Our team at Celerity had the privilege of attending SAMS Europe 2025 in Amsterdam, one of the most important gatherings for Software Asset Management practitioners in Europe. 

This year’s event delivered deep insights into SaaS governance, licensing trends, and the growing interplay between SAM and AI. 

Below, we’ve captured the themes that stood out to us and how they inform our approach moving forward.

 

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Setting the Stage: SAMS Europe 2025

SAMS Europe returned to  Amsterdam on October 6–7, drawing hundreds of SAM professionals, vendors, and thought leaders. The agenda spanned practical workshops, vendor panels, and networking formats, giving attendees a mix of hands-on tactics and strategic planning sessions. 

From our vantage point, events like this are much more than meetups. They’re accelerators of fresh thinking, catalysts for partnerships, and bellwethers for where SAM is heading next.

 

 

What Resonated with Us

Here are the trends and conversations that caught our attention, and why they matter to Celerity's clients and mission.

 

1. From Cost Control to Strategic Enablement

A recurring theme across sessions was the shift in how organisations view SAM. It’s no longer enough to just control licence costs, SAM is increasingly expected to guide strategic decisions, especially in hybrid landscapes combining on-prem, cloud, and SaaS. 

At Celerity, we’ve long believed that SAM should operate as a bridge between operations and strategy. The message at SAMS aligns well: SAM must inform IT roadmap decisions, not just housekeeping.

 

2. AI’s Role in Licence Visibility and Compliance

Across panels and workshops, AI and automation featured heavily. Attendees debated how machine learning can reduce manual effort in tracking licence usage, detecting anomalies, and aligning deployments with contracts. 

Embedding AI into our tooling and advisory practice is non-optional. As software landscapes grow in complexity, our clients will need systems that keep pace, not legacy methods.

 

3. Managing SaaS Sprawl Without Losing Control

One of the tougher challenges surfaced repeatedly: as organisations adopt more SaaS tools, shadow IT creeps in. Users deploy software outside procurement or IT oversight, creating blind spots. 

A favourite session for us examined governance models that enable self-service but include guardrails. That balance, agility with control, is central to how Celerity advises our clients today.

 

4. Preparing for Supplier Audits & Vendor Pressure

Conversations about audit readiness and vendor negotiations were everywhere. Several speakers broke down how to forecast audit risk, manage contract clauses, and position organisations defensibly. 

We’ve observed that many clients undervalue this preparation until it’s too late therefore we stress proactive readiness as a hallmark of mature software asset management.

 

5. The Power of Networks & Knowledge Sharing

Beyond the sessions, the value of informal exchanges can’t be overstated. We connected with peers, compared war stories, and tested assumptions. Many of the most disruptive ideas came during hallway chats or over coffee.

As a business these connections help us refine our thinking, validate new tools or processes, and bring collective insights back to our clients.

 

 

Final Thoughts

Conferences like SAMS Europe aren’t just checkboxes for us, they’re vital signals of where the SAM community is heading. From AI and SaaS governance to compliance prep, the pressure and opportunity for SAM teams are growing.

We’re more committed than ever to helping clients not just respond, but lead, transforming software asset management from a cost centre into a strategic enabler.

If you’d like to talk through how these trends apply to your organisation or see a version of Celerity’s trend report in action, I’d be happy to walk you through it.