Enterprise software procurement in Thailand is becoming harder to govern as subscription models, licensing terms, and approval processes shift faster than organisational controls. Managing cost, risk, and deployment speed across an expanding software estate is now a core operational challenge.
At a roundtable hosted by AWS in partnership with Jicara Media in Bangkok, IT and procurement leaders examined how these pressures are shaping procurement decisions, from pricing volatility and tool sprawl to the operational risks that follow.
Procurement pressures surface across Thai enterprises
The discussion began with a broad question about where technology procurement is breaking down. Participants were asked to reflect on the issues they encounter most often, from hidden costs and licensing complexity to shadow IT, data sovereignty, and the difficulty of maintaining visibility as software estates expand.
Those themes quickly surfaced as common pain points across industries, setting the tone for a conversation that moved beyond individual tools to the structural challenges of managing procurement in subscription-driven environments.
Against that backdrop, AWS Marketplace’s ASEAN Lead, Kunal Narang, explained how AWS positions itself in third-party software procurement. “You can procure third-party products – not AWS products – including database, cybersecurity, and DevOps tools that you’re already familiar with, through AWS,” he said. “My role is to help customers make their procurement processes smoother, quicker, and more governed.”
Pricing volatility driven by rapid technology change
Pricing instability emerged early as one of the most disruptive issues. For Foodpassion, which operates food chains across Thailand, frequent changes to pricing models are complicating both internal planning and vendor negotiations.
“Pricing has become a major challenge,” said Prasert Kohkayasit, Head of IT, Foodpassion. “There are constant model changes, new solutions entering the market, and repeated pricing adjustments, all of which add to the cost of what we are already running today.”
This volatility and pace of change can slow down delivery, as both cost and technical considerations need to be reassessed more frequently. In some cases, procurement and IT teams may need to revisit requirements or rebid before software can be approved and deployed, extending timelines and delaying when value is realised.
Kohkayasit noted that procurement and IT teams often approach decisions from different perspectives, with cost, requirements, and timelines all factoring into the process. Aligning these considerations can require additional discussion and evaluation, which can lengthen procurement cycles even when objectives are aligned.
Shadow IT and the hidden cost of tool sprawl
Shadow IT continues to distort procurement visibility, especially in organisations with distributed teams operating across multiple markets. For aCommerce, this has historically surfaced as a gap in understanding what software was actually in use across the business.
“While we had a good catalogue for understanding IT-controlled systems, one of the biggest challenges was that we didn’t have a complete list of the software used across the wider organisation,” said Pinthip Chantanalert, Senior Manager – Technical Business Operations, aCommerce. “We started by looking at the accounting system and reviewing the transactions we were paying for, so we could clearly see which software we were already using.”
That process revealed overlapping subscriptions across teams. Chantanalert said different departments were paying separately for the same tools, such as DocuSign, often under different accounts. While consolidation improved leverage in vendor negotiations, it also exposed another issue: inconsistent renewal obligations. Some tools required notice 30 days in advance, others 60, making it difficult to act once teams decided a tool was no longer needed.
To counter the sprawl, aCommerce introduced front-door controls for new purchases. “Any new software request now has to go through approval tiers, including IT governance,” Chantanalert said. She added that the company continues to track vendor-level spend and reconcile financial data to maintain visibility over what is being used across the organisation.
Narang noted that organisations facing this challenge often move toward private, pre-approved marketplaces within AWS. “Users can see a portal of approved products inside their organisation,” he said. “Because procuring a new tool takes longer, that catalogue becomes the first place they look.”
SaaS dependency and operational risk
While some organisations are dealing primarily with tool proliferation and pricing uncertainty, others face a more fundamental risk: the fragility of subscription-only deployment models. Architecture and construction firm Spacetime has seen this tension sharpen as design tools evolve.
“Some of our challenges come from differences between older and newer generations of designers,” said Thani Ratanapridakul, Operations & IT Director, Spacetime. “Newer designers tend to prefer modern software they are familiar with, while more experienced architects may not have been exposed to the same tools.”
Subscription-only options extend the tension beyond preference. Ratanapridakul noted that while newer tools offer more features and are easier to use, they also depend on constant connectivity. When internet access is disrupted, cloud-based tools can become inaccessible, creating operational problems when urgent work needs to be completed.
Version drift and forced upgrades add another layer of unpredictability. “Vendors introduce new features and functions every year, and users are not always aware of the changes,” Ratanapridakul said. He explained that frequent interface changes can disrupt workflows, particularly for organisations that prefer software to remain stable for three to four years, even as vendors push subscription models that generate recurring revenue.
For Narang, these shifts reflect a broader market trend. “We are moving toward a very SaaS-heavy landscape, where around 80% of the solutions customers look for on the marketplace are SaaS,” he said. “At the same time, we also enable customers to purchase on-prem solutions; we don’t want to limit them to the cloud.”
Toward more transparent, governed procurement
Across these organisations, the central thread remained constant: Procurement is no longer just a pricing exercise. It is now a function that must manage expanding software portfolios, complex renewal cycles, governance gaps, and the downstream operational risks of SaaS-heavy tooling. As software portfolios grow and subscription models proliferate, maintaining control increasingly depends on clearer processes and better coordination between IT, procurement, and the business.
Although Narang raised this point earlier in the discussion, his observation also serves as a fitting conclusion. “We haven’t built these completely to the point where it’s completely end to end,” he said. “But it’s a journey, and that’s why conversations like these are important, so that we can continue to build on top of what we already have to serve our customers better.”
