SoftwareOne

SoftwareOne built a $1B+ business on a simple arbitrage: enterprises don't understand the software licenses they're already paying for. Founded in 1985, the company helps organizations optimize Microsoft, Adobe, SAP, and other enterprise software spending - finding redundant licenses, negotiating better terms, managing compliance. This sounds like cost-cutting consulting, but it's actually recurring revenue: cloud migrations and subscription models mean license optimization is continuous, not one-time. SoftwareOne captures 10-15% of client savings as fees while providing software procurement infrastructure that clients can't easily replace. The insight: in enterprise software's shift from perpetual licenses to cloud subscriptions, the winners aren't just vendors - they're also the intermediaries who translate vendor complexity into client savings.