THE CORPORATE PC REFRESH PROJECT: OPTIMIZING REFRESH CYCLES & ENSURING DATA INTEGRITY

Transcription

1 THE CORPORATE PC REFRESH PROJECT: OPTIMIZING REFRESH CYCLES & ENSURING DATA INTEGRITY WHITE PAPER

2 2 Table of ontents PC REFRESH PROJECTS: DETERMINING LIFECYCLES THE BASIC CASE FOR PC REFRESH CYCLES HOW OLD IS TOO OLD- AND WHEN SHOULD YOU REFRESH? USING TCO TO DETERMINE THE IDEAL ENTERPRISE PC REFRESH CYCLE THE CHALLENGES OF A REFRESH PROJECT WHY CONSIDER ENDPOINT DATA BACKUP SOFTWARE FOR PC REPLACEMENT FORMULATING A PC REFRESH PLAN BEFORE YOU BEGIN A CORPORATE PC REFRESH PROJECT: BASIC CHECKLIST WHAT ABOUT THE OLD HARDWARE? CONCLUSION

3 3 01 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OPTIMIZING THE CORPORATE PC REFRESH CYCLE: DETERMINING LIFECYCLES, FORMULATING A PLAN AND ENSURING DATA INTEGRITY It is commonly reported that while extending the corporate PC lifecycle might initially trim IT costs and capital expenditure, the result of old and outdated systems in an enterprise is increased support and maintenance costs, interrupted productivity and negatively affected organizational operations. With the general economic upturn in 2011 and the increasing requirements for Windows 7 upgrades, corporate PC refresh projects are again a routine and crucial part of IT operations. However, costsaving and efficiency are still obvious considerations, especially while budgets remain relatively restrictive. } With these realities in mind, this white paper will help IT decision makers answer these common questions: What is the optimum PC refresh cycle, and what are the optimum refresh methods that will help us Reduce costs Minimize the impact on user productivity Ensure data integrity

4 4 02 WHAT DRIVES PC REFRESH CYCLES? As IT organizations are under constant pressure to reduce costs, many companies may choose to delay their PC refresh project to decrease the frequency of spending for PC hardware. However, research results validate time and again that delaying PC refresh cycle increases support costs and reduces user productivity. SUPPORT & MAINTENANCE COSTS Keeping old PC s will eventually incur increased support & maintenance costs. Research has shown that older PC s can cost up to 59% more to support. 1 As PC s age, their support cost increases. Warranties end and new software can face compatibility problems with older machines. Users have often accumulated software and data on the old computer, making it slower and more susceptible to failure. It is also important to note that older machines might not have the processor speed or available RAM to run new software. IMPACT ON PRODUCTIVITY Older PC s can negatively affect productivity causing user downtime and wasted IT resources because of increased failures and thus more support requests. SECURING DATA INTEGRITY Older PC s are more likely to experience failures. Without an effective and reliable data backup solution that backs up the data on user PC s an enterprise risks failure to meet compliance regulations as well as incurring data breeches and data loss. INFLATED POWER COSTS Older PC s are generally not as environmentally friendly as newer machines, requiring more energy and offering less power saving functionality. According to an Intel study, older PC s can use an average of 50% more energy

5 5 03 HOW OLD IS TOO OLD - AND WHEN SHOULD YOU REFRESH? There is no single refresh model that suits all enterprises or even all users within an enterprise. PC lifecycle often depends on the usage of the PC, application software requirements, length of manufacturer warranties, requirements for increased processor speed and memory, and many other variables. However, industry standard generally accepts that the majority of company PC s are four or more years old. 3 The rapid evolution of technology, the increasing importance of hardware that allows for optimum productivity and new software applications that demand faster processor and memory mean that overextending hardware life can be detrimental to organizations. There are two general approaches to refreshing your company laptops & desktops: REPLACING ALL DEVICES- THE FORKLIFT APPROACH: Proactively decommissioning desktops and laptops and replacing them with new hardware. PARTIAL REFRESH OR CASCADING MACHINES: Cascading the older machines by moving them down through the ranks and only replacing them only after serious failure. When analyzing the appropriate PC refresh cycle for your organization it has been found that the majority of organizations will spend more on desktops if they standardize on a four-to-five year refresh cycle than with a three-year refresh cycle. 4 In order to accurately assess current PC ownership and management costs, Wipro analysts gathered detailed data from 106 firms in North America and Europe including representation from 15 different industries. Each firm had a minimum of 2,500 PCs, of which at least 25% were laptops. The firms all managed elements of PC support with internal IT staff. The data shows that for most firms, the optimal PC refresh lifecycle for both laptop and desktop PCs is three years. 5 Without a clear and formalized refresh plan in place, enterprises continually face unpredictable hardware difficulties that, overburden IT. To avoid lump-sum hardware costs, companies often refresh only a portion of their PCs at one time. Delaying the PC refresh can lead to higher support and productivity costs, and staggered refreshes can result in higher deployment costs for companies that outsource their IT infrastructure Friedlander, D. (2003, September 29) IdeaByte: Desktop Refresh Cycles: Three years is the standard, but not the reality 5

