A challenging financial climate can have a negative impact on an organisation’s ability or willingness to refresh its technology. However, opting to extend the use of older assets to save money can be counterproductive and negatively impact morale. Factors such as technical debt and missing out on new innovations like Artificial Intelligence (AI), the latest hardware and Windows 11 as well as increasing support costs, can outweigh the short-term savings.

The impact of these deferrals is particularly pronounced in employee productivity, especially in today’s era of hybrid and flexible work arrangements. Without appropriate devices and applications in place – whether in the office, meeting rooms, or home workspaces – employees struggle to perform at their best, day in and day out.

According to CFO Dive, companies that proactively adopt new technology can generate efficiencies that save 30% on operational costs. It’s therefore vital to find the right balance of investing in the future of the organisation and the workforce and ensuring the budgetary constraints of the organisation are taken into account.

This process begins with assessing the core assets that impact productivity, especially the devices and connectivity. Understanding how these factors impact employees day-to-day is key to making efficient investment decisions.

What obstacles hinder effective IT cost management
for modern organisations?

Limited visibility and resources

A lack of budget and personnel means cost optimisation strategies can be difficult to implement, especially for smaller organisations or those under particular financial pressure. A lack of visibility into resource use and spending can also hamper optimisation efforts, especially if shadow IT use is commonplace.

Lack of business strategy alignment

Cost optimisation efforts easily become disjointed when IT spending is not clearly aligned with overall business strategy. This is especially the case when analytics tools aren’t used to pinpoint inefficiencies and duplications, and when budgeting processes are simplistic or outdated.

Inefficiency of legacy hardware

Old hardware, devices and chipsets regress in performance over time, and are incapable of handling new technologies and capabilities, particularly AI workloads and the new Windows 11 OS. Complex IT environments make it even harder to make a transition and manage costs over time.

Employee demands

Continuous investment into technology is vital to keep pace with innovations and new opportunities. But every new technology deployed comes with knock-on implications for the workforce, such as the time and cost of retraining employees, and the burden on the IT team and budget in the set-up process and ongoing management.

Licensing costs

Software licensing, especially for new platforms like Windows 11, can quickly add up if there are specific licensing requirements and large numbers of devices involved, or complexity in vendor selection and contracts. These can be difficult to manage and optimise without disrupting operations or productivity.

Deploy a cost-effective digital workplace with SCC

Enabling a productive, satisfied workforce through up-to-date technology doesn’t have to put undue pressure on the finances of the IT team, or the organisation as a whole.
SCC’s range of digital workplace solutions come together to enable that balance of cost optimisation, productivity and business growth:

Licence and resource optimisation

We help rationalise and optimise software licensing through our Digital Employee Experience (DEX) tools, which diagnose and identify areas where device utilisation improvements can be made. These tools can also support reductions in support costs and downtime through monitoring, automation, and optimisation of Microsoft 365 applications.

Proactive IT management

Our DEX tools can uncover new insights around employee experiences, including for those with diverse accessibility needs, and enable IT teams to build new approaches based on proactive, cost-effective management.

Employee insights

Being able to measure employee sentiment around technology also informs decision-making on new investments and customisations to improve workforce satisfaction, productivity and loyalty. Our experts can then help define new technology needs, such as video conferencing and unified collaboration solutions like Teams Rooms.

Network optimisation and technology refresh

By helping organisations understand device and application compatibility, we can advise on the best way forward for technology investments. This includes leveraging AI solutions like Copilot within Windows 11, migrating effectively without substantial business disruption, and optimising network use through a modern WAN deployment.

Office space utilisation

Insights into how different areas of the office are used can yield cost and environmental efficiencies, such as saving on utilities like electricity and air conditioning, or repurposing spaces with Teams Rooms for a more practical and collaborative hybrid meeting rooms experience.

The benefits of a cost-optimised digital workplace

Driving operational efficiency

Focusing on the productivity of the user, and how that can be enhanced by optimised devices, applications, infrastructure, and workspace tools, ensures that the workforce can get more done for the business every day.

Improving user experience

Being able to quantify employee pain points, and focus technology investments on solving them, can boost workforce satisfaction in the most cost-effective way. This is vital for encouraging talent retention and acquisition, especially among hybrid workers who can change jobs easily if they’re dissatisfied.

Enabling innovation

Cost optimisation allows organisations to invest in new technologies in the places that will yield maximum gains. Being able to deploy new innovations and solutions can therefore be a real driver of business growth, without introducing financial pressure in the process.

Addressing technical debt

Being able to introduce new technologies means organisations can avoid the technical debt that can build up in legacy devices, such as the Extended Security Updates when Windows 10 goes out of support in October 2025.

When you partner with SCC, you’re working with one of Microsoft’s longest-standing partners in the UK. We’re helping organisations enhance productivity and optimise costs through our focus on devices and insights using our Pathfinders, Assessments and Digital Employee Experience (DEX) tools. Our consultative approach and tooling enable smarter device management, improve workforce satisfaction, and the streamlining of your operations by integrating the latest Microsoft technologies, such as Microsoft 365, Windows 11, and AI-driven solutions like Copilot for Microsoft 365 with the latest hardware and device refresh in a cost effective and sustainable fashion.               

With a UK workforce of more than 1200 experts, we can provide end-to-end capabilities across software, hardware, consultancy, support, lifecycle management and much more. And our range of flexible payment options give you the chance to drive your growth and empower your workforce with the latest technology – without breaking the bank

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Get the most from your IT investment and transform your estate with confidence

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