SAP named Leader in 2026 IDC MarketScape for AI-enabled direct spend

SAP recognized as Leader in IDC MarketScape

SAP has been positioned in the Leader Category of the 2026 IDC MarketScape for AI-Enabled Direct Spend Vendor Assessment. This recognition reflects SAP’s long-term investment in helping manufacturers connect sourcing, engineering, planning, and supplier collaboration on a single foundation.

Unlike indirect spend, direct materials procurement sits at the intersection of engineering, planning, finance, and supplier relationships — often all at once. A design change triggers a sourcing event. A commodity price spike ripples into contract terms. A supplier quality issue lands on the production floor before procurement even knows it happened.

Connecting design, sourcing, and execution

SAP’s core strength is a single, unbroken data model running from new product introduction (NPI) through sourcing, contract award, and purchase order execution — all within SAP Business Suite. No bolt-on connectors, no manual handoffs between systems.

This approach addresses one of the biggest barriers to AI delivering real value in direct spend: data fragmentation. When procurement decisions are connected to engineering, planning, supplier, and financial data on a shared foundation, AI has meaningful context to work with.

SAP builds for both industry types:

• Engineering-oriented industries (automotive, aerospace): design changes trigger sourcing events
• Brand/asset-oriented industries (consumer goods, chemicals): commodity exposure and supplier scale dominate

SAP Business Network — a global trading network

Surrounding the sourcing suites is SAP Business Network — connecting millions of trading partners across roughly 190 countries, with more than US$7.7 trillion in annual commerce flowing through it.

The network supports:

• Forecast collaboration and purchase order execution
• Inventory management and logistics visibility
• Quality processes and supplier communication

For global manufacturers managing complex, multi-tier supply chains, that scale is operationally significant.

Case study: Multimatic — global automotive supplier

Global automotive supplier Multimatic selected SAP’s direct materials sourcing solution because of its close integration with core ERP processes, including bill of materials (BOM) management, production planning, and cost calculation.

By connecting sourcing more closely to product development and manufacturing workflows, Multimatic is helping procurement, engineering, and suppliers work from the same foundation throughout the product life cycle.

AI in direct spend — present and future

SAP’s current AI capabilities

SAP already delivers production-ready AI capabilities:

• AI-powered supplier and item recommendations
• Invoice data extraction using AI
• Category strategy insights
• Supplier risk scoring
• Joule — AI assistant embedded throughout the suite

Future AI roadmap

SAP plans to expand AI capabilities with new agentic experiences:

• Market intelligence and supplier discovery
• RFx orchestration and negotiation support
• Contract authoring automation
• Supply chain impact analysis

These innovations will be delivered through Joule Work and Joule Studio 2.0 — a no-code/low-code environment built on SAP Business AI, enabling organizations to create and manage agents grounded in live business data.

Implications for manufacturing enterprises

SAP’s recognition as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape reflects the trend of AI and direct spend management convergence — where traditional sourcing-only systems are no longer sufficient. Enterprises need a platform connecting product design through sourcing to supplier payment, with AI providing context and automation at every step.

For manufacturing enterprises pursuing digital transformation, this signals that the global ERP market is shifting strongly toward AI-native procurement — where artificial intelligence doesn’t just analyze data but proactively executes purchasing decisions through agentic AI.

---

Source: SAP Named a Leader in the 2026 IDC MarketScape for AI-Enabled Direct Spend — SAP News Center, September 24, 2026