New York and London – November 13 2014: Organizations in the UK and US have paid over $7bn for software that is not being used, according to new data from IT efficiency software company 1E, following in-depth analysis into the software deployed on 1.8 million desktops in 74 large enterprises, across 13 industries.

The research reveals that the average price paid for unused software is $266 per desktop in the UK and $224 in the US. A conservative estimate of the total cost of the deployed yet unused software within companies of 500+ desktops is $991m (£590M) in the UK and $6.6bn in the US.

The findings are presented in a new 1E report, The Hidden Cost of Unused Software, launched today. It reveals the extent to which companies are paying for and supporting unused software, highlights the most unused software titles and provides breakdowns by geography, industry sector and company size.

Over a quarter (28%) of all the software deployed across the 1.8 million desktops analyzed was unused (not used for past 90 days) and 6% was rarely used (not used for the past 30 days).

Smaller companies typically have more unused software, which makes up 43% of the deployed software titles for organizations of approximately 5,000 users. This compares to 34% for those with 100,000 users or more.

The healthcare sector boasts the lowest amount of unused software at only 20%, compared to the pharmaceutical industry where 56% of all software deployed is unused.

The report also presents the 35 most commonly deployed software titles that will typically deliver the greatest savings to organizations due to being deployed and unused.

Sumir Karayi, CEO of 1E, comments: “Our analysis of genuine company software estates shows that many organizations are acquiring, and paying for, much more software than they are using. This can come at a huge cost to the business. By gaining complete visibility into their software estate, organizations can effectively manage their software assets on an ongoing basis to accurately measure application usage, reclaim unused or prohibited software and redeploy licenses as needed, while ensuring full software vendor compliance.”

The 1E report, The Hidden Cost of Unused Software, is available for free download here.