widely (33%) and the least likely to show clear ROI (11%).
• Shadow AI is mainstream — and IT leads it. 57% of respondents have used AI tools their employer hasn't sanctioned; among IT respondents it's 64%, the highest of any function. Counting those who've considered it, 68% are using or want to use unapproved AI.
• AI is a daily habit. 62% of leaders use AI multiple times a day; 89% call AI a net productivity gain even after accounting for time spent correcting its mistakes.
• Headcount expectations tilt down. 33% expect the team managing third-party spend to shrink in five years vs. 26% who expect growth. Nearly half of organizations have already cut or consolidated roles because AI can do the work (29%) or plan to (19%).
• Procurement's stock is rising. 63% of respondents expect procurement's influence to grow over the next three to five years — a figure that jumps to 85% among Builders.

The report's head of research, Nick Heinzmann, framed the differentiator: "The Builders are showing everyone else the way… Their edge isn't bigger budgets, it's treating AI as a team-wide transformation instead of another tool. That's worth 6x the ROI and closing that gap is within reach for other companies willing to go deeper."

What a founder selling to enterprises should take from it

1. Procurement is positioning itself as the AI-value verification function. The report argues procurement is "uniquely positioned to close the gap between AI spend and AI proof." Expect procurement to show up earlier in deals with ROI scorecards and deployment-depth questions — not just at renewal. This compounds the dynamics tracked in CFO Vetoes and Contract Term Compression: The Rise of Finance Scrutiny in AI Software Sourcing and Buying AI Once, Justifying AI Twice: The 2026 AI Renewal Cliff and the Shift from Hype to Proof.
2. The 57% shadow-AI number is a bottom-up wedge. Unsanitised tool use at this scale means demand for AI capability precedes sanctioned purchases — land with the teams already using unapproved AI, then let procurement formalize it. But it also means buyers arrive skeptical of vendor claims, having been burned informally.
3. Large-enterprise buyers know they're bad at this. The 33%-deploy-widely / 11%-clear-ROI inversion at 50k+ employees is an opening: the pitch is deployment depth and change management, not features. This aligns with the pilot-quality dynamics in The Proof-of-Concept Trap: How Enterprise AI Pilots Win or Lose Deals.