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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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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The Setup: When “Insight” Becomes Illusion Imagine this: 95% of enterprise generative-AI pilots deliver zero ROI [1]. That’s not a rumor; that’s MIT’s 2025 analysis of real-world deployments. Yet year after year, CIOs chase the next “peak of inflated expectations,” following analyst firm frameworks as if they were navigational charts to innovation rather than treasure maps to someone else’s revenue. Enter Gartner’s Hype Cycle, Magic Quadrant, and Forrester’s Wave , models revered as industry gospel but often the very machinery driving the disillusionment they pretend to measure [2][3]. Part I: The Promise, and the Problem Clarity or ...
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Decoding Workday's Flex Credits: AI Boon or Budget Black Hole? Today we’re dissecting Workday's latest play: the Flex Credits model unveiled at Workday Rising 2025 on September 16. Billed as a "smarter, more flexible" way to tap AI agents, it's essentially a consumption-based pricing pivot that's got CIO and HR Leaders buzzing, and procurement teams scrambling. Is this vendor ingenuity unlocking AI value, or just another revenue stream disguised as innovation? Drawing from our Client feedback, fresh announcements, analyst breakdowns, and real-time sentiment, I'll discuss what the potential short and long-term expectations should be and of ...
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Look, I've seen enough gold rushes in tech to know that AI is the latest nugget luring enterprises into a frenzy. But here's the contrarian truth: without a sheriff in town- meaning smart oversight and negotiation muscle, your AI investments could turn into a ghost town of wasted budgets, security holes, and disappointed stakeholders. This post cuts through the hype, spotlighting how unchecked AI spending is leaving companies high and dry, with operational risks piling up faster than bad debts. We'll arm you with battle-tested strategies to control those costs, minimize risks, and squeeze real value out of your AI plays. Drawing from market ...
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We’ve spent years helping CFOs and CIOs navigate the treacherous waters of IT vendor management. Today’s global market is rife with inflationary pressures, geopolitical tensions, and unpredictable interest rates, so controlling technology costs while driving efficient growth has emerged as the paramount concern for finance and IT executives. According to recent surveys, this issue tops the list for CFOs, who are laser-focused on aligning expenditures with strategic objectives amid shrinking budgets. IT leaders, meanwhile, grapple with the rapid pace of technological change and resource constraints that hinder scaling investments. This isn't ...
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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 ...
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Executive Summary: Microsoft's upcoming elimination of volume discounts on subscription agreements, effective November 1, 2025, is masquerading as a push for pricing consistency but is fundamentally a cynical ploy to inflate revenues by eroding enterprise bargaining power and locking in higher margins. Historical precedents, including the 2022 Microsoft 365 hikes of 8.6-25% and 2023's 9-15% cloud surges, demonstrate a consistent pattern where such "updates" drive up customer costs without delivering proportional value, as evidenced by previous subscription model shifts boosting Microsoft's commercial revenue by 31%. Enterprises face ...
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In the cutthroat arena of Managed Services Provider (MSP) contracts, the fine print can make or break your deal. With global IT services spending soaring to $1.3 trillion in 2024, per Gartner, enterprises are betting big on outsourcing—but vague terms, hidden costs, and rigid agreements can turn that bet into a bust. At NET(net), we’ve seen the fallout: clients trapped in inflexible contracts, blindsided by fees, or left hanging during critical outages. This isn’t just about signing a deal; it’s about crafting a contract that maximizes value, slashes risk, and keeps your MSP in check. Here’s our battle-tested Top 10 checklist for MSP ...
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In today's fast-evolving technological landscape, the Infrastructure Managed Services (IMS) industry stands at the forefront, acting as the backbone for global businesses that span diverse regulated markets including finance, healthcare, and telecommunications. With digital transformation becoming a centerpiece of organizational strategy, the integration of advanced technologies is more influential than ever. This blog delves into the profound impact of disruptive technologies reshaping the IMS sector and offers insights into how businesses can leverage these innovations to stay competitive and compliant. Disruptive Technology At the heart ...
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