- Only 31% of companies say they have accurate visibility into AI software; 36% of overall IT visibility
- AI is complex to track because it is a layer that is found in existing categories
- IT leaders are also under pressure to demonstrate return on investment in AI
New data revealed in Flexera’s State of ITAM report has revealed that only 31% of companies have accurate visibility into their AI software, an area of IT spending that continues to grow as new use cases emerge and models are developed.
This comes as nearly three in five (59%) reveal that wasted spend on AI has increased over the past year, with increasingly complex software stacks being blamed for an overall drop in visibility.
Flexera found that complete visibility of IT assets has fallen to 36% (only slightly ahead of AI visibility) thanks to complex and intertwined SaaS, public cloud, and hybrid environments.
IT stack visibility is getting worse, not better
According to the report, ITAM professionals now spend more time optimizing software (32%), but audit response (22%) also consumes a considerable amount of their time.
As for AI, Flexera believes it is difficult to track because it does not occupy its own category. Instead, models, agents, and platforms sit across multiple systems as an additional layer.
“What we’re seeing is a familiar pattern of rapid adoption followed by a fight for visibility and control, as spending increases,” wrote chief product officer Becky Trevino.
But ironically, Flexera also discovered that AI promises to automate some ITAM work, including processing software contracts, purchase orders, licenses and renewals.
With IT professionals under more pressure to demonstrate the return on investment of AI, the next steps go beyond identifying which AI tools are being used to consider how they are used, how much they cost, and what data they access.
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