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Impact of digitalisation projects on IT operating costs

Federal Office of Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication

Key facts

Achieving a good cost/benefit ratio is second only to efficiency gains in terms of the priorities for ICT projects. However, there is a trade-off between the hoped-for savings, which normally go hand in hand with the digitalisation of business processes, and rising development and operating costs. The existing IT infrastructures and systems must be continuously checked and expanded, so that the more complex system architectures can be built and operated, and the ever-increasing data volume managed.

This has a direct impact on service procurers’ current and future development and operating costs. The state financial statements show rising IT costs; in 2023, these amounted to around CHF 1.6 billion.

The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) audited the Federal Office of Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication (FOITT) as service provider, and also looked at selected service procurers, to assess whether ICT operating costs in digitalisation projects are stated, traceable and influenceable.

In the selected case studies, the reasons for the rising costs are understandable. In most cases, the increase in IT operating costs stems from changes to the technical infrastructure and the growing data volume. The fact that further developments in IT systems and new digitalisation projects have a significant impact on federal IT costs is not sufficiently taken into account.