Last checked • 4 dated sources • 5 min read
In a survey of 2,018 senior IT decision-makers in the US and UK, firms said 28% of software budgets went on upgrades, migrations and licence changes they would not have chosen, and 34% said those costs majorly slowed or cancelled an AI project. The survey was paid for by a company that sells an alternative to vendor support, so treat it as a strong signal, not a measurement. For a SaaS team the lesson is concrete: let customers choose when changes happen, and give long notice on price and plan changes.
Origina, a software-support company, commissioned the survey from the research firm Censuswide. It asked 2,018 senior IT decision-makers in the US and UK about changes their software vendors made them pay for. The headline answer: on average, 28% of software budgets go on changes the organisation would not have chosen by itself. These are vendor-driven upgrades, migrations and licence changes.
The latest such change cost respondents an average of $12.87 million. Among the 74 firms that spend $50 million or more a year on software, the average was $27.04 million. 78% said the vendor set the timing and terms of the change. 84% said senior engineers often spend their time keeping up with vendor changes instead of building new things.
The link to AI is the part that got the headlines. 34% said these costs made a major contribution to slowing or cancelling an AI programme.
| Finding | Figure |
|---|---|
| Share of software budget spent on changes firms would not have chosen | 28% |
| Average cost of the latest vendor-mandated change | $12.87 million |
| Same, for the 74 firms spending $50 million or more a year | $27.04 million |
| Said the vendor set the timing and terms of change | 78% |
| Said senior engineers often maintain vendor changes instead of building | 84% |
| Said these costs majorly slowed or cancelled an AI programme | 34% |
| Would back tenant-style legal protections against vendors | 91% |
Three limits matter before you quote the 28%.
First, the sponsor has a stake in the answer. Origina sells third-party support for enterprise software, an alternative to paying the original vendor. A survey showing that vendor-driven change is costly helps its sales.
Second, it covers the US and UK only. There are no India figures in it. Indian enterprises buy many of the same products, but their budgets and contracts differ, and nobody has published a comparable Indian number.
Third, it measures what IT leaders say, not invoices. 'Changes we would not have chosen' is a judgement, and a respondent annoyed by a recent migration may count generously. Use the figure as a sign of how buyers feel, which is what matters when you sell to them.
India has more than 8,100 enterprise tech and SaaS startups by Inc42's count, and many sell to the same US and UK buyers the survey asked. The complaint in it is less about price than about control. 78% said the vendor decided when and how things changed. That gives a smaller vendor four specific things to do differently.
Let customers choose the timing of breaking changes. Ship new versions behind a switch and give admins a window, say two quarters, to move. Publish a deprecation policy for your API and keep to it. A buyer who has rebuilt integrations for another vendor will read that page.
Give long notice on price and plan changes, and do not move existing customers to a new plan without asking. Grandfathering costs some revenue. Forcing the move costs renewals and gives the buyer a story to tell.
Make the cost of staying with you visible. If a customer pays for seats, show how many are in use. If you charge for usage, show it as it happens, not on the invoice. Our usage-based pricing playbook covers how to set the meters.
Show what your product saved them, in their numbers. The survey says forced changes take money from AI projects. A buyer deciding what to cut keeps the tool that can show its return in hours or rupees on an admin screen.
Salesforce agreed to buy the customer engagement platform Braze for about $5.66 billion in enterprise value, or $47.50 a share in cash, announced on 20 October 2026. Braze customers in India, and teams that compete with it, should watch for product and pricing changes once the deal closes, which Salesforce expects in its fiscal year 2028. Changes after an acquisition are the kind of vendor-driven change the survey describes.
Unicommerce, the Indian e-commerce operations software company, reported Q2 FY27 revenue of ₹59.1 crore, up 15.0%, and profit after tax of ₹6.4 crore, up 10.6%. Adjusted EBITDA was ₹10.0 crore, a 17.0% margin. It launched an AI product, DNA, in the same quarter.
28% on average, according to a survey of 2,018 senior IT decision-makers in the US and UK commissioned by Origina. It covers upgrades, migrations and licence changes the firms would not have chosen.
Treat it as a signal. The sponsor sells third-party software support and benefits from the finding, the sample is US and UK only, and the figure is what respondents said rather than a count of invoices.
Let customers choose when breaking changes reach them, publish and keep a deprecation policy, give written notice before price or plan changes, and show admins their usage and the value the product delivers.
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