West Monroe Survey: AI Spending Surges as 74% of Enterprises Commit Over 10% of IT Budgets to AI

CHICAGO - Nov. 5, 2026 - West Monroe, an AI-native global consulting firm, today released The New Rules of Enterprise Software & AI Spend, a report comparing how software buyers and sellers see the market changing as AI reshapes technology investment. Most notably, the share of buyers allocating more than 10% of their IT budget to AI rose from 23% in 2025 to 74% in 2026.

As AI rewrites the rules of traditional IT and software models, CIOs face decisions about how much to spend, where to invest their budgets, and what to build or buy. Software sellers, meanwhile, are being asked to prove value and adapt products, packaging and pricing. This year's survey asked both buyers and sellers, adding a seller perspective to last year's buyer-only baseline.

"AI is already a budget decision, but buyers and sellers are moving at different speeds," said Dhaval Moogimane, Senior Partner and Software Industry Lead at West Monroe.