6 6 03 WHEN SHOULD YOU REFRESH It s important to note that when PC refresh rate increases, support requests decrease. The California State University, Chico Desktop Refresh Plan illustrates that when their refresh plan was temporarily halted to due a lack of funding, service requests spiked significantly showing that delaying hardware refresh will result in increased support & maintenance costs. 6 There are often financial factors influencing and lengthening the refresh cycle rate. Examples of these are: Acquisition and deployment costs Salvage value Disposal costs REFRESHING FOR WINDOWS 7 When a business holds onto a computer for so long that it adds no capital value, it s probably not going to sustain an OS upgrade. A large percentage of enterprises are seeing the importance of upgrading to Windows 7, with some of the reasons being - Improved employee productivity - Improved manageability & security - To better deliver IT Cost efficiencies As a result, PC refresh may be moved forward by IT managers wanting to do a wholesale switch to Windows 7. } While increases in the following factors could shorten the refresh cycle: Baseline support costs Baseline support cost growth rate Out-of-warranty costs As there is no basic model for all organizations, determining the ideal refresh cycle for an enterprise involves evaluating how to trim IT costs whilst maintaining an effective operation. As discussed, delaying refresh cycles to put off capital expenditure and other costs doesn t always optimize long-term cash flow. Meeting operational objectives should cause enterprises to closely examine the total cost of ownership of their PC s and find the point where keeping the old hardware will diminish returns. When do rising support costs eclipse the savings of making a PC purchase last as long as possible? A sound TCO analysis will help legitimize these this. 6

7 7 04 USING TCO TO DETERMINE THE IDEAL ENTERPRISE PC REFRESH CYCLE At what point does holding on to desktops or laptops become more expensive than their replacement cost? Considerations include maintaining old operating systems, network integration of several operating systems, driver incompatibilities and maintenance costs. One consideration is leasing computers with the lease schedule aligned to the district s refresh cycle. Leasing is also an alternative to deferred purchases as a result of capital budget cuts. When calculating the appropriate refresh cycle, enterprises need to work out at which point it becomes cheaper to replace a PC as opposed to running & maintaining an old one. Intel did a study using TCO to determine PC upgrade cycles on 90,000 computers. There are a number of possible methodologies to analyze and compare cost structures, at Intel, the determining IT investment goal is to maximize cash flow in the long term. In the discussed case study they were particularly interested in which refresh rate offered the optimal long-term cash flow. Generally, IT investment decisions compare the profitability of whether or not to invest in a new technology. With PC refresh rate, the decision rests on how often to invest. Intel overcame that obstacle by converting the NPVs (Net Present Values) of each option into an equivalent annual cost (EAC). An EAC is the annual cost of owning and operating an asset. It allows you to take sets of uneven cash flows and convert them into smooth, regular cash flows that can be easily compared in a verifiable way

8 8 04 CALCULATING TCO Table 1 below illustrates the model into which Intel loaded their cost components. Each column represents a PC s life cycle in years; the cost appears in the appropriate year. For example, the PC acquisition -cost (Intel used a sample cost of USD 1,150) will TABLE 1. CASH FLOW (US DOLLARS PER PC PER YEAR) } obviously only occur once, when the hardware is purchased. Other costs, such as software occur every year. Table 1 illustrates how Intel saw a loss in the fourth year. CASH FLOW DESCRIPTION YEAR 1 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR 5 Notebook PC Acquisition Cost (1,150) Training (25) PC Engineering (Build) (28) PC Deployment and Logistics (21) Software and Patch Deployment (15) (20) (24) (30) (38) Help Desk Support (First Level) (20) (24) (29) (35) (42) Deskside Support (Second Level) (67) (89) (111) (139) (173) Out-of-warranty Repair (76) (132) Additional Upgrades and Peripherals (70) (75) Retrieval and Disposal Costs (43) (43) (43) (43) (43) Disposal Cost Recovery TOTAL USD (590) (115) (306) Once Intel determined the annual costs, they could then calculate the EAC for each cost component across life cycles

