Organizations of every size are gearing up to invest in new IT assets this year, with nearly two-thirds of them planning purchases. IT leaders already know that about one in four office computers will need replacement, alongside refreshing old network and server equipment. With IT hardware typically making up 40% of IT budgets every year, CFOs are usually either resigned to accept the cycle or poking at the IT team to see how they can keep hardware costs down.

When it comes to budget conversations about hardware and services (i.e., SaaS applications), IT leaders know that the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) goes beyond what the rest of the company sees. TCO encompasses the cumulative cost of using and maintaining an IT investment over its lifespan, including direct costs (like hardware, software, operations, and administration) and indirect costs (such as end-user operations and downtime). This blog post dives into the current cost of ownership for business PCs and a comprehensive guide provides useful statistics and a framework for having better conversations with your leadership, buying, or procurement team.

The Current Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for Business PCs

Gartner, Inc. defines TCO as the cumulative cost of using and maintaining an IT investment over its lifespan. This includes both direct costs like hardware, software, operations, and administration and indirect costs such as end-user operations and downtime. Regrettably, TCO often slips under the radar, leading to skewed IT spending analyses and subpar decision-making.

Commonly, organizations fall into the trap of believing that direct costs cease post-purchase, especially after the hardware amortization falls off the balance sheet. However, research shows that the base price of a computer typically represents a mere fraction—less than 20%—of its TCO. The lion’s share of 80% is shouldered by post-purchase expenses like technical support, maintenance, and labor costs.

Key Statistics on IT Spending:

• Average Annual IT Spend: The average small business allocates 6.4% of its annual revenue to IT expenses (AMR Research).
• Post-Purchase Costs: 80% of total IT costs manifest after the initial purchase (Gartner, Inc.).
• Unmanaged PC Costs: An unmanaged PC incurs a $5,000 annual cost (Gartner, Inc.).
• Per User IT Costs: Firms shell out an average of $700 per user per month when all IT expenses are considered (Gartner, Inc.).
• Lost Productivity: Employees squander 30 minutes weekly on PC-related issues or aiding colleagues (Compass America).

How Stratodesk’s Secure and Easy-to-Manage Endpoint OS Helps Lower TCO

Stratodesk’s endpoint OS offers a streamlined, secure, and manageable solution that significantly reduces the TCO for business endpoints. Here’s how:

1. Enhanced Security and Compliance

Stratodesk NoTouch OS is secure by design and proactively protects against cyber threats prevalent on legacy systems. The use of a secure, Linux based OS on any endpoint will reduce the security risk in a VDI, DaaS, Cloud or SaaS environment and in the event of an attempted attack or of a security breach will reduce or avoid downtime, recovery costs and technical support costs. As nothing can be stored, downloaded or written on the endpoint’s harddrive plus the support of UEFI secure boot, a simple reboot will boot NoTouch devices up in their predefined configuration and ensure a fast recovery in any case. In addition, organizations can achieve even more cost reduction with NoTouch OS by removing the need  to buy and maintain antivirus, Data Loss Prevention, Backup and Recovery, or malware detection tools. 

2. Simplified Management and Lower Maintenance Costs

With centralized management capabilities, NoTouch Center allows IT teams to deploy, update, and maintain endpoints efficiently. According to Stratodesk customers in a recent survey, IT Admins get 35% of their time back compared to traditional endpoint management. NoTouch Center greatly reduces the time and resources spent on manual management tasks, leading to significant savings in operational costs.

NoTouch OS is designed to minimize the need for frequent maintenance and technical support. By reducing the occurrence of system failures and user issues, the indirect costs associated with downtime and lost productivity are significantly lowered.

3. Extended Hardware Lifespan

Stratodesk’s lightweight NoTouch OS can extend the lifespan of existing hardware by reducing the resource requirements of endpoint devices. For example, an organization with PCs currently running Windows 10(end of life expected in 2025) will need to decide whether to upgrade its hardware to be able to meet the higher demands of Windows 11. With Stratodesk, no hardware upgrade is necessary to get the Windows 11 experience in the cloud. The Stratodesk NoTouch Operating System can even run on older devices with Windows 8 or 9. To learn more about your options with Windows 11, visit here.

What new tools or resources could be prioritized if organizations did not need to purchase new hardware for Windows 11 or 61% of Stratodesk customers now benefit from a hardware lifecycle of 5 years or more and 25% of customers have successfully extended their hardware lifecycle to 7 or more years. NoTouch OS enables organizations to delay hardware refresh cycles, directly reducing capital expenditure.

4. Hardware Agnostic OS Leads to Cost-Efficient Deployment

Stratodesk’s NoTouch OS is easy to deploy across any x86, ARM, or Raspberry Pi endpoints and any environments. New hardware and old hardware are easily supported by NoTouch OS. 

The flexibility of a hardware agnostic OS allows organizations to repurpose old hardware, embrace new hardware from any leading vendor, and segment their devices by use case, location, or cost for any particular team or department. All of this can be done with one centralized management platform, NoTouch Center.

This flexibility reduces the initial setup costs and future hardware investments, making it a future-proof, cost-effective solution for all endpoints in your business.

Conclusion

Understanding and managing the TCO for endpoints is crucial for making informed IT investment decisions. Stratodesk’s secure and easy-to-manage endpoint OS offers a practical solution to lower the TCO by enhancing security, simplifying management, reducing maintenance costs, extending hardware lifespan, and ensuring cost-efficient deployment. By adopting Stratodesk’s solution, businesses can achieve significant cost savings and improve overall IT efficiency, making it an attractive option for CFOs and IT leaders alike.

Sources

*Customer survey results provided by Stratodesk

https://usservicecenter.com/educational/understanding-technology-costs/#