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3 Places Your IT Budget Is Quietly Leaking. Reduce Your Wasted IT Spend

Writer: Flowstone Group
Flowstone Group
1 day ago
2 min read

The cost most businesses don’t budget for

The average organization wastes $19.8 million a year on SaaS licenses that are paid for but never used, according to Zylo's 2026 SaaS Management Index. For large enterprises, that figure climbs to $80.6 million.


That wasted IT spend rarely shows up as one big mistake. It builds quietly across cloud bills, software renewals and vendor contracts. For IT and operations leaders, it's money that could fund the projects you actually need.


Here are three places it hides, and how to reduce wasted IT spend.


Bar chart: unused SaaS licenses cost the average organization $19.8M a year and large enterprises $80.6M a year.

1. Cloud spend that does nothing

Graphic: an estimated 29% of cloud spend is wasted, up for the first time in five years.

Organizations estimate that 29% of their cloud infrastructure spend is wasted, according to Flexera's 2026 State of the Cloud Report. That's the first increase in five years.


Flexera links the rise to AI workloads, which are harder to forecast and rightsize. As AI use grows, idle and oversized resources are getting easier to miss.


2. Licenses sitting on the shelf

Bar graphic: only 54% of SaaS licenses get used; 46% are paid for but not used.

The average organization uses only 54% of its SaaS licenses, per Zylo.

Zylo points to three common causes:

  • Unused seats that are paid for but not used

  • Overlapping tools that different teams bought to do the same job

  • Feature tiers that cost more than the work requires

None of these is dramatic on its own. Together, across dozens of vendors, they add up fast.


3. Audits that catch you off guard

Graphic: 45% of organizations spent over $1M on software audits in three years; 23% spent over $5M.

Poor license visibility also creates risk. In Flexera's 2025 State of IT Asset Management Report, 45% of organizations said they spent more than $1 million on software audits over the past three years. 23% spent more than $5 million. Microsoft, IBM and SAP were the vendors respondents most often reported being audited by.


Checklist: four questions to reduce wasted IT spend: what you pay for, what you use, where tools overlap, and when contracts renew.

How to reduce wasted IT spend


You don't need a massive project to find savings. Start with four questions:

  1. What are we paying for? Pull one list of every cloud, SaaS and telecom contract, with owners and renewal dates.

  2. What are we using? Compare licenses purchased against active users for your largest tools.

  3. Where do tools overlap? Look for teams paying for different products that do the same job.

  4. When does each contract renew? Review usage at least 90 days before renewal, while you still have room to negotiate.

How Flowstone Group helps

Most IT teams don’t have the time to audit every contract and talk to every vendor.

We only succeed when you do.


Flowstone Group works as an extension of your team to:

  • We want to see where you’re overspending across cloud, software and services

  • Match you with technology that fits your business growth

  • Negotiate with suppliers on your behalf

  • Bring the people and resources in to see it through


Want to know what your tech spend is hiding?


Empowering businesses with IT advising you can trust


The Flowstone Group team.

Sources


Zylo, 2026 SaaS Management Index, as cited in “How Much Is Wasted on SaaS Spend?”, updated March 19, 2026. (https://zylo.com/blog/how-much-wasted-on-saas-spend)


Flexera, 2025 State of IT Asset Management Report, June 18, 2025. (https://www.flexera.com/about-us/press-center/it-teams-losing-visibility-according-to- flexera-2025-state-of-itam-report)

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