IT Management in 2026: Understanding the True Cost of Manual Processes

In medium and large enterprises, IT teams face a growing challenge: keeping hundreds of endpoints and infrastructure running efficiently while controlling costs. Many IT tasks remain repetitive, manual, and time-consuming, and the cumulative effect on productivity is staggering.

Consider a typical scenario for a 300-workstation environment:

Handling new incidents without a system to track recurring issues can cost around 200 hours per year. Manually building and deploying software updates adds another 50 hours, while Windows updates performed during working hours consume 50 more. Planning for future software and hardware needs without real-time insights can take 25 hours, and manually reimaging aging machines can consume up to 200 hours. Even power management inefficiencies—overlooking simple optimization—can silently add more lost hours.

Altogether, these tasks alone total roughly 625 hours per year, which translates to about 78 full workdays spent on processes that could otherwise be automated or optimized. This is nearly four months of a full-time IT employee’s capacity devoted to repetitive, low-value work.

How Modern IT Management Cuts Costs

The reality is that in 2026, IT departments must operate strategically. Manual processes, redundant licenses, and unoptimized hardware are no longer acceptable—they represent hard, measurable costs.

Reducing hardware dependency is one key approach. Many enterprises still maintain on-premises servers that could now run more efficiently in the cloud, cutting maintenance costs significantly.

Automating software and Windows updates ensures endpoints are secure and current without interrupting production. Scheduled updates, with approval workflows if needed, give IT leaders complete visibility on which patches are installed where—without manual effort.

Optimizing licenses and software usage is another area with immediate savings. Many organizations pay for far more licenses than they use. Tracking real-time usage allows IT teams to eliminate unnecessary software, freeing budget for higher-value initiatives.

Power management is often overlooked. Configuring intelligent power policies across endpoints reduces energy consumption while maintaining user experience—impacting the IT budget indirectly but significantly.

Minimizing helpdesk tickets is a further efficiency driver. Solutions that return endpoints to a clean state on every restart—like reboot-to-restore—eliminate repetitive troubleshooting and prevent hardware degradation. Expensive workstations remain at peak performance, and IT staff are freed from handling common, repetitive support calls.

Strategic endpoint management ties all these approaches together. By automating maintenance, freezing system configurations, and providing a centralized view of the IT estate, teams reduce wasted hours, extend hardware life, and maintain compliance—all without introducing downtime or disruption.

The Bottom Line

For medium and large enterprises, the numbers speak for themselves. Manual IT processes, redundant systems, and inefficient workflows consume hundreds of hours each year, translating into lost productivity, increased costs, and slower innovation. Automating key processes, optimizing resources, and leveraging modern endpoint management tools is no longer optional—it’s essential.

Faronics Cloud, supported by Akeydor Group, is a complete solution to tackle these challenges. It automates maintenance, prevents costly errors, and maximizes hardware efficiency, helping IT teams reclaim hundreds of lost hours annually.

If you want to see the impact in your organization, Akeydor can guide you through a trial or live demo to evaluate the solution in your environment.