For CIOs striving to balance innovation with fiscal responsibility, IT cost optimization remains a top priority. With the ever-growing complexity of IT environments, finding sustainable ways to reduce costs without compromising performance is critical. Here are three practical strategies to optimize IT budgets by enhancing hardware longevity and reducing software waste.
1. Extend Hardware Lifecycle with Data-Driven Decisions
One of the most effective strategies for cost optimization is extending the lifecycle of hardware assets. The key lies in leveraging data to evaluate whether devices can continue performing optimally beyond their typical replacement cycles.
Many CIOs are accustomed to replacing devices every four or five years, but with precise monitoring of resource utilization—CPU, memory, and disk throughput—IT teams can confidently extend these cycles to five or six years. This practice significantly reduces capital expenditure while maintaining operational efficiency.
To achieve this, CIOs can deploy tools that track hardware utilization in real time. For example, if a device consistently operates below 60% utilization across key performance metrics, it likely has untapped potential for extended use. Ensuring devices remain under warranty during this extended period mitigates risks and supports a smoother transition to new cycles when necessary.
Key Takeaway: Equip your IT teams with monitoring solutions such as Lakeside SysTrack that provide comprehensive visibility into device health. These tools should deliver actionable insights to ensure hardware isn’t pushed beyond its limits, thereby avoiding unplanned outages.
2. Tackle Software Waste Beyond License Management
Software licenses represent a substantial portion of IT budgets, but many organizations unknowingly waste resources on unused or unnecessary software. While software license management tools specialize in cost recovery, there’s more to the bigger picture of software license optimization.
Unused applications consume valuable disk space, slow down devices, and pose potential security or compliance risks. For example, background processes tied to unused software can drain system resources, leading to premature device upgrades.
A practical solution involves tracking software usage over an extended period—90 to 120 days—and identifying redundant or underutilized applications. CIOs can then decide whether to remove these applications or reassign licenses. Moreover, IT teams can benefit from automated workflows to reclaim unused software. These workflows notify users when applications are dormant, offering a choice to retain or uninstall them. By reclaiming resources proactively, organizations can delay device replacements and improve system performance.
Key Takeaway: Encourage IT teams to collaborate with line-of-business managers to align software usage policies with actual needs based on data-driven insights from endpoint performance monitoring solutions such as Lakeside SysTrack. This approach ensures resource optimization while avoiding unnecessary disruptions.
3. Right-Size Devices Based on What Employees Need for Their Roles
Gaining visibility of endpoint usage based on end-user personas gives your IT team a clearer picture of what devices and apps employees actually use, how they use them, and what they might need for their particular role. This kind of granular information can help cut down on IT costs by pinpointing the most necessary upgrades or device replacements users need. This hardware right-sizing approach is another strategy for IT cost optimization.
For example, if data shows an individual user needs more RAM than their current device allows for, IT can justify repurposing a different device instead of replacing it with a newer model that will cause the same issue. If a device battery is failing, better visibility can alert IT to replace that specific piece of hardware instead of provisioning an entirely new device.
Greater visibility also helps IT organizations anticipate what employees need to improve their digital experience. For example, knowing that a certain user frequently switches between windows could suggest that they’d be more productive with a second monitor in their home office. Proactively giving them that second monitor before they need to ask for it could make them immensely more productive as well as more satisfied.
Key Takeaway: Often an overlooked area for IT cost optimization, hardware right-sizing (instead of a standard, one-size-fits-all approach to hardware configuration) can cut down on both over-provisioning and under-provisioning of resources. Visibility across the IT estate allows you to eliminate or reallocate hardware resources as needed.
Start Achieving IT Cost Optimization, Today
For CIOs, achieving IT cost optimization requires a balanced approach that extends beyond basic cost-cutting measures. By leveraging data to extend hardware lifecycles, addressing software inefficiencies, and fostering collaboration between IT teams, organizations can unlock significant savings while enhancing performance.
Above all, aligning technical initiatives with business outcomes ensures that optimization efforts drive measurable value. With the right strategies and tools, CIOs can navigate the complexities of modern IT environments while meeting the dual demands of innovation and fiscal responsibility.
Start your journey toward smarter IT cost management today—because every dollar saved is a dollar reinvested in your organization’s future.
Want to learn more ways to build IT resilience in 2025 and beyond? IT cost optimization is just one of many ways to build IT resilience in 2025 and beyond. To learn more ways, download our E-book.
Subscribe to the Lakeside Newsletter
Receive platform tips, release updates, news and more
