The title of this blog caught your attention, didn’t it? And we reckon you probably know exactly which workstations we’re referring to.
Come on – let’s not beat around the bush; you’ve got a few of them, and they’ve been sat on the same desks for years. You’re also acutely aware that the employees who use these machines both rely and despise them in equal measure.
But you just can’t bring yourself to update them.
Don’t worry – you’re not alone. But those outdated workstations are costing you money.
The myth about older workstations
Old PCs and laptops help businesses save money and ensure employees retain tools with which they’re familiar. This means you don’t have to spend a fortune upgrading them to the latest versions and the team remains happy and productive.
Right?
Wrong. Big time.
The above assumptions are made far too often by businesses. The misnomer that outdated workstations in some way help your bottom line is a dangerous one, because the opposite is nearly always true.
There are so many hidden costs related to deploying, using, and maintaining aged machines that only increase as time draws on.
Here are five reasons your outdated workstations are costing your business.
- Productivity loss
That’s right – those old machines really are denting your team’s ability to get stuff done. Architects and engineers tend to have more powerful than the average workstation due to the software running on them like AutoCad and even BIM software which demand high specification workstations.
As noted from the outset, they’re typically the workstations about which people complain regularly. Constant crashes, slowness, and incompatibility with the latest software platforms will slow their productivity to a crawl.
That downtime can be a real killer, in particular. The more time those older workstations spend out of action, the less time your team spends on winning and servicing customers – it’s that simple.
- Higher maintenance costs
New PCs and laptops typically come with warranty periods of between one and three years. But they’re also far less likely to let you down and require maintenance during the ownership period.
The same can’t be said for obsolete and outdated kit. It’ll require either ad-hoc call outs or fixed annual maintenance contracts to ensure its in good health, and both are very costly options.
- The big one: security risks
There’s no getting away from the fact that we live in a very IT security conscious world these days, and for good reason.
Cyber criminals are inventing new ways of stealing data every single day, and it’s only the most up-to-date and fully-supported workstations that are capable of protecting themselves from attacks.
One security breach and your business could be put at serious risk from either financial ruin or a massive dent in customer confidence. Do you really want one outdated workstation to be the root cause of that?
- Dissatisfied staff
You might think that your employees feel comfortable with older workstations, but the opposite is often true.
Sure, they may know them like the backs of their hands, but as noted earlier, the hassle they’ll experience with incompatibility, crashing, and slow operation will vastly outweigh any minor benefits.
Happy employees are usually more productive employees – and they’ll stick around, too. Just like the cyber security risk, do you really want a couple of old PCs to be the reasons you lose your best employees?
- You won’t benefit from the latest software
We thankfully live in a world where software which was once the domain of businesses with deep pockets is now available to virtually everyone.
However, it isn’t if you’re running outdated workstations. And that means your team won’t experience the benefits of the latest version of AutoCAD for example.
What’s more, it might mean you’re relying on older software which also comes with its own hefty annual support fees, thus making any gain you think you’re making in not updating a costly assumption.
If we’ve convinced you to finally retire those old machines and invest smartly in new gear, you might need some help.
The Compex IT team knows how to save you money and ensure the replacement workstations you purchase deliver a measurable return on investment.