How to Measure ROI on IT

ROI on ITYou’ve done it.

You’ve caught up on device upgrades. You’ve double-checked your IT environment for missing patches. And most importantly, you have a plan in place to keep your IT environment up to date and running smoothly.

Not to this point yet? Get help organizing your IT priorities!

However, while you enjoy the reduction in stress, users outside of your department may slowly forget about the value you bring to the company as a whole.

You know all the work it takes to get to this point and stay there, but that doesn’t mean it’s apparent to others.

So how do you show your worth as an IT manager even when your technology is working well?

The KR Group faces this problem with our managed IT services customers. Once we get their environment stable and secure, we sometimes fall off the client’s radar.

To continue demonstrating the value of managed services, we meet quarterly to review their IT environment status and success.

As an IT manager, you can take a similar approach when showing the value of your position. Some of the points you may consider discussing include:

  1. Expenses you’ve consolidated or eliminated
  2. Time saved from your projects
  3. Improved security posture from your efforts
  4. Reduction of downtime possibility
  5. Improved company morale regarding technology

Proper investment in technology (including in you as the IT manager) keeps the business productive, and the above points can help you demonstrate that to others within your company.

Consolidated or Eliminated IT Expenses

In some cases, demonstrating ROI is as straightforward as explaining what costs you’ve reduced or eliminated by implementing or upgrading a solution.

For example, if you’re a multi-site organization and your sites aren’t within the same area code, finally upgrading from landlines to VOIP can eliminate bills for long-distance calls.

Another increasingly common scenario is internet circuits. Finding a circuit contract at a lower price or combining it with a hosted phone plan creates costs savings that quickly become apparent.

Being able to show obvious cost savings is an impactful way to show ROI, but demonstrating the value of IT isn’t always that easy.

IT ROI from Time Saved

Another metric to consider is time.

The goal of most technology is to streamline processes and make tasks simpler. Look at what ways you’ve accomplished that in your IT environment.

ROI on ITFor your team, this could be how much time you’ve reduced having to troubleshoot and maintain a solution.

If an old solution was performing poorly, the ROI is how much less time you have to spend maintaining the new vs. old solution.

Suppose your IT team spends a total of 40 hours a month working on issues exclusive to your CRM. If you’re able to reduce that to 20 hours a month, that is a significant ROI.

You could even put a monetary value to that and calculate your IT department’s payroll cost for those 20 hours you’ve gained back.

Additionally, you’re able to dedicate that time to other initiatives, like security or user training, and continue to provide value for your business’s IT.

Improved Security Posture

While less tangible, there is ROI associated with an investment in cybersecurity, even if it isn’t making or explicitly saving you money.

The average cost of a data breach was $4.24 million in 2021.

And there are other costs you can’t be put a price tag on, such as lack of customer trust and prospect aversion.

There is never a guarantee that you’ll be immune to a cyberattack. However, investing in enterprise-grade, back-tested security solutions does reduce your risk and, therefore, keep your business from spending money responding to a security incident.

Reduction of Downtime Possibility

While the implications of downtime aren’t as detrimental as a data breach, they still cost your business money. ROI on IT

Manufacturers exemplify this idea well when downtime directly correlates to delayed production and, in turn, operating time without profits.

Another example most businesses can relate to is the importance of email. If you consider email a mission-critical tool, implementing Office 365 in the cloud provides more consistent uptime than maintaining an on-premises Exchange server in your data center.

In this case, ROI is the stability you receive that allows your business’s employees to be productive while on the job.

Increased Company Morale Regarding Technology

Any IT investment is most efficient when users understand the technology, and it makes their jobs easier.

Ideally, a new solution should correlate with a smoother, streamlined process for the users who rely on it.

This is done best when you incorporate training into the new hardware or software.

The time you spend training users on new solutions creates ROI in several ways:

  • Trained users often require less support as they are less likely to experience problems caused by user errors.
  • They better understand the solutions and all of their capabilities. In other words, training allows you to get the most out of a solution.
  • User training reduces the amount of time spent fumbling through a new software as users learn what the different functions are.

Have You Created A Profitable IT Environment?

While the IT department may not actively make money for the company, it can certainly keep the business in the black. ROI on IT

Look for areas where you’ve consolidated or eliminated expenses, saved users time, reduced the likelihood of a breach or outage, and given your users confidence about new solutions.

This is the value you bring to the IT department.

Regardless of which of these metrics you’re successful in, as you’re trying to create a profitable IT environment, you don’t have to do it alone.

Partnering with an IT consulting company, like The KR Group, can give you the resources you need to get there and show your worth.

Check out some of the ways we can supplement your existing IT team on our IT services page.

Leave a Comment

WE'RE SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR EDUCATION!

Want the articles from our Learning Center delivered to your inbox? Stay up to date with the latest on cybersecurity, collaboration, data center, managed services, and more.

Scroll to Top