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There it was - a full-page ad in a leading newspaper: a 900-MHz IBM ThinkPad laptop running the latest versions of Windows and Microsoft Office for less money than I scratch-built my 800-MHz workstation last fall. I wanted to cry. Another ad for Winbook's 1-GHz X1 had me reaching for a tissue.
Don't get me wrong - I've known this industry's key axiom since 1981: You never know how soon, or how much, prices will fall - just that they will. But as an IT manager, you're responsible for making the most of limited resources. That includes providing for your teleworkers' computing needs. Buying more than they need, or earlier than they need it, can cost you dearly. However, buying less can cost you even more, in terms of upgrades and lost productivity.
These guidelines will help you discover your teleworkers' sweet spot.
The right stuff
Your teleworkers' needs begin with processing power. Lost productivity costs more than buying the right processor and enough memory. Your goal is to ensure your teleworkers' systems can handle their needs today and down the road.
So how much is enough? Skills and duties should dictate requirements. Start with a Pentium III or IV. If your teleworkers are typing or processing data, a 500-MHz Pentium III with 256M bytes of RAM and a 17-inch monitor is sufficient. A programmer's needs, however, may be more along the lines of your multimedia workers - nothing less than a 21-inch flat-screen monitor is sufficient to handle their large workspace and editing controls. If they need even more visual workspace, go with a Matrox G450 DualHead video card and a second monitor. Those working with photos need an 800-MHz Pentium III with 256M bytes of RAM. If they're working with digital video, add an additional 256M bytes of RAM and a 1.3 GHz Pentium IV - rendering and effects eat up lots of processor time.
RAM is critical to your teleworkers' performance - it's many times faster than a hard drive. Skimp on the memory and you force your teleworker to wait on his swap file. At less than $50 for a 256M-byte stick of PC-133 memory, all computers should carry at least 256M bytes. Avoid Rambus Dynamic RAM - the additional price isn't worth the 3% performance improvement.
A 20G-byte Ultra ATA/66 hard drive will handle Windows XP Professional, Office XP, a half dozen programs and a ton of data. Your digital video editors will need a much larger, separate ATA/100 drive for their video data.
These guidelines will meet your basic needs - but only for today. To provide for tomorrow's needs, increase these requirements by 50%. However, only you and your teleworkers really know what's right for them. Some people are content chugging away on an old 266-MHz Pentium II.
Lease vs. buy
At first glance, leasing might seem more expensive, but there are hidden costs in buying, including the cost of remote teleworker support. Trying to extract every penny from the equipment while ignoring lost productivity isn't cheap, either. So commit to regular upgrades, or lease. At least when you're leasing, everyone knows when they'll receive an upgrade. And at least one state is reimbursing the leasing cost of teleworking equipment, so keep your eyes peeled for other such bargains.
It used to be that when you purchased a computer, it was yours, problems and all, whereas leasing meant paying higher prices, but gaining the peace of mind of dedicated support. Now the lines between leasing and buying have blurred.
Dell and EDS, for example, have partnered to provide Seat Management Service. For less than $100 per workstation per month, they'll take over the most time-consuming and ex-pensive duties of ownership. That's pretty good when you consider that Gartner estimates the cost of the original system is only 12% of the total cost of ownership. With this approach, you get the support of leasing, with the cost-savings of buying.
If your information systems department can beat this price, consider central management involving a VPN extranet and broadband. And don't get locked into the "asymmetric DSL [ADSL] is better" mindset, either. Cable modem customers used to be on hubs, but now many connections are routed. Cox Cable also recently raised the throughput to 1.5M bit/sec in my area to keep the ADSL vendors from scooping up their customers. Search for similar bargains in your area.
Before you make your next big purchase, make sure you count all the costs, not just the easy ones.
Next story: Managing teleworkers' voice connections
Related links
Janss is the president of Jansys Information Systems, a consulting firm specializing in IS technologies for small busi-nesses. He can be reached at bizcom@jansys.com.
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