New Research Uncovers Impact of Owning an Old PC on SMBs in Asia Pacific

• Techaisle research commissioned by Microsoft
  and Intel uncovers that the cost of upkeeping a PC older than four years can be
  used to purchase at least two new Modern PCs
• SMBs running Windows 7 devices within the
  organization should seek to make the shift before End of Support in January
  2020

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SINGAPORE - Media
OutReach - 16 October 2018 – Still own a PC or laptop older than four years old?
You may be spending more on its upkeep than buying a new modern device.

 

Microsoft and Intel
today unveiled new research from Techaisle, a leading global
SMB IT market research and analyst organization, which highlighted the opportunities
that Asia Pacific’s SMBs have by upgrading to modern devices at work.

 

The study[1],
which surveyed 2,156 SMB organizations across Asia Pacific, found that the cost
of keeping a PC more than four years old is US$2,736 per device — enough to
replace the ageing hardware with two or more new PCs.

 

Fig
1. Cost of owning an older PC

 

The study also
revealed that a PC older than four years old is also 2.7 times more likely to undergo
repairs, resulting in loss in productivity. 85% of larger SMBs, with more than
500 employees, have PCs that are older than four years, compared to 60% in
smaller SMBs employing less than 100 employees. This underscores the widespread
usage of older devices within SMBs in the region.

 

“PCs are the
productive engines for most SMBs in the region, where organizations rely
heavily on their devices for their day-to-day tasks. However, 7 in 10 SMBs
surveyed have PCs that are older than four years, which significantly increases
maintenance costs,” said Bradley Hopkinson, Vice President, Consumer and
Devices Sales, Asia, Microsoft. “With budget constraints being the number one
IT challenge among SMBs today, business leaders should seek to adopt a device
modernization strategy so that they can maintain costs, while safeguarding
their organization from newer digital risks.”

 

Increased security and reliability with a modern device

The new study
revealed that in the last year alone, as high as 67% of SMBs may have experienced
PC security and data theft breaches, with only 15% of them actually reporting
these attacks.

“With a modern PC
powered by Windows 10, SMBs can be assured of up-to-date security updates,
powered by cloud intelligence that proactively protects their businesses,”
added Hopkinson. “By reducing the potential risk of cyberthreats with a modern
PC, SMBs can definitely improve their productivity and avoid downtime.”

 

Addressing business priorities with a modern device approach

“SMBs constitute 98%
of enterprises in the Asia Pacific region, and employ half of the
workforce in the region yet many of them still have PCs older than four years
old. We believe that by having them move to a modern PC powered by an Intel
Core processor, they can unlock greater productivity for their business while
reducing IT management time and costs,” said Santhosh Viswanathan, Managing
Director, Sales and Marketing Group, Asia Pacific Japan Territory, Intel.

 

Respondents in the
study identified their top business priorities as increasing profitability,
business growth and improving workforce productivity. The study highlighted
that SMBs are looking at IT as a response to address their business issues. The
top IT priorities included investing in PCs, cloud solutions and security
solutions.

 

“We found that the
key barriers in migrating to a newer device were concerns of legacy
applications not being able to work on a newer operating system, along with the
lack of budgets. However, the benefits of adopting a modern device strategy
outweighs the concerns. Too often, SMB owners focus on short term costs and
while in most cases this approach is absolutely valid, at times it can lead to
situations that cost them more. The choice between maintaining older PCs and
replacing them with newer PCs is one such area. However, these SMBs should
re-evaluate their decision given the higher cost of maintaining older PCs which
has a larger cumulative effect on the budget than purchasing newer PCs with
latest technology. SMBs in the region should seriously consider making the
shift to a newer PC in the immediate future,” said Anurag Agrawal, CEO &
Analyst, Techaisle.

 

SMBs have an opportunity to improve their
overall operations with modern devices. For those who have already made the
move to newer PCs, study revealed that:

• 69%
  felt that they were better able to secure and protect their business data on
  newer PCs;
• 65%
  agreed that it has helped reduce overall maintenance costs;
• 63%
  saw improved efficiencies due to new experiences powered by cloud and mobility
  solutions, and
• 62%
  agreed that a newer PC has made their staff more productive.

 

More
than 42% of PCs used in SMBs are still on older versions of Windows today,
according to the study. Upgrading to a Windows 10 modern device will offer
experiences that are more familiar, safe, secure, and productive.

 

With the upcoming Windows 10 October 2018 Update,
users can enhance their productivity to help them make
the most of their time across work, home and everywhere in between. New
features include Your Phone app which allows users to access photos and texts
on Windows 10 devices, the new To-Do app that helps manage, prioritize and
complete tasks, as well as enhancements across Outlook.com, Edge as well as
Office apps. In addition, users can expect general Windows security
improvements, including support for biometrics login via Windows Hello for
Business for Azure Active Directory and Active Directory.

 

For more information, visit https://blogs.windows.com/.

 

About
Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for
the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to
empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

 

About Intel

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) expands the boundaries of technology to make the most
amazing experiences possible. Information about Intel can be found at newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.