Device decay and the ROI of updating your company laptops
The demand for flexible working
Following the easing of lockdown measures it’s more likely that devices will be moving on and off company property as employees work in a more flexible way. This, coupled with the fact that those devices may have been incognito for over a year now, means that it could be time to review the security of your environment and refresh some of the most outdated kit.
As the sudden shift to working from home took many by surprise, some businesses have been scraping by with the older tech they already had in place, waiting for everything to return to pre-pandemic state. However, as more employees are using this as a good time to negotiate mixed or flexible working this is not a viable option.
We’ve now seen multiple surveys and reports that show most companies and employees have found some benefits over the past year around flexible working. Many businesses are assessing how they can maintain these benefits while planning ahead to ensure work can be done securely and efficiently. At this stage, it’s important to review the devices that employees have been using up until now, before they are reintroduced to the office environment.
Effective device management isn’t only about security
When electronic devices are away from the office for an extended period of time, their security begins to ‘decay’ due to less frequent, rigorous IT checks, poorer security hygiene and the lower likelihood of patches being installed. Unless, that is, a secure device management system was already in place.
The most effective way to keep pace with the demand for flexible working is to adopt a trusted device approach. Remote working means that being able to identify and verify a device is absolutely crucial. Having all company devices under a remote-working security policy means that updates, patches, and security can be maintained centrally by the IT department, and any breaches can be spotted before they cause disruption to the business. Remote device management is something Adam and Mark from the Bedroq team will be discussing during our next webinar (take a look here if you’d like to find out more).
Effective device management isn’t only about security. Something we’ve noticed during recent discussions with Bedroq partners is that staff who complain the loudest about their failing tech tend to get it replaced the fastest. This may seem obvious, but it does raise the question – how many other employees are quietly trying to make the best of a bad situation, working on laptops that are slowing them down and making the business less productive?
Older laptops are more than twice as likely to experience issues like being slow to boot up, batteries depleting too soon, disk drive crashes causing data losses, application crashes and network connectivity problems. In fact, one study showed that the total cost of owning a laptop that is four or more years old is enough to replace it with two or more newer models.
Calculating the ROI of updating your company laptops
When calculating the ROI on investment into new devices there are three main points to take into account. Replacing an old device will:
- Decrease overall IT costs associated with troubleshooting and repairs
- Increase employee productivity as they waste less time waiting for problems to be resolved
- Increase the IT Team’s ability to manage the device remotely, provided the right programmes are in place from the start
Delaying device upgrades may seem like the most budget-friendly option, but business leaders need to look at the security threats and decreased productivity older devices can cause. IT managers should seek to adopt a device modernisation strategy so that they can maintain costs, while safeguarding their organisation from newer digital risks.
In our next webinar Adam and Mark will be demoing how Bedroq can provision a new laptop so it will be secure, set up and ready to go as soon as it is delivered to an employee. Find out more here.