Outsourced IT expense management provides 5X savings, faster insights — study
INDIANA, UNITED STATES — A new study revealed that fully outsourced IT expense management (ITEM) solutions are not only more cost-effective—costing five times less—but also deliver faster results, enhancing business innovation.
This comes at a time when artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, and mobile spending are surging, necessitating more financial governance.
Critical findings on IT spending and management
The research, done by research firm Vanson Bourne and commissioned by technology expense and asset management solution Tangoe, compared fully in-house, fully external, and hybrid IT expense management approaches.
The study involved 500 senior IT and finance respondents in the United States (350) and the United Kingdom (150), and from organizations with a global annual revenue between $500 million and over $50 billion, and across a number of private sectors and public healthcare.
The results highlighted the growing complexity and costs associated with in-house management, especially in an era dominated by cloud infrastructure and GenAI technologies.
Tangoe Chief Marketing Officer Becky Carr emphasized the importance of managed solutions, stating, “As sprawling technologies and inflation consume larger proportions of corporate IT budgets, business leaders are growing increasingly concerned about their ability to sustainably innovate.”
The high stakes of cloud and AI investments
The study underscored the financial risks associated with unchecked cloud and AI spending, which are projected to soon consume over 50% of IT budgets.
Carr added, “AI can trigger unpredictable cloud costs, which is why ITEM software and services are being used to ensure innovation doesn’t drive a hidden layer of technical debt.”
Benefits of outsourcing IT expense management
The study added that organizations utilizing fully outsourced or hybrid IT expense management solutions reported significant advantages like:
- Enhanced process efficiency and productivity gains were noted by 90% of businesses.
- Faster access to business insights and cost savings was reported by 88% of respondents.
- Fully outsourced solutions delivered results within the first month 81% of the time, compared to only 66% for in-house programs.
Moreover, 94% of organizations employing third-party IT expense management had a dedicated financial operations (FinOps) practice, leading to 20-28% lower spending on cloud infrastructure and software.
The study conclusively demonstrates that fully managed IT expense services mitigate the risks associated with tech sprawl and complex service management, significantly reduce costs, and enhance operational efficiency.
This strategic approach allows businesses to reinvest savings into further IT innovations, maintaining a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
