2026 IT Budget Surge: Turning 10%+ Increases into ROI vs a Vendor Windfall
The 2026 IT Budget Surge: How to Turn 10%+ Increases into Measurable ROI, Not Vendor Windfalls The consensus with most analyst firms, is that worldwide IT spending is projected to reach $6.15 trillion in 2026, up 10%+ year over year, driven by an 80.8% surge in AI-related spending, a 31.7% jump in data center systems, and acceleration in software spend - projected to grow by over 14% driven by data analytics, cybersecurity, and integration of AI platforms into core business functions. At the enterprise level, 75% of CFOs expect tech budgets to rise, and 48% are planning increases of 10% or more. The largest allocations are going to IT, AI, ...
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Microsoft’s “Retail for All” Reset
What CFOs, CIOs, and Microsoft Estate Planners Need to Understand Now Microsoft has quietly but materially changed the commercial conversation. According to Microsoft’s public positioning, commercial customers transacting directly under Enterprise Agreements, Enterprise Agreement Subscriptions, and legacy SCE structures are now quoted at “retail” pricing. Historic A, B, C, D price levels are gone. On paper, that suggests a simplified, standardized approach. In practice, it means something very different for CFOs and CIOs. 1. First Quotes Are Resetting Higher Across the market, we see a consistent pattern: Renewal quotes are coming in at full ...
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SAP Finance Cloud: Breaking Free from the Legacy Chains
Let’s be blunt: the financial services sector’s relationship with SAP has become…complicated. For decades, it’s been the default, the assumed, the “we’ve always done it this way” solution. But clinging to legacy SAP systems isn’t a strategy; it’s a slow bleed of resources and agility. Enter SAP Finance Cloud (SFC). It should be the obvious next step, but a surprising number of firms are dragging their feet. Let’s cut through the marketing fluff and get real about what SFC offers, why the hesitation is justified, and – crucially – what alternatives exist when you realize SAP isn’t your only path forward. SFC: The Promise (and the Reality) in ...
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The Quantum Apocalypse Isn't Coming. It's Already Here. You're Just Not Feeling It Yet.
Let's get to the point.... If your organization is still operating under the delusion that "quantum computing is a future problem," you're not just behind the curve; you're driving straight into a digital black hole. As a strategic advisor at NET(net), I see the fear, the confusion, and the and borderline negligence in meeting rooms worldwide. Your managed IT security? It could be managed right into the ground unless your teams are prepared now. "Q-Day" (the moment a fault-tolerant quantum computer can crack RSA-2048) is a question of "when," not "if", currently projected for the 2030's And frankly, you're missing the more insidious threat ...
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Z17 Shackles: The IBM Mainframe Negotiation Playbook Enterprise Leaders Need Now
Your organization manages 100,000+ MIPS of IBM mainframe infrastructure. You're evaluating z17. And somewhere in your budget planning, you're staring at a spreadsheet that shows mainframe costs potentially escalating from $50M annually to $259M annually by year 10. You need to know: Is this inevitable, or is this a negotiation problem masquerading as a technology problem? We can help you realize cost savings on IBM z17 upgrades and develop IBM x17 Upgrade Strategies - read on... The answer, backed by 30 years of enterprise mainframe negotiations and data from hundreds of major deals, is that it's almost entirely a negotiation problem. And ...
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The IBM-Confluent Collision: A NET(net) Survival Guide for the Enterprise
The Reality Check: Why the $11B acquisition is less about synergy and more about value extraction, and how to protect your own estate. Let’s dispense with the pleasantries. IBM’s definitive agreement to acquire Confluent for roughly $11 billion is not a "strategic partnership" to accelerate hybrid cloud innovation. It is a textbook consolidation move by a legacy giant eyeing a critical data streaming asset to shore up its portfolio. At NET(net), we aren’t buying the "kumbaya" narrative of synergy. We are bracing our clients for impact. In the high-stakes arena of IT cost and value optimization, the old playbook of handshake deals is ancient ...
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Microsoft’s AI Agent Foundry Overhaul: What CIOs and Procurement Leaders Must Know Now
What Microsoft Changed and Why It Matters Microsoft has significantly re-engineered its Foundry platform, shifting it from a collection of AI tools into a more unified, production-grade system for enterprise agent deployment. In Microsoft’s own words, agents are evolving into “dynamic collaborators” supported by a “modular, interoperable, and secure agent stack.” This is more than a technical update. It is a strategic reposition. For CIOs, CTOs, and procurement leaders, this matters because Microsoft is clearly signaling its intent: Foundry is becoming the preferred environment where enterprise AI agents will live, operate, and bill from. ...
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When Suppliers Turn Up the Squeeze: Why Big IT Vendors Push for Deals as Their Fiscal Year Ends Approach
Looking at you IBM, SAP, Salesforce, Workday, and Rackspace... Every year, certain major IT suppliers enter their most aggressive selling season as their fiscal year end approaches. When their sales and revenue pressure goes up, the pressure on customers goes up. Whether the target is more licenses, longer terms, higher commitments, or migration into higher margin products, suppliers will position these moves as strategic improvements, but they are often driven by internal quota demands, stock performance expectations, bonuses and compensation cycles. With Salesforce and Workday both closing their fiscal year on January 31, and IBM, SAP, and ...
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The End-of-Year Advantage: How to Outsmart Suppliers as They Race to Close Their Fiscal Year
Pressure Season for Suppliers and Your Window of Opportunity As the calendar flips toward the end of the fiscal year for major technology suppliers, procurement teams are entering a critical, and often perilous, window. January fiscal year-end suppliers are pushing hard to “make the number,” and their account teams are laser-focused on closing deals that boost quarterly and annual performance metrics. That urgency can cut both ways. While suppliers will apply every sales pressure tactic in their playbook to close favorable deals for them, savvy buyers can use this moment to turn the tables and secure exceptional commercial outcomes, if they ...
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Record Cloud Scale in 2025 - But Is Usage Running Wild?
The public-cloud market is hitting unprecedented scale in 2025. The three dominant service providers, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, continue to post record growth, fueled by generative AI, massive data flows, and enterprise migrations. According to market trackers, global cloud-infrastructure spending hit roughly US $99 billion in Q2 2025 alone, growing more than 25 % year-on-year. That scale is impressive, but the flip side is equally important. With scale comes structural exposure to over-consumption, waste, runaway costs, and sub-optimized deployments. This article reviews the numbers behind the “Big ...
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