As the IT market keeps booming, the cost of IT resources is booming with it. Gartner now forecasts worldwide IT spending to reach $6.37 trillion in 2026, up 14.2% from 2025, with software spending alone climbing to $1.468 trillion, a 15.5% increase. Under such circumstances, prioritizing the wise use of IT resources is the key to a cost-effective IT ecosystem.
Here comes the importance of IT chargeback, also known as cost chargeback. It’s the process of assigning IT bills to the groups or departments using them rather than parking every dollar in a centralized cost center. It ensures the responsibility of cost optimization lies with individual departments, promoting ownership and better outcomes.
At OpenLM, we help you implement smart IT chargeback to increase ROI and maximize productivity. Read on to understand how you can execute smart IT chargeback with OpenLM, and why 2026’s market conditions make it more urgent than ever.
The 2026 market backdrop: why chargeback can’t wait
Three trends make cost allocation a 2026 priority, not a someday project.
Software spend is growing faster than IT spend overall. Gartner’s 2026 forecast shows software as the fastest-growing major IT category after data center systems and infrastructure-as-a-service, at 15.5% year-over-year growth. When your software line item grows faster than the rest of the budget, every department needs a clear view of what it’s actually consuming.
FinOps is expanding straight into software licensing. The FinOps Foundation’s State of FinOps 2026 report found that 90% of FinOps teams now manage SaaS spend directly, and 64% have extended that scope to software licensing specifically. Cost allocation practices that started in the cloud are moving into the CAD, PLM, and simulation licenses that specialty engineering software vendors sell. According to FinOps Foundation data, organizations waste an average of 27% of their broader technology spend annually when allocation isn’t in place.
Vendor pricing keeps climbing. Autodesk announced an approximate 10% increase across most of its software subscriptions, effective January 7, 2026, applying to both new purchases and renewals. When list prices rise annually, the cost of not knowing which department actually needs which seat rises right along with it.
Put together, these trends point to one conclusion: the departments and organizations with accurate, real-time usage data going into 2026 are the ones best positioned to absorb rising software costs without overpaying for capacity nobody uses.
Common Challenges in Chageback Integration
Chargeback based on headcount, not usage
In such scenarios, organizations charge each department based on the number of users they have for a certain application. However, this doesn’t take into account the actual usage, as tracking it can be tricky.
Unauthorized or multiple accesses to licenses
While unauthorized access can lead to fines, multiple access by single engineer can prevent others from working—leading to wastage.
Conflict among different cost centers
In case an application has users over multiple departments, conflict may arise during billing if the organization doesn't have exact data on usage.
Common challenges in chargeback integration
Chargeback based on headcount, not usage
In these scenarios, organizations charge each department based on the number of users it has for a certain application. This doesn’t account for actual usage, since tracking it can be tricky without the right tooling.
Unauthorized or multiple access to licenses
Unauthorized access can lead to compliance fines, while one engineer holding multiple sessions can lock out colleagues who need to work, leading to real productivity losses.
Conflict among different cost centers
When an application has users across multiple departments, billing conflicts can arise if the organization doesn’t have exact data on who used what, and for how long.
Implement IT chargeback with OpenLM: three smart ways
Plan efficient cost allocation by tracking actual usage
Picture this: your organization has bought five network licenses of Software A for five users. A few days later, you discover that one user accesses the license for one hour a day, while the other four use it for five hours each. In this scenario, you could manually work out that four licenses cover the standard eight-hour workday, so the fifth is redundant.
Now scale that up. When user counts climb into the hundreds, or the license type gets more complex (cloud-based entitlements, for example), manual calculation stops being realistic. Departments often end up paying by headcount with no way to validate it against real consumption.
That’s where OpenLM comes in. OpenLM generates reports that show your current usage trends and predict future requirements, so you can make procurement decisions that are data-driven and cost-effective, not just historically consistent.
Promote transparency with enhanced visibility into expenses
Now picture an organization with users of a dozen applications spread across a dozen teams. Conflicts between departments over cost allocation are almost inevitable without a shared source of truth.
Think of a shared network license the way you’d think of a single conference room booked by five departments: it doesn’t matter how many teams hold a key, only whoever is actually sitting in the room drives the cost. OpenLM’s reporting shows usage per group and per project, giving you complete visibility into the costs each group and project actually incurs, and replacing badge counts with real occupancy data.
Control cost by identifying real-time optimization opportunities
Smart chargeback goes beyond periodic cost allocation. Real-time optimization matters just as much, especially for network licenses. It’s common for engineers to check out a license at the start of the day and hold it whether they’re using it or not, denying access to colleagues who need it. That hurts both productivity and budgeting, since a chunk of paid-for licenses sit idle.
OpenLM’s license harvesting feature tracks idle licenses and releases them back to the pool automatically. You can also set custom alerts that notify an engineer the moment a license goes idle. That combination, harvesting plus alerting, minimizes waste in real time on top of your usage tracking and periodic budget allocation.
With OpenLM, you can activate a full range of IT chargeback opportunities that contribute directly to your organization’s overall ROI, even as 2026’s software costs keep climbing.
