企业表示，其软件预算中近三分之一用于它们本不会选择的升级、迁移和许可变更，一项研究显示，取悦供应商已成为一项昂贵的业务。这项由Censuswide为软件支持提供商Origina实施、并联合Thinkers50发布的研究，调查了美国和英国的2018名高级IT决策者。受访者给出的平均比例为28%。而客户并不一定能为这笔钱获得更好的东西。
Enterprises say nearly a third of their software budgets goes on upgrades, migrations, and licensing changes they wouldn't have chosen, according to research suggesting that keeping vendors happy has become an expensive business. The study, conducted by Censuswide for software support provider Origina and published with Thinkers50, surveyed 2,018 senior IT decision-makers in the US and UK. Respondents put the average share at 28 percent. And customers aren't necessarily getting anything better for their money.
95%的受访者表示，尽管预期可靠性、性能或价值会变差，但在过去三年中，他们至少为一次供应商驱动的变更买过单。最近一次供应商驱动的变更，使受访者所在组织的平均成本达1287万美元。Origina将此称为“软件税”，但与大多数税收不同，它还附带一个额外的“乐趣”：可能让你的IT系统变得更糟。成本不止于软件。
Some 95 percent of respondents said they had paid for at least one vendor-driven change in the past three years despite expecting worse reliability, performance, or value. The most recent vendor-driven change cost respondents' organizations an average of $12.87 million. Origina calls this the "software tax," but unlike most taxes, it comes with the added pleasure of potentially making your IT systems worse. The costs don't stop at software either.
根据调查，91%的受访者表示，过去三年中，其组织为满足软件支持截止日期，已报废了仍在正常工作的硬件，平均牺牲了估计1.65年的剩余使用寿命。然后还有个小问题：找人来执行所有这些所谓必不可少的变更。84%的受访者表示，经验丰富的工程师经常被从其他项目抽调，去处理供应商驱动的升级和迁移。这留给企业真正想做的工作的时间更少了，包括软件供应商自己在过去几年里一直告诉大家急需开展的AI项目。
According to the survey, 91 percent of respondents said their organizations had retired working hardware in the past three years to meet software support deadlines, sacrificing an estimated 1.65 years of remaining useful life on average. Then there's the small matter of finding people to carry out all these supposedly essential changes. Some 84 percent said experienced engineers were regularly diverted from other projects to handle vendor-driven upgrades and migrations. That leaves less time for the work businesses actually want done, including the AI projects that software vendors themselves have spent the past few years telling everyone they urgently need.
当被问及上一次AI或数据项目被延期、暂停或取消时，90%的受访者表示，供应商驱动的成本至少在中等程度上构成了影响。虽然客户可能想告诉供应商把下一次升级“放哪儿去”，但许多人显然觉得别无选择。
Asked about the last time an AI or data project was delayed, paused, or canceled, 90 percent said vendor-driven costs contributed at least moderately. While customers might be tempted to tell their suppliers where to stick their next upgrade, many apparently don't feel they have much choice.
约 76% 的受访者表示，他们在与主要软件供应商的谈判中几乎没有筹码。Origina 创始人兼首席执行官 Tomás O'Leary 认为，客户已被逼入绝境。他说：“当拒绝不想要的升级的替代方案是失去企业赖以运行的系统的支持时，答应往往是理性的反应。这正是问题所在。市场让全球一些最资深的技术领导者几乎没有拒绝的余地，而这种成本体现在预算、工程工时以及从未获得资助的创新上。”
Some 76 percent said they have little negotiating leverage with their major software vendors. Origina founder and CEO Tomás O'Leary reckons customers have been backed into a corner. "When the alternative to an unwanted upgrade is losing support on systems the business runs on, saying yes is often a rational response. That's exactly the problem," he said. "The market has left some of the most experienced technology leaders in the world with little room to refuse, and that cost shows up in budgets, in engineering time and in innovation that never gets funded."
调查结果还表明，IT 高管们对这种安排已相当不满。91% 的受访者支持出台立法，赋予企业软件客户与长期住宅租户同等的保护；82% 支持类似欧盟硬件维修权规则的软件维护要求。Origina 在此争论中有商业利益：它销售企业软件的独立支持服务，为客户提供除供应商自有维护和升级安排之外的替代选择。尽管如此，调查结果表明，许多客户感觉自己花费数百万资金，却是在遵循供应商的优先级，而非自己的优先级。®
The findings also suggest that IT bosses are getting rather fed up with the arrangement. Some 91 percent backed legislation that would give enterprise software customers protections comparable to those enjoyed by long-term residential tenants, while 82 percent supported software maintenance requirements similar to EU hardware repairability rules. Origina has a commercial interest in the argument: it sells independent support for enterprise software, offering customers an alternative to vendors' own maintenance and upgrade arrangements. Still, the findings suggest plenty of customers feel they're spending millions following their suppliers' priorities rather than their own. ®