Centrix Software, a leading expert in workspace management, today revealed results of a survey conducted among 100 IT professionals. 74 per cent of enterprises admitted one of the most challenging areas for end-user applications (apps) is knowing what's happening across their IT estate. This is despite more than three quarters (76 per cent) of CIOs stating that "understanding the entire app portfolio" is a key end-user app goal.

The independent survey of 100 IT directors and CIOs was undertaken by Vanson Bourne; to gain insight into the top challenges faced by those responsible for IT apps, especially when it comes to managing and understanding their app portfolios. The top three end-user app goals were reported as: understanding the apps portfolio across installed, cloud and virtual, to enable planning and management; optimising the app portfolio to match business and user needs; and cutting the cost of running apps to free up more IT resource for strategic initiatives.

70 per cent stated their most challenging end-user apps issue was managing too much complexity in the portfolio. While, a high proportion of the CIOs surveyed (71 per cent) have IT asset management or software licensing tools in place for managing their end-user app portfolio, they still struggle to know what's really happening across their desktop estates. And even although the majority of organisations (71 per cent) use asset or licence management software, 38 per cent admit to using manual usage tracking such as surveys.

Most CIOs believe that only a very low percentage of app instances across their organisation aren't used (just over one quarter: 27 per cent). In reality, and according to Centrix Software's analysis of more than three million desktops, an average of four out of five (80 per cent) of app instances available to employees are never used.

"When we analyse usage data in real-time, organisations just don't believe the statistics we reveal - with 80 per cent of installed apps instances never being used," said Lisa Hammond, CEO of Centrix Software. "The findings are consistent across all sizes and types of businesses, including FTSE companies and major government institutions."

"This research confirms that understanding the entire app portfolio has to be the key end-user app goal. Achieving this goal on an on-going basis isn't possible without a much clearer and more detailed understanding of which apps are really important to the business, which are being used and which are delivering value. Business intelligence (BI) solutions have been available to decision makers for years, and the survey clearly shows IT leaders need BI analytics to really understand their app and device usage" Lisa added.

The report also revealed the following findings:

Only 2 per cent think that more than half of their company's app instances aren't being used
CIOs think that on average, just over one quarter (27 per cent) of app instances aren't used
59 per cent of enterprises think less than 30 per cent of apps installed across their estate aren't used
69 per cent are looking at managing/planning/rationalising and optimising the app portfolio to match business needs
71 per cent said they manage and understand their end user app usage with IT software asset management/licence management tools - but 74 per cent feel "knowing what's happening across the estate" is one of the most challenging areas for end-user apps
38 per cent of CIOs admit to still using manual methods as part of their end-user app usage management and understanding -and only 53 per cent of enterprises involve their software asset management team in app rationalisation​
76 per cent of enterprises see understanding the entire app portfolio as a key end-user app goal
Only 53 per cent of enterprises have a software asset management team to look after app rationalisation
To discover more about the findings, download a full copy of the report and white paper, 'Managing the Application Portfolio'