IDC Insight: How Collaboration Multiplies Technology ROI

IDC Analyst Insights
This content is authored by IDC and sponsored by Shure. IDC's editorial independence is maintained throughout.
How Collaboration Multiplies Technology ROI
New IDC research reveals that 71% of organisations say collaboration directly improves the return on their technology investments and why the cost of doing nothing is higher than most leaders realise.
Technology investments alone do not deliver returns. The missing variable, according to new IDC research, is collaboration. When employees cannot communicate clearly, make decisions confidently, or work effectively across distributed locations, even the most sophisticated technology platforms underperform.
This IDC insight, comprising an analyst video discussion and a research article, examines why collaboration is the multiplier that determines whether technology investments succeed or stall, and what organisations can do to close the gap.
Key Statistics From The IDC InfoBrief
71% | of organisations say collaboration improves the ROI of their technology investments* |
54% | of decision makers cite productivity as a measurable ROI metric for collaboration technology* |
44% | of employees connect communication and collaboration quality directly to productivity and efficiency* |
46% | cite customer satisfaction or service delivery as a measurable ROI metric — alongside 44% who cite cost savings* |
*Collaboration: The ROI Amplifier- September 2025 | IDC #EUR253683525
IDC Analyst Discussion
Mick Heys, Vice President, Future of Work, IDC
Nathan Budd, Senior Director Custom Solutions, IDC
The Cost of Delay: What Doing Nothing Means For Productivity And ROI
In this IDC analyst discussion, Mick Heys and Nathan Budd examine why organisations that delay investment in collaboration quality are quietly limiting their productivity and reducing the return on their broader technology programmes.
When collaboration experiences fall short, the compounding effect on AI adoption, decision-making speed, and employee effectiveness makes inaction an increasingly costly choice. This discussion explores what the research reveals, and what it means for leaders planning their next technology investment.
Watch The Discussion
IDC Analyst Blog
Gala Spasova, Senior Research Manager, Europe Smart Office and EMEA Content & Knowledge Management Strategies
Collaboration: The Multiplier Behind Every Technology Investment
In this IDC research article, Gala Spasova explores how collaboration directly amplifies the success of an organisation's most significant technology investments, from AI and cloud to automation and digital transformation.
When employees can communicate clearly, reach decisions faster, and coordinate effectively across distributed locations, the returns from every technology platform increase. When they cannot, even the strongest technology stack underperforms.
The article examines how meeting experience quality, communication consistency, and collaborative environment design each contribute to, or detract from, the ROI organisations expect from their technology programmes. It offers a framework for understanding collaboration not as a soft benefit, but as a measurable driver of business outcomes.
Download the IDC Analyst Blog
From Shure: Turning Collaboration Insight Into Extraordinary Outcomes
IDC's research identifies collaboration quality as the critical variable in technology ROI. For AV and IT leaders, that means the meeting environment is not peripheral to your technology strategy, it is where your strategy succeeds or stalls.
What used to be a few conference rooms is now hundreds, even thousands, of spaces across interconnected campuses and hybrid estates.
Every room is a collaboration opportunity. Every poorly performing room is a drag on the return from every platform, tool, and technology investment your organisation has made.
At Shure, we enhance the communication and effectiveness of your teams, and reduce the impact on your installation and support resource, by engineering collaboration environments that work flawlessly, every time.
From a single conference room to a global estate, our certified conferencing solutions are designed to scale consistently, reliably, and simply.
Simple. Secure. Scalable.
70% | of organisations are increasing or planning to increase investment in meeting rooms and collaborative environments.* |
Download the IDC InfoBrief to learn about the latest insights, or explore Shure's Collaboration & Conferencing Solutions.










