Billions wasted on unneccessary software

Will someone think of the children for God's sake?

Of the many hundreds of press releases and general dross emails that fill my inbox -some prompt me to write about them more than others.

And unfortunately not always in a good way.

Take one email for example - from a certain open source software vendor who shall remain nameless. It describes itself as a ‘leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software'. OK. So far so good.

It has managed to extrapolate some amazing data from speaking to 500 people across the UK and Germany, that a massive £6.89 BILLION is being wasted on - wait for it - IT management software. (Did you see that coming?)

According to the ‘research' the IT software budgets for 93 per cent of SMBs has increased or remained the same over the last five years, but despite this, more than three quarters of companies questioned said that around 12 per cent of software purchases still go unused.

So basically, the point of the research is to determine that there is still a huge need to invest in IT software (obvs), but there is still work to be done to ensure the software is used effectively.

See what they did there?

I'll bet I know a company that is more than willing to step in and help with any software-related queries.

And while I'm on a roll, another one plopped into my inbox today as well.

A certain telecom provider is embarking on a dedicated plan to get the long-term unemployed back to work and give them ‘new hope'. Is that like a Star Wars type ‘New Hope'?

It announced an intention to create over 120 new permanent jobs in 2013 with all of them aimed at people who have been out of work for several years.

On a serious note - good for them - everyone needs a helping hand sometimes.

But what I found slightly disturbing was the chief executive described the decision to take on the long-term unemployed as a ‘humane' one.

That's not the context in which I normally hear that word used.