From underused SaaS licenses to over-provisioned cloud infrastructure, these inefficiencies are costing companies millions every year.

The issue goes beyond just SaaS sprawl. IT leaders must address waste across all categories of technology spend to unlock real savings in 2025.

Here’s a breakdown of the challenges—and opportunities—awaiting IT leaders as they take control of their budgets.

The State of IT Budget Waste

The numbers speak for themselves: IT organizations are leaving money on the table across all major ITAM categories. According to Block 64’s survey:

• 33% of respondents estimate wasting 10% of their IT budget on underused software and SaaS licenses.
• 46% say they waste 25%.
• Even more striking, 17% report wasting half their software and SaaS budget or more.

Hardware and cloud infrastructure fare no better:

• Nearly 45% of IT leaders admit to wasting 10% of their budgets on these categories.
• An additional 36% say they waste 25% of their IT budget, while 14.8% acknowledge losing 50% or more.

The trend aligns with external research. Gartner reports that organizations lose an average of 25% of their SaaS budgets to unused entitlements and overlapping tools. At the same time, cloud spending inefficiencies account for up to 35% in wasted costs, further draining resources.

While organizations are wasting more of their IT budgets each year, they are also spending more overall. According to the Block 64 report, 94% of IT leaders expect their IT budgets will increase over the next three to five years, amplifying the urgency to address inefficiencies and optimize spending.

SaaS and Cloud Costs Are Only Part of the Problem

While SaaS receives plenty of attention, it represents just 12% of total IT spending for midsize enterprises, according to Gartner. Other categories, such as hardware, on-premise software, and cloud infrastructure, make up 39% of IT budgets. Yet these areas often lack the same scrutiny, perhaps because they are less novel than SaaS, leaving major savings untapped.

This disparity raises an important question: do IT leaders truly have a handle on their IT spending?

In the Block 64 survey, 87% of respondents claimed to have sufficient visibility into their IT consumption across software, hardware, and cloud. However, visibility doesn’t always translate into action. In reality, only 58% of organizations actively manage all three categories. Among the remaining 42% who don’t manage all categories, the gaps are striking:

• Just 25% actively manage cloud assets.
• Only 21% actively manage hardware.
• And 35% manage software.

This contradiction highlights a critical challenge: while IT leaders believe they understand their consumption, significant gaps in management leave inefficiencies unaddressed, driving unnecessary costs and risks. To tackle these inefficiencies, IT leaders must adopt more robust IT asset management strategies that encompass all areas of spend—not just SaaS.

Opportunities for IT Leaders in 2025

The good news? IT leaders recognize the potential to turn these challenges into opportunities. According to Block 64’s survey, the top-ranked opportunities for the year ahead include:

1. Improving security footprints (46%).
2. Increasing cost savings (40%).
3. Gaining better visibility into IT assets (37%).

These opportunities reveal a growing awareness among IT leaders about the importance of holistic IT asset management. By adopting platforms like Block 64, organizations can gain complete visibility into SaaS, hardware, cloud, and on-premise assets. 

As IT budgets continue to grow, so does the potential for waste. The data is clear: midsize enterprises that fail to centrally manage their IT assets risk overspending by 25% or more each year. The time for action is now.

About Block 64: Block 64 helps businesses gain control of ITAM spending with its hybrid IT asset management platform. Start your free trial to gain actionable insights into SaaS, software and hardware usage, risks and savings opportunities, today.

The post How Much IT Leaders Waste on Cloud, SaaS, Hardware Budgets first appeared on Block 64.

Microsoft Ignite 2024 just wrapped and there was no shortage of huge Copilot announcements. Let’s rephrase that: There was a relentless stream of big, fascinating, exciting Copilot news. New agents. New security tools. New pricing. It was frankly hard to keep up.

That’s why today we’re going to break down the biggest take-aways and discuss some of the opportunities they give you, the trusted partner.

1. Copilot Actions: Automate Everyday Tasks Like Never Before

Microsoft introduced Copilot Actions, allowing users to automate repetitive tasks such as scheduling emails and compiling weekly reports. This feature is currently in private preview.

Actions streamlines client workflows, helping to reduce manual effort, increasing efficiency and productivity.

Partners might see this as an opportunity to deepen consulting services to implement and customize Copilot Actions for clients, helping them stay competitive and excel in the digital age.

2. New Copilot Agents: Enhancing Team Collaboration

Microsoft also announced a series of new agents that work alongside teams.

Facilitator Agents work within Teams meetings and chats, taking real-time notes. These agents are in public preview for customers worldwide and are available on desktop (Windows/Mac), web, and iOS/Android (consumption only).

