Spanish companies will allocate nearly 65 billion euros to IT in 2026, of which around 35 billion will correspond to outsourced services, according to the IT Services Sourcing Study 2026, prepared by the consulting firm Eraneos in collaboration with Whitelane Research.
The report, which reaches its 14th edition, analyzes more than 1,000 IT outsourcing contracts and 1,200 cloud sourcing relationships, based on the opinion of more than 330 managers of the largest Spanish companies based on their spending on technology.
Although external spending remains high, the number of companies that plan to reduce their investment in external service providers increases, in parallel with the interest in maintaining certain capabilities and strategic knowledge within the organization. In this way, and as Eduardo Martín, director of Sourcing and IT Advisory at Eraneos Iberia, explains, “a growing commitment to re-internalization and the high expectations placed on investment in AI lead a large part of Spanish companies to anticipate that spending on external service providers will be reduced.” The percentage of companies that affirm that they will reduce their external spending on IT increases from 9% in 2025 to 16% in 2026 according to the Eraneos study.
AI, engine of internalization and new externalization
68% of companies that will reduce their investment in IT say that artificial intelligence is reducing the need to outsource certain activities, while 67% of these companies seek to keep strategic knowledge within the organization. At the same time and according to the Eraneos report, access to emerging technologies (62%) and specialized talent (59%) continue to be two of the main reasons for turning to external suppliers.
Regarding the adoption of AI, only 2% of companies say they do not currently use it, while 17% say that the internal solutions developed have generated a significant impact and 3% say they have completely transformed their operations. Among the main barriers to advancing its adoption are the quality and availability of data, governance, and the lack of internal alignment on priorities.
Record satisfaction in Europe
Relationships with technology suppliers maintain a positive rating. 80% of the sourcing relationships analyzed in Spain obtain the rating of ‘Satisfied’ or ‘Very satisfied’ by clients, placing the Spanish market among those with the highest levels of satisfaction in Europe.
68% of companies that will reduce their investment in IT say that AI reduces the need to outsource certain activities
In the 2026 supplier satisfaction ranking, Ayesa Digital, DXC Technology and T-Systems are in the top positions, with 86% satisfaction. The study also incorporates a new specific ranking on the capacity of suppliers to generate value through AI, in which EPAM NEORIS, Hiberus and Accenture occupy the top positions.
