Dexter Siglin

Jul. 21,2026 | Procurement, CIO, IT Services, IT Insights

There was a time when the technology advisory market had a healthy population of independent specialists. These firms focused on a specific mission: helping clients select technology, optimize licensing, benchmark pricing, negotiate agreements and manage supplier relationships. They did not necessarily want to implement the system, resell the software, manage the environment or turn the initial project into a five-year transformation program. They were paid to advise the client and or save them money. Increasingly, those firms are disappearing into larger consulting, outsourcing, software-resale and technology-services organizations. Some of ...

Tjeerd Edelman

Jun. 30,2026 | Procurement, CFO, CIO, IT Insights

As a former Head of Procurement for a couple firms, I have seen this play out first hand, and even more working with companies all over the globe with NET(net). For years, most companies managed technology costs one transaction at a time. A major renewal appeared on the calendar, procurement negotiated a discount, everyone survived the final week of redlines, and attention moved to the next supplier. That approach worked reasonably well when technology portfolios were simpler. But it's becoming much less effective today. Worldwide IT spending continues to climb, while major suppliers are changing pricing, packaging, licensing metrics and ...

Steven Zolman

Aug. 29,2025 | Procurement, CFO, CIO, Savings Cloud, IT Insights

The technology vendor ecosystem has declared economic warfare on enterprise customers. In 2025 alone, organizations have endured a relentless onslaught of cost escalations that would have been unthinkable just years ago: Oracle's "Free" Java Trap: Some discovered that "free" Java came with massive Oracle audit bills reaching eight figures (see our detailed analysis: Breaking the Java Monopoly VMware's Broadcom Betrayal: Others were forced to navigate VMware's post-Broadcom acquisition gauntlet, facing cost increases of up to 800% (reference our blog on VMware strategies) Cloud Cost Hemorrhaging: Meanwhile, runaway cloud consumption costs ...