The Interpreter Agent provides real-time speech-to-speech interpretation during meetings, and users can choose to have it simulate their own speaking voice. Interpreter will begin with supporting nine languages including Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish, and will be available for public preview in early 2025.

In Business Chat, Employee Self-Service Agents answer common questions about company policies and other topics such as how to open an IT helpdesk ticket. Microsoft employees are already benefiting from this, seeing a 36% increase in self-help success rate for IT issues. Now available in private preview, it will be available more broadly in early 2025.

By incorporating them into their daily workflows, these agents can transform how teams interact and operate, improving collaboration. For partners, there is an opportunity to help clients create agents tailored to their needs, deepening client relationships with ongoing support and customization.

3. Agents in SharePoint: Transforming Knowledge Management

AI agents are now showing up in SharePoint. They will enable users to turn SharePoint sites and documents into scoped agents that act as subject matter experts.

For instance, a team lead can create an onboarding agent to onboard new team members, providing them with access to the most current information and the source files.

These agents are now in general availability and have already started to roll out, with expected completion by the end of this calendar year.

This enhances knowledge accessibility within organizations, helping clients find information faster (with two billion files added to SharePoint and OneDrive every day, there is certainly a lot of content to sift through)!

Partners might focus on providing training and support to help clients maximize the benefit of SharePoint agents, empowering them to navigate and utilize their information repositories effectively.

4. Quick Machine Recovery & Windows 365 Link: Empowering Every Employee to Work Securely

Windows 365 Link, a password-less device for Microsoft 365, enables desk-based users to securely work on a familiar Windows desktop in the Microsoft Cloud. It is now in public preview and will be generally available for $349 in select markets starting April 2025.

Quick Machine Recovery is a new solution to help customers recover from unexpected disruptions. It also gives admins the ability to execute targeted fixes from Windows Update on PCs even if they’re unable to boot. This feature will be available to those in the Windows Insider Program in early 2025.

There is an opportunity for you to sell and support these devices to help your clients to stay ahead in hardware solutions, and offer secure, cloud-based work solutions to address evolving security needs. By incorporating these devices and features into offerings, you can support your clients during critical times, modernize the workplace, and elevate the standard of IT support.

5. Copilot Analytics: Measuring Adoption and Business Impact

Copilot Analytics will be generally available in early 2025 as a component of the new Copilot Control System. This allows IT and business leaders to measure the adoption and business impact of Copilot and agents. As part of the new Copilot Analytics, Viva Insights will be included in Microsoft 365 Copilot at no additional charge.

Furthermore, the new Business Impact Report, now available in public preview, is designed to help organizations understand how Copilot usage relates to KPIs.

This new capability empowers your clients to see the value of their investment in Copilot, making it easier to plan strategically.

You can harness this data to show the effectiveness of the solution you have implemented, solidifying your role as trusted advisor. These insights also open the door for you to recommend additional services, driving new revenue and deepening your client relationships.

6. Pricing Updates: Introducing Monthly Billing

Keeping up on Microsoft licensing and pricing changes is always key.

At Ignite, several commercial licensing and pricing updates were also announced, including a new monthly billing plan for annual term subscriptions of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Rather than making an upfront annual payment, customers who purchase annual term subscriptions of Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales, and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Service can choose to pay monthly. This option will be introduced on December 1, 2024, and will cost 5% more than the annual billing option.

Starting on April 1, 2025, Microsoft will standardize the monthly billing price for all new and renewing annual term subscriptions. This standardization will ensure consistency and transparency across all platforms.

Copilot in 2024 was about the hype. 2025 is about adoption.

Despite all the excitement around Copilot, there is still room to improve the adoption journey, and this Ignite session highlighted several key barriers to usage:

• Only 53% of users know what tasks to use Copilot for (“the knowledge gap”).
• Only 46% of users feel equipped to make the best use of Copilot (“the skill gap”)
• Only 37% of users believe they are able to realize the full potential of Copilot (“the confidence gap”)

While 79% of leaders think their company needs to adopt AI to stay competitive, 60% worry their organization lacks a plan and vision to implement AI.

By understanding these key announcements related to Microsoft Copilot and potential adoption hurdles, you can position yourself as a forward-thinking partner ready to help your clients navigate this dynamic landscape, and help them realize their vision.

Want to position your team as the Copilot experts to make adoption happen? We can help.

To uncover your clients’ security needs and build the best path for Copilot for Microsoft 365 adoption, check out Block 64’s Copilot Readiness Assessment. (You’ll get your first eligible client assessment free between now and December 31, 2024.

