Benefits and Return on Investment

Protecting Long-term Investment

A PC workstation costs much more than the purchase price. A software purchase can commit a company to multiple software and system upgrades, as well as additional training and support. As a result, determining the total invested in a desktop workstation becomes a complicated calculation. The market research firm, GartnerGroup, estimates an average of more than $40,000 as the total cost of ownership (TCO) for a PC with a five-year lifetime. Multiplied by hundreds or thousands of workstations throughout a company, the costs demand accurate inventories to aid careful purchase planning and to protect investments. Even if a company leases PCs, users may add software and hardware, an act that can possibly void a lease, and add value to an asset the company does not own.

Assuring Financial Control

To optimize systems strategies, critical asset management is required to shed light at the budgeting intersection where financial control and IT cross paths. This is a management challenge with three approaches:

• Asset Inventory: a snap shot of the PC hardware and software at a given time.
  
  
• Asset Tracking: PC hardware and software inventory that uses a database for ongoing tracking.
  
  
• Enterprise Asset Management: tracks assets and collects financial information, service and warranty information, and physical information (product location and user).
  
  

Asset Management and Indirect Cost Benefits

In a large company, help desk staff who can access an information database can troubleshoot more efficiently. Inventory detail about a user's workstation software and system versions can forestall a trip to that desk, and speed the solution that means a return to productive work. Knowing whether a workstation has downloaded files from the Internet, or accesses the Internet excessively can be important information for managers.

• System resources: Enterprise audits can quickly identify drains on computer system resources. Multiple installations of software that go undetected can lead to unnecessary system upgrades. Concurrency issues are readily identified and corrected through regular audits. User installed, "lifted," or pirated software can be identified and potential risks or system conflicts corrected. Knowing that each PC meets minimum system requirements before purchasing and implementing software and system upgrades can ensure smart purchases and scaleable upgrades with limited down time.
  
  
• Multi-user and data access: Vital data can be on one PC and unavailable to others. Knowing the location of information (especially when workers migrate through departments or facilities, or travel with notebooks) can save time and make or break critical business analyses.
  
  
• Security: Controlled environments that require tight security should be regularly audited for specific configurations, files, and data, allowing you to remove all extraneous or unauthorized programs. This is particularly vital in networked environments vulnerable to a destructive virus. Enterprise audits over a network or Intranet can maintain security and avert disaster. Auditing "by exception" - where a profile is entered, and any exceptions in the PC's software or configuration are reported - is reliable and time-saving in a secure setting.
  
  

Enterprise Asset Management

Even a small-sized company can appreciate substantial savings through Enterprise Asset Management:

• Software licensing compliance is assured. License payments are accurate and licenses are cost effective (per seat, or volume license for best economy).
  
  
• Software maintenance fees can be accurately calculated when due thus avoiding payment of maintenance fees for uninstalled or retired software.
  
  
• Unused software license, such as those resulting from a reduction in staff, can be redeployed or sold to third parties.
  
  
• Assets are properly valued, which means depreciation is calculated accurately, and a company's financial statements will withstand independent audits. Accurate asset value (a combination of original and upgraded equipment, with various depreciation schedules) means correctly calculated tax payments - that means cash savings for a company.
  
  
• Accurately valued assets mean that a company's financial statements will hold up to independent audits, and guarantee no sudden write-off of assets - a fact that can impact bank loans, property taxes, spell disaster for public offerings, and undermine stockholder confidence.