Amid persistent economic uncertainty, CIOs must manage growing software costs while preserving business effectiveness and innovation. While Forrester regularly sees contract renewals at double- and occasionally triple-digit increases, the overall picture of software spend, according to our Q2 2024 study, is not quite that bad. Our study revealed that total software costs are climbing — but are generally in the low single digits. With ongoing high software costs and a likely surge as AI pricing starts to emerge, CIOs need to stay vigilant. This report prescribes strategic audits, vendor negotiations, and tool consolidation as key maneuvers to combat these increases.