London, UK, October 5, 2026 – Spendesk, the European AI-powered spend and procurement management platform for SMBs and mid-sized companies, today publishes its European Software Spend Report 2026, an analysis of spending by 2,500 businesses across Europe. The report highlights an increasingly complex financial environment, characterised by a growing number of software tools and suppliers, expanding use of AI, and significant variability in associated spending.
Against this backdrop, finance teams must manage more data and financial flows while maintaining control over decision-making. Spendesk is responding with capabilities that range from conversational access to data to agents embedded directly into the platform. New functionalities include the Bookkeeping Agent and Smart Invoice Routing. This launch is part of a broader vision: the rise of agentic AI as a true digital “workforce” supporting business competitiveness and finance teams.
Software spending is becoming increasingly complex
According to Spendesk data*, companies spend an average of around £213,000 per year on software.
This proliferation of tools is also making financial flows more complex. Companies are using more software, working with more suppliers, and now have to contend with usage-based billing models, particularly in the field of AI.
Tool duplication is a particularly significant issue:
72% of companies using AI pay for two or more tools simultaneously;
In the UK, nearly £399 million could be saved by adjusting duplicate tools across SMEs.
AI is also making financial flows more unpredictable
This complexity takes on a new dimension with the rise of AI.
Spending on AI tools increased by 340% over 12 months among the companies analysed by Spendesk, while the number of companies using these tools remained relatively stable. The increase therefore stems in part from higher spending among companies that had already adopted AI.
AI-related spending is also highly volatile:
60% of the companies analysed show significant month-to-month variations in their AI spending;
This spending can vary by up to 61% from one month to the next, making budget forecasting more difficult;
Months recording peaks in AI spending can cost up to eight times more than low-spending months;
Spending with certain suppliers is growing rapidly: over the period analysed, spending with Anthropic increased sevenfold in six months, while spending related to Cursor more than doubled.
Towards AI-augmented finance
These findings highlight a growing challenge for finance teams. As AI becomes a regular part of business operations, finance teams need to understand where money is going, spot issues quickly and take action while maintaining control.
Spendesk is developing its platform around this shift, combining conversational access to financial data with AI-powered automation embedded directly into finance workflows.
Spendesk AI Connect, built on the Spendesk MCP server (generally available since July), lets users query their Spendesk data directly from AI tools such as Claude or Dust, without exporting reports.
From there, Spendesk is also developing a new generation of tools designed around the real-world needs of finance teams from visibility to automation. These new developments include:
The Bookkeeping Agent codes payables and classifies them as ready for export or flagged for attention, learning from how payments have been classified in the past, with no manual rules to set up. Every recommendation remains explainable, while finance teams retain control over decisions.
Smart Invoice Routing enables multi-entity organisations to use a centralised forwarding address. AI analyses invoices and automatically routes them to the appropriate entity, while exceptions remain under the control of finance teams.
"We’re entering a new phase of AI in the enterprise. We’ve moved beyond using AI to produce and analyse information; we’re now taking it a step further by entrusting it with part of the work itself.
“For finance teams, that means moving from controlling every single flow to letting AI take on the tasks it can handle, while flagging only those that genuinely require human intervention
“That’s the shift we want to build at Spendesk: becoming part of the Office of the CFO through AI that doesn’t just assist finance teams, but takes on meaningful work, with every recommendation explainable, and with safeguards and human oversight where they matter.” explains Axel Demazy, CEO of Spendesk.
The Bookkeeping Agent and Smart Invoice Routing are currently in invitation-only beta, with general availability planned by the end of 2026.