How UK Departments Are Cutting IBM and VMware Costs Without Disruption in 2026

Across the U.K., public sector organizations are struggling to get what they need from OEM software support but, increasingly, independent support providers are offering the solution. 

Like countless other businesses, the U.K. public sector is heavily reliant on expert software support to keep their systems running smoothly. Untold damage can be done by inopportunely timed downtime or security issues, so it’s vital that these departments can trust their software support provider implicitly. Too often OEM vendor support can lose sight of this and it’s the customer that suffers the consequences.

Carefully curated budgets, long standing reputations and hard-earned trust can all unravel quickly when your software support does not align with goals and operational needs. The pressure associated with the public sector can often lead to departments rushing into needless vendor-driven changes, however, maintaining your existing IT environment can often be the key to avoiding issues and unlocking innovation.

The Importance of Public Sector Support

Expert software support is particularly crucial to the public sector due to the role that they play within society. Whether it be a bank, health department, revenue etc., people rely on these institutions every day so, in turn, they need these institutions to be able to rely on their software and systems to remain consistent.

One of the major concerns any public sector leadership team may face is around security and compliance. Considering the fact that they deal with sensitive public data on a day-to-day basis, they must ensure they have robust security measures in place while also adhering to strict government and international standards. Protecting user data is paramount to how these organizations operate.

Similarly, accountability, audit trails and transparency are vital pieces that software support must provide for any public sector body. There is often a great deal of scrutiny to ensure these organizations demonstrate responsible use of public funds, maximize budgets and adhere to a wide range of regulations. This means software support must provide built-in mechanisms for accountability and audit trails, along with a focus on clear costs and service level agreements (SLA’s).

The fact that they are so frequently heavily public facing, means that organizations such as these also require a great deal of scalability and flexibility from their software support provider. This helps them to deal with fluctuating user numbers across their systems without facing potential issues or downtime. It also means they must consider user experience (UX) and accessibility as part of any vendor assessment they undertake. A vendor who can match their customer-first focus can make a real difference to their customer’s experience.

U.K. Departments No Longer Dependant on OEM Vendors

With all this in mind, countless U.K. departments have begun to identify the OEM vendors as public enemy number one and have started looking elsewhere for software support that serves their needs. While OEM vendors continue to focus their attention on needless, expensive upgrades, EoS pressure and expensive VMware subscription models; Origina has been providing public sector organizations with support that extends the life of their existing environments and saves them on long-term costs.

Independent maintenance and support from Origina can offer you an escape from the cycle of unnecessary upgrades that many U.K. departments find themselves trapped in. By eliminating needless change from your IT department, you can free up money, time and resources that can then be better invested into growth and innovation throughout your organization. More than that, eliminating needless upgrades can also reduce the rising amount of e-waste being produced by dramatically reducing the amount of hardware turnover.

Unnecessary change also means unnecessary risk. By introducing change into your existing environment, you’re also opening up your systems to potential security issues. Origina can help avoid these risks through expert lifecycle management and also through a proactive, defence-in-depth approach to security which can mitigate risk before it leads to bigger issues.

If you’re looking for software maintenance and support that puts your needs first, Origina can offer you assured savings without disruption, compliance and governance expertise, transparency, service quality, risk reduction and a modernization runway that can help fund transformation by freeing up resources and extending the life of stable workloads while you plan migrations or exit strategies. Avoid potential risk and reputational damage by choosing a software support provider that works for you.

 Looking to cut support costs without compromising on quality? Talk to Origina today.