Benchmark research identifies market dynamics that are transforming corporate IT procurement strategies for large companies
Atlanta, June 26, 2025 /prnewswire/ – Enterprise IT procurement leaders are navigating a rapidly changing sourcing landscape marked by vendor integration, AI acceleration, rising software costs and evolution of organizational models, according to NPI’s new benchmark research. The status of companies procuring in 2025 is based on insights from IT procuring organizational leaders $5 billion More annual revenue.
“The big companies that buy are redefineed in real time,” he said. Ken Orlefounder of CXO Nexus, who led research on NPIs. “Sourcing leaders face rare combinations of pressure, from the complexity of cost containment obligations and AI fuel contracts to the dominance of a few key vendors juxtaposed with a surge in tail spending. Peer intelligence is playing a bigger role than ever in helping organizations benchmark and adapt.”
Vendor and Reseller Real Estate: More Vendors, More Complexity
While 66% of companies spend 80% on vendors with fewer than 25 employees, vendor sprawl persists. 82% are actively pursuing reduced suppliers to eliminate redundancy and simplify management. Microsoft and AWS are top of the vendor’s easiest to work with, while Broadcom/VMware is the most vulnerable to deprecation.
Software vendors are the biggest procurement problem, cited as a top challenge due to the complexity of licenses and the lack of responsiveness of the vendor. Many justifications are rare, reporting an update increase of 6-25%. Direct vendor purchases dominate (83% of spending), but the distinction between resellers and cloud marketplaces is blurred.
ProcureTech stack: Control, integration, AI increase
Companies are investing heavily in ProcureTech to better manage the properties of complex suppliers. NPI’s ProcureTech Heat Index™ highlights which technologies are being prepared for new adoption of the net over the next 18 months. Leading adoption of SaaS management and IT asset management. Meanwhile, the price benchmark remains the most widely deployed solution offering strong ROI.
AI-driven automation is poised to transform workflows that procure onboarding, contract management and spending analytics, among other things. Many believe that AI can automate up to 80% of onboarding tasks, allowing procurement teams to be freed to focus on higher value tasks.
IT Category Expenses: Software and Cloud continue to dominate
Software and the cloud continue to be the biggest growth areas. Over 70% of respondents plan to increase their application spend, while 63% expect data center investment to be reduced as cloud migration accelerates. In particular, 83% of IT is related to updating existing vendors. Communication costs continue to decline as SD-Wan adoption replaces legacy networking.
Procurement Staff: Evolving Organizational Models and Global Resources
Of those interviewed, 40% use coastal/offshore talent to increase teams to source it; Mexico and India Major developments. The main drivers are not only cost savings, but access to skills. Only 50% of respondents favor centralized, category-based sourcing structures, especially at the macro level. The growing number also reports improved coordination with stakeholders on the Business Line (LOB). This is a shift that is gaining momentum across the corporate procurement organization.
Take advantage of community insights for enterprise IT procurement
The state of IT sourcing companies in 2025 is part of NPI’s ongoing commitment to equip IT procurement leaders with real-world peer intelligence. As part of a broad set of community-driven initiatives, NPI has partnered with third parties to capture candid insights from executives navigating ProcureTech adoption, vendor integration and procurement transformation. The result is practical intelligence based on shared experiences of large company buyers.
“The study highlights an inflection point that is important for the companies it sources,” he said. John WynsettCEO of NPI. “Even as the long tail continues to expand, a small group of vendors control most of their spending. AI and the cloud are accelerating this. Procurement leaders must adapt quickly, meaning they take away peer insights, smarter tools and stronger negotiation strategies.”
Download the full report here.
About NPI
NPI is the best provider of data, services and tools to help large businesses identify and eliminate over-expenses on IT purchases. NPI offers transaction-level price benchmark analysis, licensing and service optimization analysis, and vendor-specific negotiation Intel, enabling IT teams to accelerate material savings and measurable ROI. NPI analyzes billions of dollars of spending each year for clients across all industries, including its large sums. NPI also offers software auditing, audit defense, and asset management services. For more information, please visit www.npifinancial.com and follow LinkedIn.
contact: Hannah Bauer, (Email protection)
Source NPI
