The Cornerstones of Efficient Business Computing

Stability, performance, manageability and security are the cornerstones of efficient business computing. These require some prerequisites which outdated hardware cannot provide. Despite the advent of tablets, smartphones and other new mobile devices, the PC remains the central tool for businesses. The employee PC is still the linchpin for creating, accessing and managing data. According to many of the studies, 87 per cent of IT decision-makers surveyed consider PC to be at the heart of their business.

Nevertheless, in many organizations today, traditional personal computers are given too little importance in the face of competing IT priorities. This is problematic because the continued use of old PCs can lead to a long list of unintended negative consequences for the entire organization. Specifically, outdated PCs reduce productivity, generate high costs, be difficult to manage, and are vulnerable to cyber-attacks. In a Forrester study, 87 per cent of the IT managers surveyed also agreed with the statement that PC modernization is an important factor for productivity. New, faster PCs don’t just increase productivity. They are also more stable, easier to manage, and more secure, which can be critical to protecting business data. These four features of end-user computers – stability, performance, manageability, and security – are now the cornerstones of efficient business computing.

Business-class performance

For employees to be productive, fast systems are needed. In today’s demanding workload, high-performance PCs are an absolute must. This is especially true in the current times of crisis when more and more emphasis is placed on online courses, video conferencing and cloud-based collaboration. Many company PCs put these requirements on the test. Old and underperforming PCs cost time and money. According to an Intel study, employees lose up to one day each year while waiting for their computer to be over three years old. The same study showed that productivity is reduced by up to 12 per cent on PCs over three years of age. This results in an estimated cost of USD 7,794 per year per user. Other studies done by Forrester show that optimizing PC performance can improve not only employee productivity but also their motivation as well.

The newer processor platforms enable business-class performance and increase employee productivity. Quickly participating in a webinar or video conference with tens of people is no problem for a powerful PC. A new PC with the 10th generation Intel Core vPro processor is up to 40 per cent better performance, and up to 35 per cent faster multitasking compared to a three-year-old PC. This makes employees more productive and stays in the flow of work.

Better stability

Stability is no less important than performance for an individual PC, this is important also for the entire IT fleet. Stable running computers guarantee the performance and motivation of the employees on the one hand because failures are eliminated. On the other hand, well-functioning computer systems simplify lifecycle management and reduce maintenance and repair costs. Stable systems also reduce the risks associated with hardware changes and upgrade cycles. Stable working is a problem, especially with outdated PCs, because they are generally prone to interference. But even newer computers are prone to interference, given the current size of software updates and driver incompatibilities. Permanent updates, patches, and other potential issues create a complexity for each IT department that makes it difficult for them to effectively manage their PC fleet.

Easier management

Management and maintenance of the systems are essential for stable and secure operation. Management and maintenance are a challenge, especially when PCs and notebooks are not directly available. And that is the rule rather than the exception today. Office workers are now mostly far from their desks in the office. Mobile employees and home office workers log on or from home to networks beyond THE control of the IT department. However, the ease of remote system management is essential for companies, because only a well-maintained PC enables safe and stable operation. It is therefore important for remote working that the hardware can also be managed and supported remotely. Business need platform which simplifies the management of stationary and mobile devices. It includes remote management capabilities for detecting, monitoring, repairing, restoring, and protecting networked PCs and other devices. For example, IT administrators can use it to remotely repair and restore a virus-infected device, even if it is outside the organization. Administrators can also deploy patches for critical security updates. This is a huge step forward in THE efficiency of IT, which not only helps to reduce costs. It also minimizes user distraction, the number of support requests, and work interruptions.

Reinforced security mechanisms

PC security is the fourth pillar and is one of the top business priority. Recent critical threats, coupled with multiple vulnerabilities, require extensive security measures on PCs. Such threats can penetrate an organization from any computer and spread rapidly, resulting in employee downtime and lost productivity. With new hardware-based measures, devices can be better shielded from security breaches and fundamentally protect the PC from the BIOS upwards.

The newer platforms provide hardware-enhanced security mechanisms that are harder to bypass than software-only solutions. Like, they can provide enhanced protection against under-operating system attacks, as well as advanced threat detection capabilities. Hardware protection also performs routine security features. For example, the virus scanner can use the graphics engine to search memory for malware in parallel with the CPU load.