Changing the Perception: IT, More Than Just a Cost Center

At most orgs, IT is considered a necessary but costly function. The IT team keeps systems running, protects networks and makes sure users have the technology required to do their jobs.

Unfortunately, leadership often views IT as nothing more than a cost center. A department that consumes resources without contributing to revenue. This perception is antiquated and ignores the value IT can bring to an organization.

Whether you’re an IT Director for a large enterprise or a MacAdmin supporting a school district, here are some steps you can take to shift this narrative and demonstrate that IT is a value generator rather than a cost center.

Look at the Big Picture

The primary reason IT is viewed as a cost center is because its initiatives and projects often seem disconnected from broader goals of the organization. By aligning IT strategy with macro objectives, IT can show how technology investments are driving growth, improving efficiency and reducing risk.

Action Steps

• Pilot Emerging Technologies: For every IT project — whether it’s refreshing your fleet of MacBooks, upgrading infrastructure or improving cybersecurity with Jamf Protect — tie the project directly to how it supports the organization’s broader goals. Some examples are:
  • Improving the customer or student’s experience
  • Enabling new revenue streams
  • Reducing operational costs

Proactively Drive Innovation

IT departments are in a unique position to introduce new technologies and innovations that can fundamentally change how an organization operates. IT can unlock new efficiencies, streamline operations and even create new business models.

Action Steps

• Pilot Emerging Technologies: Experiment with new tools and technologies like Generative AI, that could potentially transform how your organization operates.
• Create Innovation Labs: Establish a space where IT can collaborate with cross-functional departments to explore solutions that address real challenges your organization is facing.
• Present Case Studies: When IT innovations deliver results, showcase these successes to the rest of the organization to reinforce IT’s role as a catalyst for change.

Focus on User Experience and Productivity

Some IT teams are reactive — focusing on fixing issues and maintaining existing systems after issues have been identified. While this is critical, IT can shift from being seen as just a service provider to a partner by actively improving the user experience. Better technology experiences can lead to higher productivity and more satisfied users; and ultimately better outcomes for your organization.

Action Steps

• Enhance Employee Onboarding: Streamline technology onboarding with Jamf’s Automated Device Enrollment(ADE) integration to deploy devices to users without requiring manual setup.
  • Besides being more efficient, this ensures users have a positive first impression of IT.
• Offer Self-Service Solutions: Implement tools like internal knowledge chatbots or self-service portals to solve minor IT issues themselves.
  • This not only reduces the burden on IT support but improves response times.
• Regular Feedback and Surveys: Gather continuous feedback from users to ensure their technology needs are being met.
  • Provides actionable data IT can use to take proactive steps toward resolving pain points.

Improve Transparency Through Metrics and Reporting

To change the perception of IT, it’s essential to show tangible results. By tracking and reporting on key metrics, IT departments can demonstrate how they contribute to organizational outcomes, savings and efficiency.

Action Steps

• Track Performance Metrics: Monitor metrics like uptime, support response times, cost savings from cloud migration or the financial impact of preventing security breaches.
• Report Regularly: Create monthly or quarterly reports highlighting the IT department’s contributions to your organization, such as cost savings, improved productivity or new innovations.

Maximize the Value of Aged Technology

The most straight-forward way to generate capital for your organization is Device Buyback and IT Asset Value Recovery. This is the process of recouping financial value from retired or surplus hardware, like computers, servers, mobile devices and other electronic equipment at the end of their lifecycle. Instead of simply disposing of old or unused devices, organizations can recover a portion of their investment.

Action Steps

• Device Buyback: Galide can help unlock the residual value of your retired Macs, iPads, iPhones and non-Apple devices. Galide’s secure, sustainable buyback solution provides complete visibility every step of the way. This includes guaranteed quotes, chain-of-custody tracking, serialized certificates-of-destruction and detailed ESG statements.

Conclusion

By aligning with organizational goals, driving innovation, improving user experiences, leveraging data and focusing on proactive strategies like device buyback, IT departments can shift the narrative from being a cost center to a strategic partner. When organizations view IT as an enabler of growth and innovation, rather than just a support function, everyone benefits from more efficient, effective and forward-thinking technology initiatives.

It’s time for IT to take center stage — not just as a team that fixes things — but as the team that drives transformation and growth!

Galide + Jamf: Join Galide at JNUC 2024 in Nashville to learn how Galide’s Jamf API integration streamlines the entire buyback process and ensures you recoup the most funds back for your organization’s retired Apple devices.