[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-big-firms-spend-28-of-software-budgets-on-unwanted-upgrades":10,"sections":34},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":24,"tags":25,"sources":29,"feedback":33,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":33,"total_tokens":33},12098,"big-firms-spend-28-of-software-budgets-on-unwanted-upgrades","Big Firms Spend 28% of Software Budgets on Unwanted Upgrades","A survey of 2,018 IT leaders puts unwanted software spending at 28% of budgets, though the sponsor sells the proposed fix.","Large companies spend an average of 28% of their software budgets on upgrades, migrations, and licensing changes they did not want, according to a survey commissioned by Origina.\n\nThe survey covered 2,018 chief information officers and senior IT decision-makers at companies with at least 10,000 employees and $1 billion in annual revenue. About half (1,011) were in the US; the rest were in the United Kingdom. Censuswide, a third-party research firm, ran the poll. Origina's report, titled \"The Software Tax,\" also found that IT heads often consider these changes detrimental.\n\nThat last finding is the more interesting one. It describes a split between the people who judge a change and the people who pay for it. Vendors set upgrade schedules and license terms, and the customer's technical staff are left to absorb them. If IT leaders view a change as harmful and the money gets spent anyway, the purchase is being driven by something other than technical merit.\n\nThe sponsor matters here. Origina sells maintenance for enterprise software, and its report presents independent software maintenance as the way to regain control of budgets. That means third-party support in place of the vendor's own, which can let a company keep running a version it already has. The company's business depends on the problem looking large, so the 28% figure deserves a discount.\n\nThe source does not say how \"unwanted\" was defined, or how much of that 28% could actually be avoided without losing vendor support or security patches. Those two numbers decide whether this is a budget scandal or a measure of ordinary friction.","[\"enterprise-software\",\"it-budgets\",\"software-licensing\"]","2026-10-21T21:48:52.000Z","2026-10-21T23:08:38.252Z","2026-10-21T23:08:38.712Z","published",null,[],"software",[26,27,28],"enterprise-software","it-budgets","software-licensing",[30],{"name":31,"url":32},"Ars Technica","https:\u002F\u002Farstechnica.com\u002Finformation-technology\u002F2026\u002F10\u002Fsurvey-enterprises-waste-28-percent-of-software-budgets-on-unwanted-upgrades\u002F",0,{"sections":35},[36,41,46,51,56,61,66,71,76,79,84,89,94,99],{"name":37,"slug":38,"count":39,"latest_published_at":40},"AI","ai",7057,"2026-10-21T21:30:02.000Z",{"name":42,"slug":43,"count":44,"latest_published_at":45},"Security","security",1032,"2026-10-21T18:26:38.000Z",{"name":47,"slug":48,"count":49,"latest_published_at":50},"Policy","policy",565,"2026-10-21T22:17:50.000Z",{"name":52,"slug":53,"count":54,"latest_published_at":55},"Deals","deals",551,"2026-10-21T23:00:00.000Z",{"name":57,"slug":58,"count":59,"latest_published_at":60},"Hardware","hardware",282,"2026-10-21T15:51:59.000Z",{"name":62,"slug":63,"count":64,"latest_published_at":65},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",276,"2026-10-22T00:17:54.000Z",{"name":67,"slug":68,"count":69,"latest_published_at":70},"Science","science",212,"2026-10-21T22:13:50.000Z",{"name":72,"slug":73,"count":74,"latest_published_at":75},"Startups","startups",140,"2026-10-21T18:51:56.000Z",{"name":77,"slug":24,"count":78,"latest_published_at":18},"Software",137,{"name":80,"slug":81,"count":82,"latest_published_at":83},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",122,"2026-10-21T16:00:00.000Z",{"name":85,"slug":86,"count":87,"latest_published_at":88},"General","general",94,"2026-10-21T18:31:15.000Z",{"name":90,"slug":91,"count":92,"latest_published_at":93},"Gaming","gaming",85,"2026-10-21T18:39:52.000Z",{"name":95,"slug":96,"count":97,"latest_published_at":98},"Reviews","reviews",38,"2026-10-20T12:00:00.000Z",{"name":100,"slug":101,"count":102,"latest_published_at":103},"How-To","how-to",8,"2026-10-05T09:00:00.000Z"]