The rise and rise of software-as-a-service

The way we buy and use software has changed and there’s no turning back

IT procurement used to represent a significant capital investment for businesses, in terms of both hardware and software. Rolling cycles of hardware refreshes ensured that workers had devices that could handle their needs, while software licenses were procured on a per-user basis and replaced or upgraded when new versions were released.

But that system lacked flexibility - if a business invested in software licenses for workers who then left, those licenses would lay dormant with a real cost associated with them. That lack of flexibility went both ways, too, with temporary staff needing software licenses procured, even if they were only in the business for a matter of weeks.

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