9 / EQUIVALENT ANNUAL COST In Table 2, Equivalent Annual Cost results for notebook PCs over life cycles ranging from one to five years is illustrated. This model can obviously be adjusted accordingly and will be dependent on an organization s individual variables. From this analysis, Intel saw that the optimal refresh rate for notebook PCs at their organization is about a three-and-a-half year cycle, further endorsing the results reached by Wipro. 9 Factors adopted by companies can obviously extended PC lifecycle. These should be focused around technologies and practices which better manage the PCs such as automated tools for imaging, patch management, and support. For more information on using TCO to determine the ideal lifecycle of enterprise hardware, read this IDG White Paper: download/73/using-total-cost-ownership-determineoptimal-pc-refresh-lifecycles?source=connect } TABLE 2. EQUIVALENT ANNUAL COST (US DOLLARS, BY REFRESH RATE) CASH FLOW DESCRIPTION YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR 5 PC Acquisition Cost 1, Training PC Engineering (Build) PC Deployment and Logistics Software and Patch Deployment Help Desk Support (First Level) Deskside Support (Second Level) Out-of-warranty Repair Additional Upgrades and Peripherals Retrieval and Disposal Costs Disposal Cost Recovery (778) (269) (124) (65) (36) TOTAL USD The equivalent annual cost chart provides a valid comparison for PCs held over different life cycles. (Note: Costs used here are only sample data; costs vary with each organization 9

10 10 05 THE CHALLENGES OF AN ENTERPRISE REFRESH PROJECT Co-ordinating and managing PC refresh initiatives present the IT department with many challenges. EXTENSIVE PLANNING: The process of assessing the current state of PCs within the organization and identifying areas that need updates is a massive undertaking. Issues such as interoperability, software compliance, application updates, and inventory location must be examined. Asking the right questions and knowing what to look for requires comprehensive planning. LOGISTICAL HURDLES: The logistics involved with PC refresh can be overwhelming. Challenges include storage, shipping, project management and reporting. PHYSICAL SPACE CONSTRAINTS: The on-site, physical storage of hundreds or thousands of PCs is for most enterprises. New incoming equipment must be coordinated and the proper disposal of outgoing equipment must be accounted for. Just-in-time delivery is the expectation, but often not the reality. SOME OF THE MOST COMMON PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH DATA MIGRATION: Data corruption, missing data or data loss Extended or unexpected downtime Application performance issues Technical compatibility problems Data isn t restored to original location on a new OS PROTECTING DATA INTEGRITY: Performing a secure backup of all critical business data is an obvious necessity before replacing company hardware. The problem is that these backups can result in wasted time, huge bandwidth and storage costs, and can be unreliable. This means that before backing up the company data you should investigate different data backup options, including different data backup software. DATA MIGRATION RISKS: A hardware refresh relies heavily on successful data migration. According independent IT research analysts, Bloor, companies spend over $5 billion every year on data migration. Add to that a 60% failure rate and the result is a difficult to ignore financial incentive to ensure the successful migration of your business data.

11 / CHALLENGES - CONTINUED WORKING ON MULTIPLE SITES: Multiple branches spread across geographies can further complicate PC refresh. Resources need to be scheduled and remote workers must be considered, as well as delivery costs and logistical planning. AVOIDING USER DOWNTIME: Performing a PC refresh without impacting downtime is a challenge. Businesses can seldom afford an application or user downtime window, forcing a PC refresh to occur in the evening and on weekends. If the project is performed after-hours, issues such as technical support availability and accessing secure rooms can slow progress. IT can also employ new tools and technology to tackle potential migration problems. } INTEGRATION AND TESTING: Mission-critical applications must work on new systems and extensive testing must be performed. User data must be available on the new hardware in the original location for user acceptance testing. TRAINING: Training employees and the help desk on a new OS, equipment and applications must be performed. PROPER DISPOSAL OF HARDWARE: Properly discarding old PCs has legal and environmental implications. Software must be removed, company confidential data must be scrubbed and certain components must be discarded in compliance with standards and industry regulations. What is key during a refresh project is nondisruptiveness and controlling the impact on: Users Network & Bandwidth IT Data integrity

