Global IT spending is growing at two times the rate of GDP growth in 2025 as companies invest heavily in AI-powered tools, unified communications platforms, and workflow automation to drive new efficiencies. Yet while budgets surge for these transformative technologies, spending on the collaboration infrastructure needed to support them continues to lag.
This misalignment is creating a costly paradox. AI tools such as Copilot promise to revolutionize how teams work, but they rely on clear audio to transcribe accurately, interpret tone, and extract meaningful insights. As Nathan Budd, consulting director at IDC, explains, “Although AV is not at the center of AI, delivering ROI on this investment is much harder without it.”
The solution, however, is not about choosing one investment over another. Aligning AV with broader technology initiatives transforms what appear to be competing priorities into a mutually reinforcing strategy that unlocks the full value of both.
The Hidden Money Wasters
To understand why neglected collaboration environments limit returns, IDC, based on their most recent research in collaboration with Shure, identified seven key “money wasters” scenarios that demonstrate how inadequate technology prevents organizations from fully utilizing other investments.
One common example is connectivity and setup delays. Companies may invest in large displays for boardrooms to support presentations with prospective clients. However, if employees cannot easily connect their devices, valuable meeting time is lost to troubleshooting. These delays carry real costs, but as Mick Heys, Vice President at IDC, points out, most companies underestimate "the true cost of inadequate AV infrastructure" because they lack a framework for measuring it.
Even when systems eventually connect, problems rarely end there. When collaboration platforms fail to integrate smoothly with existing tools, employees resort to workarounds, manually launching meeting software or checking spreadsheets to track room bookings.
These inefficiencies significantly increase IT help desk requests. Technical teams that should focus on strategic initiatives are instead pulled into resolving basic setup issues. When support is unavailable, employees default to makeshift solutions they can manage themselves, often crowding around a single laptop. Meetings conducted this way reduce productivity through poor visibility and limit the performance of AI tools such as transcription, undermining the value of investments in platforms.
The impact of this extends beyond the physical meeting room to remote participants. Poor audio quality poses difficulties for those joining virtually, making discussions harder to follow and resulting in garbled transcripts after the meeting. When this experience is repeated, meetings become more effortful and less engaging for remote attendees.
Each of these problems feeds into the next, quietly eroding productivity and ROI. Understanding these hidden costs is, therefore, critical. IDC’s research outlines how organizations can eliminate them and unlock returns from broader technology investments through improved collaboration environments.
Unlocking ROI Through Strategic AV Investment
While every organization’s environment is different, the solution for solving these money-wasters is consistent: modern collaboration technology. Investing in fit-for-purpose AV and meeting tools addresses these challenges by integrating seamlessly with existing digital investments and maximizing their impact.
