SaaS vendors are hiking costs faster than inflation, but squeaky wheels can still get deals SaaS vendors are increasing prices faster than both inflation and the typical growth rate of corporate IT budgets, but Gartner VP analyst Jo Liversidge thinks that canny buyers can reduce their bills by anticipating price hikes and planning to negotiate hard. Speaking at the analyst firm's Symposium event in Australia last …
SaaS is always a risky proposition for any organisation because you never know whether you will be able to continue to use the service tomorrow or even get your data back when you need it.
However, organisation generally only learn, if ever, when they get caught up in an extinction level event. If your organisation is big enough, then you probably can bribe your way through government to be bailed out. Others will just wither away.
Notice how Gartner’s answer to SaaS price-gouging is always ‘negotiate harder’ - as if you can haggle your way out of structural dependency. SaaS lock-in is not a bug, it’s the business model. The old rulebook was clear: use SaaS as a temporary crutch in your growth phase, then reinvest to build internal systems you control. If you can’t do that immediately, at least keep a backup SaaS or exit plan ready. Pretending you can outsmart unilateral pricing power and kill-switch clauses with a two-year negotiation plan isn’t strategy - it’s Gartner theatre. Vendors squeeze, analysts excuse, and customers pay.
Regulators - typically asleep, but charging taxpayers fortune.
