A recent study by AJ Gold Associates on PC Refresh Cycles questions a 3-4 year upgrade cycle for PCs, asserting that a 2 year cycle will achieve a significant return on investment. The research demonstrates substantial ROI with investment recovered in a matter of weeks for most knowledge workers.
The research analysed the productivity gains resulting from a number of typical job functions using a 2012 HP Elitebook 8570P 2 year old enterprise class notebook compared to a HP Probook 650 current generation machine. The only significant configuration difference was 3rd generation v 4th generation Core i5 processor, both machines ran Windows 7
The study demonstrated that productivity gains could be expected as follows: Office Worker (6.3%), Engineering, Admin (10.92%), Business Analyst (4.49%), IT Staff (6.78%) , Web Programmer (9.29%). Based on these results the 2 year Return on Investment of upgrading the workstation s for each role were: Office Worker (498%), Engineering (1285%) Admin (794%) Business Analyst (598%) Web programmer (1093%) IT Staff (299%)
So it’s a no brainer, right?. All organisations will be rushing to move from their already in place 3 to 4 year PC refresh cycles which they ‘simply accept’ to 2 year refreshes!
The experience of ITSS in working with mid-sized organisations in the UK and Ireland tells a different story. Not only will few be rushing to introduce 2 year PC refresh cycles but many mid-sized organisations are still struggling with the concept of introducing PC refresh cycles at all.
As far back as 2006 the Intel / WIPRO study on PC refresh cycles demonstrated that on an analysis of hardware configuration and related support costs alone it can be seen that maintaining a common PC fleet and refreshing every 3 years for desktops and 2 years for laptops used by staff predominantly on the road gives the lowest overall cost to the organisation (20% less expensive that keeping them for 5 years). Further studies over the years have re-enforced these message, showing see the 2010 Wipro / Intel study) that PC replacement additional yield other cost savings such as up to 60% reduction on related energy costs.Despite this we still see organisations with a mix of different PCs and units that are 5 years old plus, often cascading older workstations downwards in the organisation. Perhaps the productivity of the workers is not so important?!
Of course new technologies such as Cloud based workstations (e.g. Google Chromebooks) and initiatives such as Bring Your Own device (BYOD)will have potential relevance to the decision making process but it is clear that in the area of IT workstations, as in many other IT related areas, mid-sized organisations are just not managing their operational IT costs effectively.
