AI-Driven Spend Management: Boosting Business Resilience
Volatility isn't slowing down, and budgets don't wait. Real-time analytics and AI are giving procurement and finance teams the visibility they need to act early, close value leaks and support the business with confidence. The shift is simple: less reporting on what happened last month, more steering what happens next.
From efficiency to resilience
Procurement's role has moved past blunt cost-cutting. Today, the focus is on resilient, diversified supply, anticipating risk and backing wider company goals with clear, trusted data.
As one leader put it: "Traditionally, spend reporting has been a retrospective, paper-heavy exercise... Modern spend analytics flips that model, capturing every transaction at the point of purchase, typically via smart cards connected to a central platform and enriching it in real time with receipts, categories, project codes and policy rules."
Why real-time visibility matters
Real-time insight, automated categorisation and AI-based anomaly detection turn spend data into decisions. Enterprise platforms are consolidating fragmented sources into a single view so teams can move fast with fewer meetings and fewer spreadsheets.
That's the value executives expect. As shared by PepsiCo's leadership: "By leveraging SpendHQ's advanced analytics platform, we can identify spending patterns, track expenditures and unlock opportunities for cost savings across all our procurement categories."
Uncovering value and closing spend gaps
The biggest leaks still sit in decentralised, day-to-day spend buried in POs, card statements and manual reconciliations. "Too many teams are stuck reporting on last month instead of using real-time insights to shape what happens next."
Centralising and automating data at the point of purchase creates live, trusted insight. That unlocks practical moves like renegotiating supplier terms, tightening policy control and freeing capacity for higher-value work such as supplier diversification and resilience planning.
AI's growing role in spend analytics
AI is becoming the backbone of spend analytics. The fastest wins are in automation and risk control: bulk categorisation of tail spend in seconds, enrichment for comparability and instant detection of out-of-policy, duplicate or unusually high transactions.
With the rise of generative AI fake receipts, complete, real-time visibility makes fraud easier to spot and stop. AI doesn't replace judgement; it removes low-value admin so teams can stay focused on progressive, strategic decisions.
Visibility tied to strategic goals
Better visibility supports supply risk management, ESG tracking and compliance. "Procurement will always be accountable for controlling costs, but you can't control what you can't see. Real-time visibility changes that."
Link spend activity to supplier risk, carbon metrics and contractual obligations. The result: fewer surprises, faster decisions and a function that acts as a strategic advisor, not a back-office reporter.
Key statistics
- 47.8% - Spend analytics share of the procurement analytics market in 2025, per Future Market Insights.
- +33% - Operational shopping increase (Soldo 2025 Procurement Spend Index).
- +26% YoY - Overall operational spend (Soldo).
- Up to 80% - Time finance teams can reclaim on monthly reporting.
Technology partnerships fuel the shift
Platforms like Soldo provide real-time expense capture, rich reporting, automated reconciliation and direct integrations with accounting and ERP systems. That saves hours, improves policy control and gives leaders a live view of operational and tail spend.
SpendHQ's work with PepsiCo shows how unified, real-time intelligence supports global consistency, faster decisions and material savings at scale. The playbook is clear: consolidate data, standardise categorisation, enable action in a few clicks.
What to do this quarter
- Capture every transaction at the point of purchase (e.g., smart cards tied to a central platform).
- Auto-categorise tail spend and enrich data with supplier, project and cost centre details.
- Set live anomaly alerts for duplicates, out-of-policy and unusually high transactions.
- Consolidate sources into a single, trusted view and retire manual month-end rollups.
- Tie spend to supplier risk and carbon metrics to support resilience and ESG reporting.
- Measure reclaimed time in finance and redeploy it to analysis, supplier strategy and controls.
- Run targeted renegotiations using fresh, comparable supplier data.
The takeaway for managers
Real-time, AI-driven spend intelligence turns procurement into a lever for resilience and value. Get visibility, automate the grunt work and move from reporting to steering.
If you're upskilling your team on AI for finance and operations, explore curated training and tools here: AI Tools for Finance.
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