The latest research from Microsoft and Intel uncovers the costs of maintaining old PCs in Asia.
Keeping a four-year old PC could cost up to US$2,736 per device. This cost is equivalent to replacing the hardware with up to two PCs.
The above statement is according to the latest research commissioned by Microsoft and Intel. Techaisle surveyed 2,156 small and medium businesses (SMB) in the Asia Pacific.
Findings from this study revealed that PCs that are older than four years old result in productivity losses because they are 2.7 times more likely to undergo repairs.
Also, 85 percent of large SMBs (over 500 staff) have PCs that are older than four years of age, compared to 60 percent found in small SMBs (less than 100 staff)
Bradley Hopkinson, Vice President, Consumer and Device Sales of Asia at Microsoft explained, “PCs are the productive engines for most SMBs in the region, where organisations rely heavily on their devices for their day-to-day tasks”.
“With budget constraints being the number one IT challenge among SMBs today, business leaders should seek to adopt a device modernisation strategy so that they can maintain costs, while safeguarding their organisation from newer digital risks.”
The study found that 67 percent of SMBs may have experienced PC security and data theft breaches, with only 15 percent of them reporting their attacks.
Intel’s Managing Director of Sales and Marketing Group, Asia Pacific and Japan, Santhosh Viswanathan added, ““SMBs constitute 98 per cent 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,”
As stated by Microsoft, who have just announced new Surface products, the top IT priorities for SMBs include investing in PCs, security solutions and cloud solutions (no order was specified for these priorities).
The study emphasised that SMBs are considering IT as a response to tackle their business issues.
SMB respondents surveyed identified their top three business priorities as increasing profitability, business growth, and improving the productivity of their workforce.
This study uncovered that 69 percent of SMBs who have upgraded to new PCs believed they were now able to secure and protect their business data better with these newer PCs.
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