Independent Study: The Total Economic Impact of Windows Server 2012

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Can upgrading your server operating system improve your IT efficiency?  You bet it can.

A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting is now available which uses their Total Economic Impact methodology to explore the potential costs and benefits of Windows Server 2012, a cornerstone of the Microsoft Cloud OS vision.  This study involved surveys and interviews with customers who have already deployed Windows Server 2012 in production.  Over two dozen customers were involved.  The results?  “Based on these findings, companies that are considering deploying Windows Server 2012 can anticipate a reduction in IT infrastructure spend, better data center efficiency, improved IT management, a better experience for end users, and improved service availability.”[1]

Eight major areas of benefit were identified.  Over 75% of surveyed customers report a reduction in IT infrastructure spending, while more than half see improved storage efficiency and also in server administrator productivity. 

Forrester also stated in the study that, “The data collected in this study indicates that deploying Windows Server 2012 has the potential to provide a solid ROI through quantifiable benefits, most notably increased scale, performance and flexibility with Hyper-V, the enablement of software defined networking with Network Virtualization, and improved storage integration & management.”

Overall, the study estimates a 6-month payback and 3-year risk-adjusted estimated ROI of 195% for a composite organization of 14,000 employees, which is based on the characteristics of the companies interviewed.

The study is a great starting point for exploring the business case for Windows Server 2012, which has now surpassed 1 million evaluation downloads. This study helps to identify which areas of benefit will have the most impact on your environment.  You can read it here.

Some other key takeaways from the study include:

  • The composite company would reduce IT infrastructure investment of 12% annually, or $3 million over 3 years.
  • The composite company would reduce storage costs by 20% annually.
  • The composite company would realize IT productivity savings of 25%, or $1.6 million over 3 yrs.
  • The composite company would increase productivity of remote workers by 5%, valued at $360k over 3 years.
  • Developer productivity savings would equate to $990,000 annually.

[1] The Total Economic Impact of Windows Server 2012, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft, November 2012