Justifying a need for a hardware upgrade on servers is a daunting task 😰😰

B.U.s wants faster systems. Devs suggest hardware upgrade.
I.T heads does not want to add cost.
WTF AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!

Tell them they may be able to make it faster for free with fairy dust. Just hard to come by.

It's not you call.
Business wants something (faster programs) you provide options. Either better servers (one set of costs) or Dev time spent optimising the solution (a different set of costs).

Either way, you show the pros and cons and it's a management decision. No need for you to get stressed about it.

> devs suggest upgraded hardware so they don't want the responsibility of optimizing the software.
> admins suggest optimizing the software as they don't want the responsibility of upgrading the hardware.

Classic "not my problem" scenario.

My experience as a dev is that the most significant speed improvements happen with development not hardware acquisition unless you are 10+ years behind the curve. When you upgrade the 10+ year old hardware the OS will get upgraded and you will still need developer time. Make sure to factor that into your cost estimate as stated above.