A survey commissioned by Origina and conducted by research firm Censuswide examined software spending practices among 2,018 chief information officers and senior IT decision-makers at large enterprises. The respondents worked at companies with at least 10,000 employees and $1 billion in annual revenue, with roughly half based in the US and half in the United Kingdom.
The research found that enterprises allocate an average of 28 percent of their software budgets toward upgrades, migrations, and licensing changes that IT leadership views as potentially harmful to their organizations. Ninety-five percent of respondents reported that their company had paid for a vendor-driven software change within the past three years that they believed at the time would reduce performance, reliability, or business value. More than half of those surveyed indicated this situation had occurred more than once.
Respondents identified a significant power imbalance in vendor relationships as the root cause of this spending pattern. Seventy-six percent said their organization has minimal leverage in negotiations with software vendors, while 80 percent noted that switching away from major vendors would create substantial operational disruption. This dynamic leaves IT leaders with limited options when vendors push for costly upgrades tied to continued support.
The diversion of resources toward mandated software changes has consequences for other business priorities. According to the survey, reduced funding flows to innovation (cited by 36 percent of respondents), human resources (32 percent), security (31 percent), and customer-facing investments (31 percent). Beyond financial impact, executives noted that major upgrade cycles can consume senior technical staff for extended periods, reducing their availability for strategic initiatives.
The survey respondents expressed strong support for regulatory intervention, with 91 percent backing laws that would provide enterprises protections comparable to those available to long-term residential tenants. Experts quoted in the report recommended that organizations negotiate exit terms during initial vendor negotiations to establish greater control over software budgets.
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