Buying Back Time: The New Economics of IT Operations

Key takeaways

• Added IT responsibilities put pressure on IT teams to scale capacity without adding personnel.
• Technology executives recognize that moving forward with new initiatives requires a new operating model. 
• Shifting to a colocation model enables organizations to reclaim engineering time and refocus IT teams on higher-value work.

Time is one of the most valuable resources in enterprise IT. Technology teams are being asked to do more today than ever before—from handling rapidly evolving cybersecurity threats and improving employees’ digital experiences to modernizing apps and supporting new AI initiatives. For the most part, existing teams have the skills necessary to take on new types of projects, but many lack capacity.

Hiring additional engineers isn’t always the answer. First of all, experienced professionals are difficult to recruit and retain. But just as important, budgets remain under pressure. CIOs can’t spend more on additional IT salaries while also investing in new technology solutions.

These technology leaders face a difficult question: How do they improve resource capacity without adding more people? Increasingly, the answer lies in removing work rather than adding resources.

Identifying Tasks That Drain Capacity

Organizations have spent years investing in various automation solutions to eliminate repetitive tasks. IT groups have adopted intelligent monitoring, infrastructure-as-code solutions, orchestration platforms, and AI-assisted operations tools for one primary reason: These technologies enable engineers to spend less time maintaining systems and more time focusing on innovation.

Nevertheless, many IT infrastructure teams continue to devote significant time to manually maintaining the physical environment where hardware is housed. They coordinate maintenance windows, schedule vendor visits, plan electrical upgrades, monitor facility infrastructure, and respond to environmental issues when they arise.

Each task may be relatively small on its own. But those tasks add up. Collectively, they create a steady operational burden that limits a team’s ability to focus on strategic initiatives.

Organizations might not be able to eliminate these tasks—or even completely automate them. Still, they need to find a way to redirect or offload them, so internal teams can reclaim at least some of their time.

Why Recapturing Time Is Critical

According to a recent Deloitte survey, 79% of technology leaders report that driving business outcomes is their top priority.1 No longer expected to only keep systems running, teams are now responsible for creating enterprise value. 
 
At the same time, though, many leaders recognize that they cannot deliver that value without overhauling how they operate. When it comes to AI initiatives, for example, the same Deloitte survey shows that 81% of leaders are confident they can scale AI, but 75% believe that their operating model must fundamentally change to deliver greater value.  

A new operating model must free IT teams from time-consuming management and maintenance tasks. Designing new environments to support AI capabilities and selecting new cybersecurity solutions require time. And IT teams won’t have that time as long as they are standing up a new server rack or figuring out why the temperature in their server room is slightly above normal. 

Simplifying Operations and Recapturing Time with Colocation

For many IT teams, the strategy for recapturing time should center on simplifying operations. IT teams often amass individual point solutions over several years—a new cybersecurity solution to address an emerging threat or a new storage system to support expanding data volumes. Meanwhile, they might be incorporating new data center technologies—from network switches to uninterruptible power supplies. Managing those disparate systems, often from distinct vendors, steals time from other tasks.

Of course, IT teams can’t snap their fingers to make that management complexity disappear. Consolidating vendors and systems usually requires large-scale planning and often needs to wait until a refresh is on the calendar.

IT teams can, however, rethink their traditional on-premises infrastructure model. For some, moving workloads to the cloud can help reduce management complexity while also avoiding capital expenditures. But not all workloads can reside in the cloud—and in any case, moving workloads to one or more clouds creates additional management complications.

For organizations that want to address complexity while keeping some workloads on dedicated hardware, colocation offers an important alternative to on-premises environments and cloud hosting. Purpose-built colocation facilities provide resilient power, advanced cooling, physical security, environmental monitoring, and around-the-clock operational support, relieving internal teams of all that facility maintenance. Those teams can simplify their environment and reclaim time previously spent on non-strategic tasks.

Improving the Return on Engineering Time

By using colocation facilities, IT teams are not just reclaiming time—they are also improving the return on investment for their highly skilled engineers. Once an engineer is hired, an hour of time costs the same whether that engineer is coordinating facility-related activities or supporting new business initiatives.

Over the course of a year, the more time spent on strategic projects yields a greater return on investment. Of course, the operational responsibilities matter, but the time of highly skilled engineers can be reserved for tasks where their expertise delivers the largest impact.

Moving Forward with Less Complexity and More Time

When IT groups shift operational tasks to colocation facilities, they can avoid the management complexity that slows innovation. They can scale rapidly and efficiently, adding technology resources without having to spend money on facility upgrades. And they can refocus their valuable time—and existing capacity—on the types of initiatives that move the business forward. 

Learn more about how you can recapture time for strategic projects by using colocation facilities. 

FAQs

Q: Why do expanding responsibilities create challenges for IT teams? 
A: IT teams are increasingly asked to support key strategic initiatives, such as accelerating development of AI-powered services and improving digital experiences. Meanwhile, they continue to be responsible for time-consuming operational tasks, such as facilities upgrades. Leaders need to find ways to expand their resource capacity without adding headcount. 

Q: Why is it essential to reclaim engineering time? 
A: Organizations often pay a premium to recruit and retain highly skilled engineers. To maximize the return on that investment, IT teams must find ways to keep those engineers focused on tasks with the highest impact for the business—not the operational tasks that keep systems running.

Q: How do colocation facilities help IT groups reclaim time for strategic projects? 
A: Purpose-built colocation facilities enable teams to offload time-consuming operational tasks, including managing power, cooling, physical security, and environmental monitoring while providing 24/7 support. As a result, teams can keep their highly skilled engineers focused on more strategic projects.

Citations
¹Deloitte, From Operators to Orchestrators: Deloitte’s 2026 Global Technology Leadership Study Reveals a New Mandate for Tech Leaders, April 2026