We’re proud to announce that Livingstone has once again been named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Software Asset Management (SAM) Managed Services. This marks the sixth consecutive year of recognition.
The Gartner Magic Quadrant evaluates technology providers within a specific market.
Lisa Maines, Managing Director of Livingstone Group, said:
“Our 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant positioning represents another great result for Livingstone. I feel this reflects our continued commitment to helping organizations maximize value from Software, Cloud and AI investments. At Livingstone this recognition reflects the strength of our strategy, innovative approach and focus on delivering measurable outcomes for our clients. In our view this Gartner assessment highlights our strategic vision, customer-centric approach and ongoing investment in capabilities that help organizations optimize technology spend, reduce complexity and achieve greater business value from their technology investments."
Organizations are facing unprecedented change in software, cloud, and AI investment management. Licensing models are evolving, consumption-based pricing is becoming the norm, AI is creating new governance requirements, and technology leaders are under increasing pressure to demonstrate value from every technology investment.
At the same time, IT, procurement, and finance teams are being asked to do more with less. Rising software costs, growing compliance risks, complex cloud environments, and heightened scrutiny of technology spend mean organizations can no longer afford to rely on reactive asset management practices.
In this environment, we believe a position as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SAM Managed Services matters more than ever. We feel it independently validates a provider's ability to help organizations navigate complexity, optimize costs, manage risk, and turn technology investments into measurable business outcomes.
Today, success is no longer defined by compliance alone. Organizations need partners that can deliver strategic guidance, commercial insight, and tangible financial value across software, cloud, and AI estates. We believe Livingstone's position as a Leader reflects our ability to combine vision with execution, helping clients make better investment decisions, strengthen vendor negotiations, improve governance, and maximize return on technology spend.
As software investment management becomes increasingly critical to business performance, organizations need proven, trustworthy expertise. We believe this Gartner recognition reinforces Livingstone's position as a partner that helps clients adapt to change, control costs, and unlock greater value from their technology investments.
We believe our recognition in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ also reflects the market expertise we demonstrate beyond client engagements. As Chair of SAMS Europe, Livingstone has been at the center of the conversations shaping the future of SAM, FinOps, AI governance and technology optimization. Through ongoing engagement with enterprise leaders, practitioners and industry experts, we gain first-hand insight into how organizations are responding to increasingly complex software, cloud and AI consumption models. Many themes driving industry discussion today include innovation, practical optimization strategies, and managed services designed to address the realities of a rapidly evolving technology landscape. We believe this combination of market insight, industry vision and client-focused delivery continues to position Livingstone at the forefront of the next generation of Software Investment Management services.
Gareth Redshaw, Livingstone Executive Director – Strategy and Commercial Consulting, said:
“For us, we feel this year's placement reflects the evolution of both our services and our clients' priorities. As organisations face growing complexity across software, cloud and AI investments, they need more than traditional asset management. They need actionable intelligence, commercial expertise and measurable outcomes. We believe our continued investment in innovation, our Acuity platform and our Software Investment Management approach is helping clients optimise costs, reduce risk and maximise the value of every technology investment."
We're seeing a market shift from traditional Software Asset Management to Software Investment Management (SIM). This broader, outcome-driven approach tackles software waste across mega vendors, SaaS, and tail spend. SIM is more agile and modular, focusing effort where it delivers real value. It is relevant across procurement, IT, finance, security, and SAM teams.
Our new SAM Managed Service, powered by our proprietary Acuity platform, is designed for this new world and is adaptable year to year, allowing focus areas to pivot as the IT estate and business needs evolve. It combines enriched data, AI-driven insight, and expert-led delivery to help clients:
For us, the Gartner Magic Quadrant is an important recognition, but we always focus on what comes next: helping organizations tackle software waste and make smarter technology investments.
Disclaimer
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management Managed Services, Yolanda Harris, Jaswant Kalay, Rob Schafer, 26 October 2026
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