The Biggest Changes Happen When You’re Not Looking – Predictions in P2P for 2026
Evolution – But Not as You Know It
The same has been true for our P2P processes. At PPN we’ve been talking about Accounts Payable and Procure to Pay transformation for many years. In fact, 18 years this year! And in that time P2P has indeed transformed, but that process has been more like an evolution. We tend to think of evolution as a continual and gradual progression forwards, but more often it’s characterised by long periods where not a lot changes, followed by sudden bursts of progress and so on. So quite often we don’t feel the changes until we take a look in the rear view mirror and see how far we’ve come.
Automation and AI as Standard
Take AI. This year we expect to see an explosion of AI and automation into our working lives. Standing at our side, augmenting what we do and becoming standard. We’ll see Agentic AI streamlining onboarding, compliance and documentation, freeing up humans to focus on more strategic activities. With geopolitical events casting a shadow on economic and supply chain decisions, human interpretation of accurate data will become imperative. And as we gear up to the eInvoicing mandate in April 2029, organisations will need to work towards cleaning up their processes and data in preparation. With the roadmap to the mandate being announced at Budget this year, companies need to be doing all they can to be ready for the next wave of transformative evolution. This will be partly led by end-to-end orchestration of tools, in other words, moving away from siloed solutions to unified platforms which offer instant, actionable insights right across the supply chain.
Strategic Value and Integration - A “One Team” Approach
This is particularly true when we look at procurement and finance collaboration. Historically not always the easiest of bedfellows, in 2026 and beyond we’ll see AI and increased automation stepping in to fill the gap. On top of that, with an increase in roles that oversee both functions and business partnering, we expect to see a further break away from the old siloed and sometimes egocentric guardianships of the past, enabling a “one team” approach and real-time value. In all, we’ll start to see P2P moving away from being a cost centre to a value creator, offering strategic capabilities and supporting growth, not just managing transactions.
Relationships, Data and Payment Terms
For better or worse, today’s workforce is used to quick results. Fast actions and quick decisions. In 2026 this will relate to supplier relationships too. We’ll see a shift towards suppliers favouring easy to work with customers, rewarding those with good data and fast processes. With tighter payment regulations, such as payment practices in Annual Reports, we’ll start to see poor payment history disqualifying buyers from tenders and good payment records becoming a competitive advantage. In effect we’ll see good processes and automation which delivers access to good data, as currency.
Rapid Change Affects Everyone – Solution Providers Too
Of course, evolution affects solution providers too, and not everyone can keep up. This year the word on the street is that we can expect to see both acquisitions and failures among some of the large, legacy Source to Pay providers. Conversely, we expect to see a high demand for niche and specialised Agentic AI software. The rapid change will also make itself felt in CFOs and CPOs who are resistant to change, agility and entrepreneurship will be key. We’ll continue to feel a more broad skills gap in the industry. A gap that can be filled with training and investment and P2P community involvement.
Fraud Risks and Governance
And with rapid change comes opportunity. But sometimes that opportunity is taken up by people who don’t have our best interests at heart. Fraudsters for example. And again this year, we expect to see a growth in fraud and cyber attacks, using AI for more sophisticated social engineering. Alongside that we’ll see organisations focussing on data security, governance and AI deployment to avoid financial, compliance and reputational risks and increase controls.
This year at our P2P Transformation Summit on 4th June at The Waldorf, London we’ll be talking about the evolution of the industry and how we expect end-to-end procure to pay to continue to mature into an integrated and strategic function, providing an essential and reliable backbone to business in an increasingly complex environment. As we've said at our events before, you've got to be in the room where it happens. Make sure in fact, that you're looking when the biggest changes are happen in your world and your career.
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