Johannesburg, 20 Nov 2014
Organisations in the UK and US have paid over $7 billion for software that is not being used, according to new data from IT efficiency software company 1E. This follows in-depth analysis into the software deployed on 1.8 million desktops in 74 large enterprises, across 13 industries.
The research reveals the average price paid for unused software is $266 per desktop in the UK and $224 in the US. A conservative estimate of the total cost of the deployed yet unused software within companies of 500+ desktops is $991 million (£590 million) in the UK and $6.6 billion in the US. Although the research is US- and UK-based, converting these figures to rands reveals staggering numbers.
The findings are presented in a new 1E report, The Hidden Cost of Unused Software, launched last week. It reveals the extent to which companies are paying for and supporting unused software, and highlights the most unused software titles and provides breakdowns by geography, industry sector and company size.
Over a quarter (28%) of all the software deployed across the 1.8 million desktops analysed was unused (not used for past 90 days) and 6% was rarely used (not used for the past 30 days).
Smaller companies typically have more unused software, which makes up 43% of the deployed software titles for organisations of approximately 5 000 users. This compares to 34% for those with 100 000 users or more.
The healthcare sector boasts the lowest amount of unused software at only 20%, compared to the pharmaceutical industry, where 56% of all software deployed is unused.
The report also presents the 35 most commonly deployed software titles that will typically deliver the greatest savings to organisations due to being deployed and unused.
Riaan Hamman, CTO at Puleng Technologies, concurs: "From our experience when analysing our clients' data, we typically find between 20% and 35% of software is unused. By gaining complete visibility into their software estate, organisations can effectively manage their software assets on an ongoing basis to accurately measure application usage, reclaim unused or prohibited software and redeploy licenses as needed, while ensuring full software vendor compliance, Often the software is not even licensed, so by getting a grip on software waste, you kill two birds with one stone, ensuring compliancy and achieving quantifiable cost savings."
Tim James, MD of sustainableIT and 1E's local distributor, comments: "The analysis shows that many organisations are acquiring, and paying for, much more software than they are using. This can come at a huge cost to the business and our experience in South Africa reveals similar statistics."
The 1E report, The Hidden Cost of Unused Software, is available for free download here.
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