Within organisations, IT is often treated merely as an expense in the budget, whilst it is in fact a fundamental prerequisite for day-to-day operations, competitiveness and growth. This short-sighted approach not only underestimates the value of IT, but also carries inherent risks, as without a well-functioning IT system, the entire business comes to a standstill.
Why is IT seen as a cost?
IT expenditure is often among the largest items in the non-operating costs category: servers, licences, equipment and maintenance. Managers tend to ask, „How much does it cost?”, rather than „What does it bring in?”. This way of thinking focuses on visible cash flow, overlooking the fact that IT is not a luxury but infrastructure, just like electricity or water in a factory.
If IT is viewed merely as a cost, decisions will be geared towards short-term savings: updates are postponed, security investments are delayed – yet without these, the system becomes vulnerable, efficiency declines, and in the event of a shutdown or outage, those „savings” can quickly cost millions.
IT as the foundation of operations
Let’s imagine the organisation as a living organism: IT is the circulatory system. Without it, there is no communication (email, Teams), no data processing (ERP, CRM), no remote working (VPN, the cloud), and no innovation (AI tools, automation). In a modern company, IT accounts for 70–90% of revenue – just think of e-commerce, where an hour-long outage can result in losses running into the millions.
IT doesn’t just „keep things running” – it also scales: new customers require more server capacity, growth requires redundancy, and competitiveness requires faster systems. If this is treated merely as a cost, the company will fall behind: meanwhile, its competitors are digitising, automating and working more cheaply and quickly.
Specific examples of the dangers of false savings
- Putting security on the back burner: „We’ll get a better firewall later.” Following a ransomware attack, recovery is more expensive than prevention: on average, it costs 3–5 times as much.
- Delaying the purchase of equipment: The slowness of old laptops results in a productivity loss of 10–20% per hour per colleague. Replacing equipment pays for itself within 6–12 months.
- Risk of downtime: If there is no redundant server or backup, a single failure will bring sales and production to a standstill. One day’s downtime results in a greater loss than a year’s worth of IT maintenance costs.
These are not just theories: statistics show that 40% of companies fail due to poor IT decisions, whilst well-managed IT investments yield a return on investment (ROI) of 3 to 5 times the initial investment.
How can we change our mindset?
The key lies in communication and measurability. An IT manager must not only close tickets, but also speak the language of business:
- Presentation of key performance indicators (KPIs): Let’s show how the number of customer complaints has fallen thanks to the new CRM, or how productivity has increased through automation.
- Risk analysis: Let’s work out the „what if” scenarios: what happens in the event of a system shutdown, a failure or data loss?
- Positioning it as an investment: We recommend allocating the IT budget under headings such as „digital transformation” or „operational efficiency”, with specific return-on-investment figures.
As we have seen with HR-IT collaboration, a good partnership ensures that processes run smoothly. The same applies here: if IT is treated as a strategic partner rather than a cost centre, the organisation will become more flexible, more secure and more profitable.
Tips on how to change your mindset
- The impact of IT on business indicators should be measured (cost per minute/hour of downtime, productivity gains %).
- IT should be involved in strategic planning, not just in budget discussions.
- Communicating successes: case studies and return on investment (ROI) calculations for senior management.
IT is not a cost but an investment, and those who understand this have an advantage in the market.
