BLOG | Jul 17, 2025

How CIOs Can Do More with Less Using Network Digital Twin Technology

Budget constraints, rising infrastructure costs, and growing expectations around uptime and security have forced IT leaders to rethink how they allocate resources.

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Dawn Slusher Senior Manager, Content Marketing and Analyst Relations

Who should read this post?

CIOs seeking cost-effective ways to improve NetOps and SecOps productivity
IT leaders being pressured to freeze headcount while increasing output
Technology decision-makers evaluating tools that deliver measurable ROI

What is covered in this content?

How a network digital twin saves time and reduces staffing demands by the equivalent of 35.8 FTEs
Why the average organization sees $14.2M in annual business value from using Forward Enterprise
How accurate inventory and lifecycle data saved one customer $2M in unnecessary maintenance fees

Today’s CIOs are under intense pressure to deliver operational excellence without expanding headcount or overspending. Budget constraints, rising infrastructure costs, and growing expectations around uptime and security have forced IT leaders to rethink how they allocate resources. The challenge isn’t simply about doing more—it’s about doing more efficiently with the same staff and infrastructure.

That’s why forward-looking CIOs are turning to network digital twin technology to unlock productivity, gain visibility, and reclaim budget lost to inefficiencies.

A network digital twin is a mathematically accurate, vendor-agnostic software model of the entire enterprise network—across on-prem, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. It provides insight into device configurations, network behavior, reachability, and policy adherence, enabling faster troubleshooting and smarter decision-making across NetOps, SecOps, and compliance teams.

The ROI of Digital Twin Technology

According to IDC’s Business Value of Forward Networks study, organizations using Forward Enterprise, the industry’s leading network digital twin platform, realize an average of $14.2 million in annual benefits per organization. This figure includes:

$2.9 million in staff productivity gains, particularly in network operations, compliance, and troubleshooting
$7.7 million in unplanned downtime avoidance, through faster resolution and fewer incidents
$3.6 million in operational efficiencies, such as avoided hires and better utilization of existing tools

In a constrained hiring environment, those numbers matter. Gartner reports that 79% of CIOs expect their current technology investments to increase human capital effectiveness. Forward Enterprise meets that mandate by dramatically reducing the time engineers spend on manual tasks. One customer reduced troubleshooting and incident response efforts by the equivalent of 35.8 full-time employees—without adding headcount.

A financial services CIO explained it this way:

“Our IT department is obligated to communicate with regulators. Forward Networks helps us by delivering data that shows we comply with various regulations. We would need to hire an additional one or two FTEs to replace this Forward Networks functionality.”

Beyond productivity, a digital twin can help recover lost budget by improving inventory accuracy. In one example, a large enterprise with roughly 40,000 devices used Forward Networks’ Network Query Engine (NQE) to reconcile their operational inventory against vendor maintenance charges. They discovered hundreds of decommissioned or unsupported devices were still being billed—resulting in $2 million in annual savings.

Working Smarter with Forward Enterprise's Digital Twin Technology

Another global organization reduced MTTx by 80% across a 10,000-device network using Forward’s intent checks and search capabilities. This not only improved customer experience but also enabled daily validation processes that were previously performed quarterly.In short, a network digital twin gives CIOs the visibility and automation they need to empower their teams, reduce costs, and make better use of existing investments. It’s not about working harder—it’s about working smarter. To learn how Forward Networks can save you time and money, book a private technical session.

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