If you’ve ever tried to provide a consistent user experience across multiple browsers, that headline will not come as shock to you. What might come as a shock is that the cost is estimated to be an extra $4200. That might not sound like a lot, but if you manage 100+ websites, it begins to add up.

These numbers were pulled from a recent Microsoft study, the results of which were broken down by VisualStudioMagazine.com. Here were their highlights:

According to those surveyed, a single Web app costs an extra $4,200 annually to support a multibrowser  scenario. That cost can balloon for  larger organizations. The study estimated that companies developing about 100 Web apps would face an extra $400,000 annual cost if each Web app had to be  supported on multiple browsers.

The overall cost increase to support multiple browsers was estimated  as a 20 percent hike by the study’s respondents. The Forrester Consulting study  indicated that the companies represented in the study had spent more than  $30,000 each year to pay for the lifecycle costs of a single Web app.

Oh, and if you were wondering about the partiality (or lack thereof) on the part of Microsoft, take a look at this excerpt:

Microsoft’s Single-Browser  World View
Microsoft’s position with regard to the study is clear. “Our recommendation is to standardize on a single browser, Internet  Explorer,” a Microsoft spokesperson stated by e-mail. The study was touted  by Roger Capriotti, director of Internet Explorer marketing, who posted a blog  item on Thursday listing 10 reasons to use IE, along with a link to the study.

The study doesn’t exactly promote Microsoft’s marketing messaging  in that respect, but it does reflect it. For instance, the study reported that “96  percent of the enterprises surveyed standardize on a single browser for work  PCs.” The browser isn’t mentioned in the report, but clearly IE is meant.

Moreover, 51 percent of the study’s participants reported  that their organizations enforce the use of a single browser, while 45 percent  allow employees to install a browser of their choice, whether that browser is supported  by IT or not. Security was the main reason for organizations to upgrade a  browser, according to respondents.

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