90% of Logistics Leaders Hit AI ROI Targets — But 62% Want Faster Payback

Nine in 10 transportation and logistics leaders say their AI and technology investments have met or exceeded ROI expectations heading into 2026, according to the inaugural industry report from digital engineering firm Sparq. Yet 62% of those same leaders are pushing vendors for faster payback — a tension that now defines where the sector stands as AI moves from proof of concept to proof of value.

The survey drew more than 300 participants across brokers, truckers, parcel carriers and last-mile delivery companies. Over 50% were direct decision-makers on technology investment, another 40% were influencers, and 90% of respondents sat at director level or higher. Scott Monnig, Chief Client Officer at Sparq, stressed the data's independence: "This isn't our opinion. This isn't the opinion of vendors in the room here. These are self-reported results from the technology decision-makers — and the set that we interviewed, over 300 folks participated in the survey."

Where is the money going next?

Roughly 90% of respondents expect their AI and technology budgets to increase in 2027. Even so, about 20% still consider themselves budget-constrained.

The top operational challenge is legacy systems, flagged by 25% of respondents, followed by data quality and talent gaps. On the external side, fuel costs rank as the leading pressure, with labor costs close behind.

The report's core recommendation: tie investments directly to measurable business outcomes, not technology milestones. "What organizations are really wanting is evidence, proof that the investments that they're making are generating those ROIs," Monnig said. Data infrastructure emerged as the foundational priority for 2027 spending. Leaders are comfortable with their existing data systems — but dissatisfied with the quality of insights those systems produce.

How bad is the forecasting gap?

Confidence in forecasting is the report's sharpest weakness. While 90% of respondents say they are ready or mostly ready for the 2025 holiday peak season, only six in 10 have implemented formal forecasting systems. Of those, just half are confident in the results.

That means only about 30% of surveyed leaders trust their formal forecasts. Leaders expressed reasonable confidence over a two-to-three-month horizon, but far less certainty when asked to project two to three quarters out — a finding consistent with broader shipper concerns about demand planning.

For carriers and brokers, the commercial implication is direct: peak-season readiness built on shaky forecasts leaves capacity and pricing decisions exposed precisely when margins are thinnest.

What technology gets the 2027 dollars?

Monnig pointed to MCP technologies and natural language processing as the expected concentration points for 2027 investment, both aimed at connecting siloed data systems and surfacing actionable insights for dispatch and operations teams.

"When you have a fabric of data context about your organization — about your business, your loads, your drivers, your routes, your rates — when you weave all of that together, then the AI value can really accelerate," Monnig said.

The shift matters for vendors as much as buyers. With 62% of satisfied customers still demanding faster payback, technology suppliers to the freight sector face a bar that keeps rising even as budgets grow. Proof of concept no longer closes deals; proof of value does.

The full survey is available at teamspark.com. With roughly 90% of leaders planning budget increases into 2027, spending will keep flowing — but only to systems that can show the numbers.