Just as the total expense of running your car extends well beyond the cost of the vehicle itself (alas), when you operate a fleet of PCs in your SMB, you incur an expense much greater than the cost of the computers themselves writes Josh Jennings.
PC as a Service (PCaaS), which essentially involves a service provider streamlining the management of an SMBs PC lifecycle, is emerging as a way to relieve some of the burden businesses experience when they manage their PCs.
Research into the global PCaaS market forecasts strong growth for the market in 2018-2023 but this raises the question of why. The answer can offer good insight into whether your small business ought to be one of the next to join the growing number benefiting from the services.
The challenges PCaaS overcomes
The Total Economic Impact of Dell’s PC Lifecycle Services, a 2018 Forrester study Dell and Intel commissioned, highlights a range of challenges organisations need to reckon with in the lifecycle of their PCs.
Deployment and support of PCs is time intensive and technical, which is problematic when your people are time poor and/or non-technical. There’s pressure for IT to show positive cost-benefit, which can be difficult with PC fleets managed inhouse. Delivering consistent service to employees organisation-wide, no matter how scattered the workforce, is complicated. It’s trying to ensure employees’ PCs keep speed with technological advances too.
How does PCaaS work?
Dell, Lenovo and HP are some of the front runners in the PCaaS market. Services such as Dell’s PCaaS for enterprise and business seek to relieve IT departments of the everyday burden of PC management through subscription-based features such as customised hardware and software, deployment, support (through a delivery manager and online portals) and asset recovery.
SMBs also have the option switch a predetermined number of devices off or on in an agreed time period and upgrade hardware assets within the term of the agreement.
The benefits
From an economic point of view, the Forrester(R) Dell Client Solutions Cost Estimator tool commissioned by Dell, found businesses who subscribe to PCaaS can cut costs by up to 25 per cent in certain scenarios.
Companies big and small are considering PCaaS models to save, refresh more frequently, obtain better gear for their employees, budget with more predictability and tailor technology synchronous with employees’ working processes.
Is it right for your business?
In evaluating the suitability of PCaaS for your business, it’s a good starting point to formulate a due diligence checklist that takes into account the details of vendors’ service descriptions, terms and conditions, vendors’ history of service-level performance, disaster recovery plans, operational performance and security and compliance.
As awareness of PCaaS continues to increase, vendors such as Dell are expanding the extent of their service offerings. To determine how your business might benefit, you can also consult with a small business technology advisor for further clarity.
Contact a DELL small business advisor today on 1800 33 55 06 or visit DELL.com.au/smallbusiness
Josh Jennings is a freelance journalist and copywriter who enjoys writing for a range of publications and clients about subjects including careers, employment, small business and tech/IT.
