Tropic released new survey findings revealing that finance and procurement teams are bracing for a significant shift toward AI adoption. According to the data, 86% of finance leaders plan to implement or scale AI initiatives by 2026. These findings support the launch of the next evolution of Tropic AI: five specialized agents designed to work in unison, transforming how businesses manage spend, contracts, and supplier relationships.

This marks a major milestone in Tropic's ongoing AI innovation journey. Over the past year, the company has focused on pairing cutting-edge AI capabilities with its unmatched team of human specialists to simplify and modernize procurement. Tropic's vision is clear: finance teams don't just need more tools-they need strategic partners who understand the growing demands of their role. While half of finance leaders say they are still in the early stages of AI adoption, nearly 50% are already reallocating budgets from legacy tools to fund AI-driven solutions, positioning 2026 as a pivotal year for transformation. 

"Finance leaders aren't just talking about AI anymore. They're budgeting for it," said Russell Lester, CFO at Tropic. "Our new research shows that 53% of finance leaders expect AI to influence their 2026 budget and planning priorities and 49% plan to or have already reallocated software and budget towards AI tools. At Tropic, we've been building toward this moment for over a year. What we're announcing today represents the maturation of our AI platform into a complete workforce that actually delivers the productivity gains teams have been promised." 

According to the survey, 66% of finance leaders identify improving operational efficiency as the top reason for investing in AI-significantly outweighing motivations like competitive pressure or executive directives. Yet, early outcomes suggest a tempered start: while 73% say AI has led to modest productivity improvements, only 4% report seeing substantial gains to date.

"There's a clear gap between AI promise and AI performance," Lester noted. "Teams know they need AI to become more effective and stay competitive, but they're struggling to implement solutions that deliver real value. We've spent the past year building and refining AI tools that actually solve procurement problems. These five agents represent the evolution of that work into a comprehensive AI workforce." 

Tropic's five AI agents are purpose-built to solve specific procurement challenges and work seamlessly within the broader Tropic platform and services. Each agent plays a specialized role in streamlining and strengthening procurement workflows:

• Smart Request Assistant simplifies the procurement process, allowing any employee to easily initiate and track purchase requests.
• Compliance Copilot reviews requests and contracts in real time, flagging out-of-policy items to reduce bottlenecks and enforce compliance.
• Contract Intelligence Engine extracts key terms from contracts and delivers instant, plain-language answers to contract-related questions.
• Negotiation Navigator equips teams with real-time pricing benchmarks and supplier insights drawn from over $13B in aggregated spend data.
• AI Invoice Match automatically reconciles invoices against contracts and purchase requests to detect errors and prevent overpayments or fraud.

These agents are fully integrated into Tropic's procurement ecosystem and designed to complement existing systems-requiring no major change management or technical overhauls.

"We're not building AI for the sake of having AI," said Etkin. "Over the past year, we've methodically addressed major procurement pain points with tailored solutions. The Smart Request Assistant, for example, evolved from customer feedback on Ask Tropic. Each agent solves a specific problem that wastes hours of our customers' time every week."