In today’s fast-paced business environment, organisations face constant technological advancements and challenges. Disruptions, such as economic changes, cybersecurity threats, and shifts in customer expectations, emphasise the urgent need for IT decision-makers and C-Suite executives to act. The cost of doing nothing – failing to update and adapt tech strategies – can result in significant losses in productivity, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction.
This concept goes beyond hesitancy or deliberate inaction; it reflects how the erosion of value silently occurs when organisations fail to evolve their collaboration technology strategies. As highlighted in IDC’s InfoBrief*, 95% of organisations expect disruption within the next two years, citing factors like AI-driven innovation, economic volatility, and cybersecurity challenges as pivotal forces. To navigate this perfect storm, the bold and forward-thinking organisations are already acting – because inaction is not just a pause; it is a step backward.
Standing Still is Losing Ground
One of the key findings from IDC’s research is clear: the “status quo is no longer safe or sustainable.” The business environment demands agility – enabled by collaboration technologies and forward-planning strategies to ensure competitiveness. Inaction, on the other hand, quietly accrues costs through inefficiencies, sluggish decision-making, and disengaged teams. For organisations anchored in outdated technology infrastructures, these issues culminate in the erosion of operational effectiveness and diminishing ROI on previous investments.
But the consequence is not merely technical degradation. 30% of IDC respondents reported the need to completely rethink their technology strategies, reflecting the dangerous gaps caused by doing nothing. In the competitive landscape, these organisations risk being outpaced not only by technological leaders but by customer expectations and employee demands.
Hidden Costs That Compound
While minimising upfront costs might appear logical, IDC’s research reveals that failing to act in key areas drives significant hidden costs, including:
1 Strategic Weakness
The convergence of disruptive forces – ranging from deglobalisation to resource shortages – requires organisations to bolster adaptability through effective collaboration tools and streamlined workflows. Legacy systems hinder agility, creating bottlenecks to innovation while competitors invest in collaboration and communication technologies to adapt faster.
2 Employee Engagement and Productivity
Misaligned or underperforming communication tools create unnecessary friction for employees, hindering collaboration and innovation. This disengagement surfaced clearly in IDC’s research, where organisations noted a direct connection between IT inefficiencies and lower employee morale.
3 Lagging Customer Confidence
Customers increasingly expect seamless experiences powered by integrated technologies and consistent communications. Outdated infrastructures undermine your ability to deliver on these expectations, leading to a failure to meet strategic prioritiesm – a challenge underscored as critical by IDC’s.
IDC’s Perspective: Why Action is Paramount
The IDC InfoBrief, “Collaboration: The ROI Amplifier,” underscores the necessity for bold strategic decisions when it comes to modernising investment in communication and collaboration technologies. Organisations that delay modernisation in these areas face compounded challenges, while those that act decisively can amplify returns – not just on immediate investments but across the lifecycle of their broader Technological investments. Here are key takeaways:
- A Perfect Storm of Disruption: IDC’s detailed research finds that organisations face pressure from technological, economic, political, and demographic forces, making incremental changes insufficient. Investment in technologies like Collaboration ecosystems yields not just ROI but resilience.
- Collaboration as a Catalyst for ROI: Forward-thinking Collaboration technology directly impacts an organisation’s success, as it amplifies the benefits of all other workplace investments, from infrastructure upgrades to cybersecurity measures.
- Importance of Ecosystem Alignment: The converging factors of remote work, resource scarcity, and digital-fluency demand that organisations align people, processes, and technologies seamlessly. The organisations most poised to thrive and realise the full value of automation, AI, and cloud, are those which prioritise collaboration and communication as critical enabler of their digital strategy, as opposed to a soft skill – not waiting until inefficiencies take root.
The Cost of Unpreparedness
IDC further revealed that organisations expecting disruption but failing to act are at risk of falling quickly behind key industry competitors. The balance isn’t just about lowering immediate risks – it’s about creating value pathways. Research data shows that enterprises dragging their heels on technology adoption may face irreparable gaps in productivity, customer retention, and employee engagement within the next two years.
What Strategic Action Looks Like
IDC provides a roadmap for navigating this critical inflection point for ITDMs and C-suite leaders:
1 Shifts from Products to Outcomes: IDC emphasises the need to work with technology partners who focus not just on tangible tools but on outcomes that solve long-term operational bottlenecks.
2 Enables People, Not Just Platforms: Technologies are only as effective
as the people and processes supported by them. Collaborative ecosystems that are simple, scalable, and integrative create measurable outcomes in efficiency and morale.
3 Focus on ROI Beyond the Immediate Horizon: IDC’s findings reveal that effective collaboration ecosystems provide ROI not as a one-time payoff but as a compounding driver of success across an organisation’s evolving portfolio. Investing in flexible, future-ready communication tools today sustains adaptability tomorrow, transforming meeting spaces into collaboration hotspots that seamlessly accommodate diverse work environments and evolving technological needs. This approach not only enhances immediate productivity but also ensures alignment with long-term strategic goals by fostering an adaptable and integrated workspace.
Building Organisational Resilience
As IDC’s research shows, the cost of doing nothing is substantial. While businesses cannot predict every market fluctuation or technological breakthrough, they can choose preparedness through deliberate action. Organisations that strategically invest in proactive technology adoption will remain agile and resilient across economic cycles.
Maintaining the status quo is, to paraphrase IDC, a “risky option for a near-future defined by disruptions.” By prioritising technology not as a cost center, but as an enabler of collaborative excellence and enterprise-wide alignment, organisations secure their competitive edge. After all, erosion is not inevitable – it’s a choice.
Erik Vaveris, VP of Product Management and CMO at Shure, underscores the pivotal role of collaboration ecosystems in this landscape: “As we partner with the top visionary platforms, Microsoft Teams and Zoom, we’re not just embracing technology; we’re actively co-creating the future of human-led and AI-operated workplaces. Providing solutions for this intersection is integral to aligning technology with business strategies, ultimately enhancing user experiences and driving enterprise resilience. Our collaboration with both platforms and customers is a testament to the collective efforts required to craft a future where adaptability and innovation propel success.”
Conclusion: Act Today to Protect Tomorrow
The IDC InfoBrief makes one thing abundantly clear: the organisations that fail to act risk becoming irrelevant as disruption accelerates. From decision-makers to frontline users, the cost of standing still results in lost opportunities, declining trust, and inefficiency in workflows.
The harsh reality is that the cost of doing nothing compounds quietly. Productivity, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction all wither. Conversely, forward-thinking enterprises that leverage technologies as tools of empowerment, not products of necessity, will emerge resilient in the face of tomorrow’s challenges.
The choice is stark: respond effectively to the cost of doing nothing or prepare to meet its consequences head-on.
*doc ##EUR253683525, September 2025
This article first appeared in UC Advanced magazine issue #22.
