Tangoe, a company with over two decades of experience in IT Expense Management (ITEM) and recognized for its AI-powered automation, has released its fifth annual “2026 IT Expense Management Trends and Savings Recommendations” report. This report leverages insights from $34 billion in technology spend intelligence and hundreds of enterprise optimization engagements, providing data-driven guidance to IT, finance, and procurement leaders on managing evolving technology costs, emerging risks, and identifying significant savings across mobility, cloud, and telecom environments.
As organizations advance innovation, maintaining financial discipline in IT becomes increasingly challenging. The report highlights that AI investment is accelerating, cloud and data center pricing structures are shifting, and mobility and telecom infrastructures continue to grow in complexity. Tangoe’s 2026 report specifically addresses areas where costs and risks are escalating fastest, emphasizing how enhanced visibility and robust governance can lead to substantial savings across an organization’s entire technology estate.
James Parker, CEO of Tangoe, commented, “Technology is evolving at unprecedented speed, and IT spending dynamics are shifting just as quickly. As AI and other emerging capabilities scale, their cost and return profiles are beginning to resemble the early days of cloud – immense promise, but complex, expensive, and often misaligned with business value without disciplined management. Leaders need tools and oversight from day one to help drive measurable ROI. With insight into $34 billion in technology spend intelligence, this report gives IT, finance, and procurement executives the clarity they need to cut through complexity, reduce waste, and build repeatable practices that turn cost optimization into a durable competitive advantage.”
Chris Ortbals, Chief Product Officer at Tangoe, added, “Mobility and telecom are areas where waste and risk can silently accumulate when controls are limited. AI-driven mobile phishing is becoming more targeted, while legacy services and billing complexity continue to drain budgets through leakage, outdated services, and avoidable markups. Organizations that excel in 2026 will be those that modernize their environment, continuously validate invoices, and manage devices and services through a disciplined lifecycle, rather than as a series of isolated decisions.”
The report outlines key 2026 findings and actionable recommendations for cost reduction:
* Treat AI as its own cost domain: Rapidly growing AI budgets introduce new vendors, pricing models, and accountability challenges. Establishing clear cost ownership and governance is crucial before spend fragments across various teams.
* Address rising IaaS costs: AI-driven data center expansion is expected to increase pressure on compute, storage, bandwidth, and GPU-related services. Strategic workload placement, instance strategy, and committed-use planning can reduce IaaS spend by up to 50% depending on the environment.
* Optimize SaaS licenses: In 2025, nearly half of paid SaaS licenses went unused, contributing to over $20 billion in wasted spend. Recommendations include reducing auto-renewal exposure and reclaiming orphaned seats.
* Prepare for device cost pressure: Research cited in the report estimates that average smartphone selling prices could rise approximately 7% in 2026, underscoring the need for disciplined lifecycle management and accurate inventory.
* Strengthen mobile attack surface defenses: Over 1 million enterprise employees were exposed to mobile phishing in Q2 2025, a 20% increase quarter-over-quarter. Executives were 23% more susceptible to AI-driven personalized attacks.
* Modernize legacy voice services: A POTS line once costing around $20 can now incur invoices as high as $1,400. Where feasible, replacing legacy services can cut costs by up to 80%.
* Re-evaluate SD-WAN contracts: Requests for proposals (RFPs) that previously involved 2–3 providers now often include more than 9 vendors, creating significant leverage to renegotiate or right-size contracts.
* Validate every telecom invoice: Industry audits indicate that 15–20% of telecom invoices contain errors, typically favoring the vendor. Automation and continuous auditing can expedite the recovery of cost overruns.
* Centralize inventory and automate lifecycle management: Fragmented management of IT assets reduces accountability and limits savings. Building an always-accurate, audit-ready inventory is essential for informed decision-making.
Tangoe’s report is designed to assist CFOs, CIOs, FinOps practitioners, and procurement leaders in translating market trends into practical actions, with concrete recommendations based on real-world spending data from complex enterprise environments.
