ITASCA, Ill., June 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flexera, the global leader in technology spend and risk intelligence, today released the Flexera 2026 State of ITAM Report, which reveals a growing disconnect between rapid AI adoption and organizations ability to manage it effectively. While nearly half of organizations are already tracking AI as part of their software spend, only one third (31%) reported having accurate visibility into AI software.
At the same time, 59% of respondents say wasted AI spend has increased year over year, highlighting rising cost pressures as enterprises adopt AI at scale and it becomes a core spending category.
“AI is changing the economics of IT faster than most organizations can adapt,” said Becky Trevino, chief product officer, Flexera. “What we’re seeing is a familiar pattern of rapid adoption followed by a scramble for visibility and control, as spend surges. The organizations that succeed in AI transformation will modernize the governance and optimization frameworks they’ve built for on-premises, SaaS and cloud for AI technologies. You see this happening with the FinOps and Tokenomics Foundations and with Flexera’s AI Cost Management platform.”
Key findings from the latest Flexera 2026 State of ITAM Report include:
- Technology visibility is declining: Complete IT asset visibility dropped to 36%, reflecting growing complexity year over year across AI, SaaS and cloud environments.
- Audit activity remains high and costly: Nearly half (48%) were audited in the last year and only slightly less (44%) report spending over $1 million on software audits over the past three years, a figure that has stayed stagnant for the past three reports.
- Microsoft is most frequently cited for audit activity across vendors: 64% of respondents reported that Microsoft audited their organization in the past three years, remaining at the top of the list for the past several reports. In a big fluctuation, respondents also reported increased audit activity from Oracle, rising to 38% from 24% the previous year, and from Adobe, which increased from 24% to 32%.
- ITAM and FinOps collaboration becoming more targeted: Day-to-day interaction between teams has slightly declined year over year, even as their reporting alignment increased 5 percentage points. Targeted collaboration remains important as organizations increasingly rely on both groups to achieve comprehensive visibility.
- Cost optimization leads IT priorities: ITAM teams spend the largest share of their time on software optimization (32%), followed by audit response (22%) and audit allocation (22%).
This year’s data reflects a broader shift, as AI spans existing technology categories across cloud, SaaS, data centers and devices while introducing entirely new layers including models, agents, data and platforms, governed by new economics. Layered onto already complex environments, this expansion is accelerating existing cost and visibility challenges. As organizations scale AI initiatives, they increasingly need unified visibility across software, cloud and AI to control spend and reduce risk.
The full survey results are available in the Flexera 2026 State of ITAM Report, which explores the perspective of 512 technology professionals worldwide across industries and context areas.
To download the full report, please visit: http://www.flexera.com/stateofitam
To read more on the Flexera blog, please visit: https://www.flexera.com/blog/it-asset-management/state-of-itam-2026/
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About Flexera
Flexera helps organizations understand and maximize the value of their technology, including the rising costs and risks introduced by AI, saving billions of dollars in wasted spend. Our Flexera One platform connects the dots between what technology you have, how it is used, what it costs, and where it creates risk, helping teams take control of the increasingly complex IT estate across cloud, SaaS and on-premises. We are leading the way to unify IT Asset Management, FinOps, and SaaS Management with high fidelity data from Technopedia, our proprietary reference library of technology asset data, and intelligent automation fueled by AI. That's why thousands of global organizations rely on the Flexera One platform and Technopedia. Learn more at flexera.com.
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