In accounting and financial services, the ability to scale infrastructure efficiently isn't just a technology concern, it's a business imperative.
As firms expand client bases, onboard remote workers, and adopt hybrid work environments, the back-end systems supporting day-to-day operations must keep up. But for many, legacy virtual desktop infrastructure models are creating operational and financial bottlenecks.
These challenges aren't new. Fixed-capacity VDI systems, which are often reliant on manual provisioning and static scheduling, might have served firms well in the past. But today, they come with rising costs, underutilized resources and overburdened IT teams. For growing firms, this translates to diminishing margins and missed opportunities.
The true cost of manual infrastructure management
Take, for example, Sage, a global accounting software provider supporting more than 3 million customers. As it expanded into new regions, onboarding just 40 additional users required hiring another IT engineer to manage the infrastructure. The math didn't work out. The costs of scaling were directly tied to headcount, and growth became constrained by manual workload management.
This experience is far from unique. Many finance-sector organizations face similar scaling limits. They rely on IT teams to monitor virtual machines, anticipate usage spikes and manually scale environments. These are tasks that become exponentially more complex and expensive across time zones and regional offices.
Automation that reacts to demand
The modern approach to VDI involves real-time, policy-based automation that responds to actual usage patterns. With an automated infrastructure platform, VMs spin up or shut down based on user demand. Systems can self-recover after failures. Infrastructure adjusts itself to align with business hours or seasonal cycles, all without a human engineer pushing buttons.
For example, Sage deployed real-time automation and reduced its VM infrastructure costs by over 60%. In a single month, auto-scaling saved $123,000. Over a year, that translated into $1.5 million in savings, without sacrificing system performance or reliability.
Scaling without growing overhead
Perhaps the most impressive part of this automation-driven model is the impact on operations. The company scaled its client base from 200 to 1,000 customers without hiring a single additional operations employee. Engineers who once spent their days maintaining VDI environments were reassigned to projects focused on innovation and automation in other parts of the business.
This kind of operational agility is essential for accounting firms. With tax season spikes, evolving compliance mandates and expanding client services, the ability to scale up or down without increasing headcount can be a major strategic advantage.
Where finance leaders should focus first
Modernizing IT infrastructure doesn't require ripping out existing systems. In fact, many firms can achieve fast wins by adding automation to their current cloud or VDI environments. The key is to prioritize actions that yield measurable impact:
- Start with visibility. You need clean, real-time usage data to drive accurate automation. Without it, systems can't make smart decisions.
- Automate for impact, not just efficiency. Don't just automate small tasks. Aim for outcome-based workflows like full-scale provisioning, scaling and failure recovery.
- Build resilient systems. Automation should include self-healing capabilities. Downtime is expensive. Nowadays, systems should fix themselves, not wait for IT to intervene.
- Stay transparent. Policy-driven automation ensures CFOs and IT leaders maintain control and oversight, critical in regulated financial environments.
- Iterate, don't overhaul. Automation can be layered into existing platforms. Start small, see results, and expand over time.
Automation as a financial lever
Finance leaders are under increasing pressure to "do more with less." The decision to automate infrastructure isn't just about IT; it's a financial strategy. When automation reduces operational overhead, eliminates manual inefficiencies and enables smarter scaling, it creates room for investment in value-generating activities.
By deploying real-time, data-driven automation, firms can break out of the old cost-growth equation. Infrastructure becomes adaptive, operations become leaner, and teams gain the capacity to focus on what truly matters: serving clients and driving firm growth.
