Microsoft is the most aggressive vendor when it comes to software audits as 49% of enterprises have experienced one from the software giant over the last three years, according to the Flexera State of ITAM report. 

Software audits are where a customer is audited for license compliance.

The survey, which targeted enterprises with more than 1,000 employees, found that 28% of 461 respondents had a software audit from Oracle over the last three years with IBM at 27% and VMware at 25%, said Flexera.

Overall, a third of companies paid more than $500,000 last year due to software audits with 10% paying more than $5 million. According to Flexera's report, software asset management teams are struggling to monitor usage of SaaS, cloud and containers. 

Other key items:

• 69% of respondents said the top initiative is to optimize and save on software spend;
• 52% said the focus on savings will increase in 2021 due to COVID-19;
• 51% said the plan is to optimize software licenses to avoid costs in the future;
• And 74% of software asset management teams plan to increase their focus on public cloud spending over the next three years with 70% citing SaaS.

Here's where software asset management teams are focusing when it comes to optimization.

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