Vendor-driven upgrades saddle IT leaders with huge ‘software tax’

CIOs experiencing sticker shock from recent software bills should be questioning how they got there. That’s because IT leaders at large enterprises are paying a huge so-called software tax for vendor-driven upgrades, migrations, and licensing changes they would not have chosen for their organizations. About 28% of software budgets at large organizations — an average of nearly $12.9 million per year — are being eaten up by vendor-pushed initiatives, according to a survey commissioned by independent software maintenance partner Origina. Ninety-five percent of IT leaders surveyed said their organ