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IN CONTEXT

enterprise software sprawl

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Large companies often lack a clear software inventory

IN CONTEXTenterprise software sprawl1 viewpoints
2026-09-03

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Large companies often lack a clear software inventory

Typical large U.S. companies have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of software tools, including systems such as SAP and Workday, vertical SaaS apps, workflows, scripts, automations, databases and spreadsheets. They often do not know how much software they have, what is used or what they are paying for.

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Supporting evidence

AI, tools and transformation — Benedict Evans

Original excerpt

The typical big American company today has hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of different pieces of software. It has giant ‘big iron’ horizontal systems of record like SAP and Workday, it has hundreds of vertical SaaS applications, and then there are hundreds more workflows, scripts, automations and databases, right down to the 10 meg spreadsheet running a department. Very often, the company doesn’t even know quite how much it has, what’s actually being used, and what it’s paying for.
Context

And yet, with all this software, the company is full of boring, repetitive tasks.

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