CHICAGO – November 05, 2026 -- The share of enterprise software buyers allocating more than 10% of their IT budget to AI rose from 23% in 2025 to 74% in 2026, according to a new West Monroe survey that also finds sellers misreading buyer behavior on build-vs-buy decisions, AI priorities and pricing.
The consulting firm's report, The New Rules of Enterprise Software & AI Spend, adds a seller perspective to last year's buyer-only baseline. It was conducted online in Q3 2026 among 300 U.S. executives. Buyer respondents represented organizations with at least $100 million in annual revenue. Seller respondents represented technology and software companies with at least $30 million in annual revenue.
Sellers overestimate how often customers build their own AI
42% of buyers say they primarily buy rather than build AI solutions. Only 22% of sellers believe their customers primarily buy, so vendors are underestimating demand for packaged products.
Buyers and sellers agree on productivity but split on what comes next
Employee productivity and AI assistants are a near-term priority for 60% of buyers and 65% of sellers. Beyond that, the two groups diverge. Buyers emphasize infrastructure, model consumption, platforms and talent, while sellers put greater weight on AI agents.
"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.
Sellers lean toward hybrid pricing that only 36% expect buyers to prefer
Buyers favor more predictable pricing. 33% prefer enterprise subscriptions and 24% prefer usage-based pricing. Yet 36% of sellers think buyers prefer hybrid pricing that includes outcome-based pricing, so vendors are moving toward models buyers do not favor.
West Monroe's AI chief expects value to move from seats to agent-driven systems of work
Bret Greenstein, West Monroe's Chief AI Officer, said value is shifting from individual seats and features to agent-powered systems of work that supply trusted data, context and controls. He described buyers as funding practical use cases and foundational capabilities, while sellers already look toward an agent-led future. He added that software companies need to understand changing buyer preferences and the adoption of agents outside of software products.