The post All the Copilot News from Microsoft Ignite 2024 for Partners (Hint: It’s a Lot) first appeared on Block 64.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

It’s time for IT leaders to regain control of their SaaS environments, and conquer sprawl once and for all. In today’s article, we share 5 best practices for achieving victory.

1) Take control with a SaaS Management Platform (SMP) 

There is growing demand for robust SaaS management solutions – Gartner’s recent Magic Quadrant for SaaS Management Platforms (SMP) points out that, by 2027, over 50% of organizations will centralize SaaS application management using a SMP, an increase from less than 10% in 2024. 

This is no blip on the radar.

According to global analytics and advisory company Astute Analytica, the global SaaS management platform market is forecast to hit US$ 9,968.1 million by 2032, up from US$ 3,046.3 million in 2023. 

What is an SMP, and how can it solve SaaS management in your organization?  

SMPs are software solutions designed to help organizations streamline the entire SaaS application life cycle from one centralized console. Key benefits include:

• Identifying and indexing which third-party SaaS applications are in use, who is using them, and how often 
• Simplifying the user experience with a streamlined platform for discovering and managing IT assets across all environments
• Enhancing SaaS contract management, forecasting and renewal decisions 

With an SMP, organizations gain complete visibility into their SaaS stack, enabling them to contain and reduce SaaS spending, manage shadow IT, and boost overall efficiency. For instance, a curated self-service app catalog or store can help employees find and request access to approved SaaS apps.

2) Set some guidance: Establish clear SaaS usage policies and governance practices 

Well-defined usage policies keep compliance in check, encourage transparency, and help control costs. Provide employees with guidelines and clearly define acceptable use policies for SaaS applications. This can include having a centralized approval process for the adoption of any new SaaS tool. 

With new SaaS apps constantly emerging, it can feel overwhelming to manage. Hold regular training and awareness sessions to keep employees in the loop on the latest best practices and procedures. Remember to outline budget limits to help to keep SaaS spending under control. 

What’s more, as AI tools become more prevalent, setting clear policies around their usage is critical. Clear guidelines foster open communication between employees and IT teams, encouraging employees to talk about their software needs and reducing the temptation to download unauthorized tools.

According to Slack’s Fall 2024 Workforce Index, nearly half (48%) of global desk workers feel uncomfortable about disclosing their use of AI for common workplace tasks to their managers. One solution could be creating a dedicated channel for sharing and troubleshooting AI use cases, allowing employees to see how others are leveraging these tools.

3) Strengthen your security landscape

A robust security landscape prevents SaaS sprawl from creating gaps that could expose sensitive data. Here are some tips on how to strengthen yours: 

Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and encourage employees to use multi-step login processes, such as additional verification steps. Where possible, use single sign-on (SSO) for authentication of users into SaaS apps. Defend against brute force attacks with “throttling,” which restricts the number of guesses an attacker can attempt while giving users multiple opportunities to recall their password.  

As sometimes only certain teams or users may need access to an application, managing user onboarding and offboarding effectively is essential (an SMP can help with this). 

Foster a strong cyber security culture so that employees will be able to openly communicate about issues, including where current policy or processes are hindering their productivity. This also makes it more likely for employees to report instances of shadow IT, bringing these to light more quickly. 

4) Take a proactive approach to optimizing SaaS Spend and license management

Notice some applications that are seeing little to no use? It’s time to remedy that. Using a platform like Block 64, monitor usage metrics to spot inactive or low-usage licenses, reallocating or eliminating unnecessary subscriptions. 

Negotiate with vendors, leveraging usage data to negotiate better terms or discounts. Over the next year, Gartner anticipates a rising demand for simplified contract negotiation and renewal, along with detailed usage data to fine-tune contract sizes. 

5) Silos no more: Enhance collaboration between departments

Collaboration is key to any team’s success, and staying aligned on SaaS usage ensures smooth workflows and efficient teamwork. To keep SaaS sprawl in check, Gartner’s report anticipates there to be stronger partnerships and collaboration across procurement, finance, IT security and applications, and lines of business over the next year.

Do your SaaS apps align with the overall strategy of your organization? Break down the silos by defining common objectives for SaaS management, using shared KPIs to track progress and success across departments 

Conclusion

With 2025 on the horizon, keep your budget in check and take charge of your IT environment. Schedule a demo today to see how Block 64 can transform your SaaS management.

The post 5 Ways to Fight SaaS Sprawl: SMPs and Beyond first appeared on Block 64.