Enterprise-sized businesses spend an average of 28% of their software budgets on what respondents described as unnecessary upgrades, migrations, and license changes, according to a report commissioned by Origina.

The findings are based on a survey of 2,018 chief information officers and senior IT decision-makers at companies with at least 10,000 employees. Approximately half of the respondents—1,011—were based in the United States, while the remainder were based in the United Kingdom. All respondents worked for companies with annual revenue of at least $1 billion.

The survey was conducted by Censuswide, an independent third-party research consultancy. However, the report should be considered in light of Origina’s business model: the company provides independent maintenance for a range of enterprise software products and presents third-party software maintenance as one way for organizations to regain control of their software budgets.

Most IT leaders say vendor-driven changes can hurt businesses

One of the report’s most concerning findings is that companies frequently purchase software changes that their IT leaders believe could harm the organization.

According to the survey, 95% of respondents said their organization had paid for a vendor-driven upgrade, migration, or license change during the past three years that they believed, at the time, would reduce performance, reliability, or business value. More than half—53%—said their organization had made that decision more than once.

Enterprise customers feel they have limited negotiating power

The report also found that many organizations believe they have little influence when negotiating with major software vendors.

About 76% of respondents said their organization has little real influence in negotiations, while 80% said that leaving a major vendor would cause significant disruption. Those figures include respondents who said they “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” with the statements.

Why companies accept unwanted software upgrades

“When the alternative to an undesirable upgrade is the loss of support for the systems that run your business, a reasonable response is often to say yes,” Thomas O’Leary, one of the report’s authors and Origina’s CEO and founder, said in a statement.

“That’s exactly the problem: In a marketplace where some of the world’s most experienced technology leaders have little room for refusal, the costs are manifested in budgets, engineering time, and innovations that will never be funded.”

The survey’s findings suggest that enterprise software decisions are shaped not only by the cost of licenses and upgrades, but also by vendor lock-in, support requirements, migration risks, and the potential disruption of replacing critical business systems.

Read Origina’s report on the enterprise software tax.