The rise of laptops, smartphones and tablets has led to lower PC prices because they’re less in demand compared to what they used to be. However, it’s estimated that the average cost of actually deploying a single PC is some $600, when deployment management and IT services are all factored into the equation. That’s big money – especially if you’re running a small business that relies on implementing several per year. And these are costs that, while you’re able to manage, you can’t completely eliminate – every business needs the hardware to complete tasks.
Six Stages of PC Deployment
There are six stages of PC deployment, all of which help factor into that $600 cost and four types of levels that companies deploy PCs at: basic, standardized, rationalized and dynamic. Check out a brief description on each of the six stages of deployment below, and you can see how costs may add up:
Deployment Management
This covers the organization of PC deployment, which include things like workstation planning. It’s estimated that the average time it takes to deploy one PC is over an hour and a half, which cuts into productivity times and increases cost to do so. This time span is most common on one-off deployments, where companies are only implementing one at a time. More mature deployment methods implement several at once, reducing times to less than three-quarters of an hour. Implementing a PC all starts with a good management program.
Staging/Logistics
This step covers the supply chain of the PC, from purchase to shipping to implementation. It’s a logistical step, as a poorly implemented staging plan can lead to higher costs than one that’s automated, organized and highly efficient.
Image Loading
Image loading is the step when you load your guest Operating System. It could be Mac OS, Windows, Linux, or Unix.
Application Loading
Similar to image loading, this step involves uploading applications and software. It’s like an extended version of image loading.
User State Migration
This step includes moving the user’s data, settings and preferences from the user’s former computer to the user’s new computer.
Post-Deployment Support
It’s unlikely that your computer will have zero problems with it for as long as you have it. That’s where post-deployment support services, such as IT and help desks come into play. The longer you have a particular PC, the more likely you’re going to need to service it – so this can potentially be a very expensive step, long-term.
PC Optimization Levels
There are four main types of PC deployment categories, which we covered in the introduction. The steps vary from disorganized and not automated (basic) to highly efficient and extremely organized and automated (dynamic). As you can probably guess, the less automated a company is, the higher it costs ($795) to deploy an individual PC, especially when lost working hours, logistical information and IT support are all taken into consideration. The “dynamic” category features a highly automated PC deployment method, where the end user can do a majority of up front work. It’s estimated that the cost of a dynamic deployment is considerably lower, at $373 per PC. However, it’s estimated that only about 5 percent of companies are working with dynamic conditions, meaning that 95 percent of companies are paying significantly more than $373 per PC. And when you’re running a business, these costs come out of your bottom line.
Here is a table with the cost of each of the 6 stages as you improve the level of Optimization from basic to Dynamic. You can save as much as $260.00 for every PC your organization deploys for new employees and refreshes. (Table only has IT staff labor savings, does not include user or staging cost savings)
|
Costs by Level of Automation | ||||
|
Deployment Stage |
Basic |
Standardized |
Rationalized |
Dynamic |
|
Deployment Management |
$92 |
$83 |
$67 |
$40 |
|
Staging and Logistics |
$82 |
$74 |
$68 |
$41 |
|
Image Loading |
$142 |
$128 |
$116 |
$101 |
|
Application Loading |
$124 |
$109 |
$103 |
$91 |
|
User State Migration |
$93 |
$70 |
$69 |
$45 |
|
Post Deployment |
$81 |
$59 |
$49 |
$37 |
*Framework and Numbers from Dell PC Deployment Optimization Model
**Image by Parislemon
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