Companies Can Save Big by Simplifying Their IT

Many businesses struggle with the intricacy of their IT infrastructure, a complication that spawns a myriad of complaints across industries and business sizes. Noticing this desperate need for a more streamlined approach, numerous IT hardware and service providers have begun to infuse “simplification” into their strategic narratives.

Despite the potential obstacles, a study conducted by the research firm IDC revealed the substantial economic advantages of simplifying IT infrastructures. This study explored IT simplification initiatives implemented in nine major organizations and discovered an average cost saving of more than $3,600 per user. This totals to a substantial savings of around $83 million each when extrapolated to the average user base of roughly 23,000 across the participating organizations.

Various factors contribute to IT systems complexity. Business expansions, acquisition, and even disjoined IT resources due to lack of consolidation are prime examples. Sometimes, decentralization of IT systems leads to inconsistencies. There are also instances when outdated applications are kept active because they are considered “too critical to modify”, hence they never get updated. These are just a few of the many potential culprits that complicate IT systems.

So, what were the effective strategies put into action by these nine organizations? They reduced server numbers, adopted virtualization which allows one computer to function as multiple using the same hardware resources, and scrapped redundant software applications. Oracle, a sponsor of the study, was commended for its engineered systems that pair a server with a machine specifically built to house its database software.

An essential transition was towards cloud-based companies, which impressively slashed the number of on-premise applications from 88 to 43 percent. According to IDC, this one move enhanced productivity by 43 percent due to reduced downtime and cut staffing costs by almost a third.

However, the study failed to mention a key detail – the initial investments required to procure and deploy new systems and software to achieve such significant savings.

IDC’s comprehensive 12-page report provides a breakdown of all the identified savings in this study, averaged across the nine participating companies. Interestingly, it also highlights that one company realized “significantly higher” benefits per user, further emphasizing the value of embracing a simplification strategy.

For a quick visual representation of these findings, check out this diagram that breaks down the total savings identified by IDC. It’s crucial to remember that these figures are averages across the nine companies involved.

Minor enhancements were applied in 2025 for readability.