12 12 06 WHY CONSIDER ENDPOINT DATA BACKUP SOFTWARE FOR PC REPLACEMENT 01/ REDUCE DATA MIGRATION RISKS IT can easily locate and backup critical data stored in non-standard locations on laptops and desktops, reducing the risk of not migrating all business critical data. Data can be restored on new hardware in the original location- saving time and avoiding increased IT support requests and interrupted productivity. Overcome incompatibilities between operating systems when migrating shortcuts such as My Documents and the user s Desktop. Ensuring that Microsoft Outlook archived stored on user computers is easily migrated. 02/ REDUCE EXTENDED USER DOWNTIME Business data on laptops & desktops is automatically backed up and available for recovery, simplifying the refresh process. 03/ MINIMIZE IMPACT ON INFRASTRUCTURE DURING MIGRATION Central control over backup policies prevents unnecessary bandwidth and storage wastage caused by the migration and backup of unessential user data. Data is compressed, preventing inflated operational costs and lowering impact on the network by reducing bandwidth usage. 04/ CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND REPORTING User data is encrypted, aiding with corporate governance compliance and ensuring confidentiality of business data during migration. Centralized reporting provides an audit trail of the migration process. Simplified recovery to new computers reducing time required by technical resources.

13 13 07 FORMULATING A PC REFRESH PLAN A carefully formulated plan is integral before embarking on any in-house PC refresh project. HERE ARE SOME KEY ITEMS YOU WOULD WANT TO ADDRESS IN YOUR PLAN: 1. Create a list of any foreseeable challenges or technical difficulties. Review these and strategize around the most cost and time effective solutions. 2. Put together a schedule with timelines & milestones for the migration procedures. 3. Establish a pre-refresh test plan that you will perform on a PC refresh pilot group. 4. Ensure you have considered & investigated effective software options or managed services solutions that can help with saving time, saving resources and reducing bandwidth and storage costs & pressure. SOME INITIAL QUESTIONS YOU MAY WANT TO ASK IN THESE MEETINGS: Are there any plans for expansion, restructuring or consolidation? Could we consider implementing new software that will effectively save us time & money in the refresh process? When is the optimal time for the refresh process to take place with the least effect on users? Is the project big enough that it requires outsourcing a professional service? It is important to consider how disruptive certain applications will be, communicate any possible performance delays to management and ensure that your strategy includes processes or features that protect business data integrity. 5. Schedule meetings in advance with management and budget decision makers. Have an agenda ready with any unknowns you need the answer to.

14 14 08 BEFORE YOU BEGIN A CORPORATE PC REFRESH PROJECT: A 5-POINT CHECKLIST The different variables that will affect users during this refresh have been considered and a list of potential technical difficulties with the numbers of vendors or other appropriate resources has been drawn up to ensure that we can overcome these issues as quickly and easily possible. An effective data backup solution has been found with effective data migration and PC refresh support. All business critical data (including data such as PSTs and shortcuts) will be easily recoverable on the new hardware A pilot group and pre-migration test plan has been defined A timeline has been created with time-based milestones Management has approved the timeline and the chosen methods and processes A reporting method has been devised. Compliance and risk factors make reporting on your data migration extremely important. Ensure that you keep track of all your motions and have a document ready to record what you did and how you did it. The new hardware has been tested and the appropriate research has been conducted. Make sure that you understand the new hardware and its restrictions and capabilities before migrating business data. User s applications and software can be restored on the new devices. If you re migrating operating systems, you have used and tested the new OS. You understand the implications this might have on migrating and relocating user data. You have a planned and approved a phased refresh rollout with prioritized users and applications. A time-saving and cost-effective hardware refresh project requires calculated planning, research, employing the appropriate tools and having the support of decision makers. The success of an enterprise-wide hardware refresh project relies on the successful migration of the business data. Users don t just want a new computerthey want one that contains all their old data organized as it was on their old system. NOTE Always perform a data backup and test the backup integrity to prevent irreversible data loss!

15 15 08 CHECKPOINT #1: UNDERSTAND, LOCATE, SELECT THE RIGHT DATA TO MIGRATE (AND HAVE A BACKUP) Before you can move the user data to the new device you need to ensure that the correct business data has been selected and backed up. } USERS & BACKUP POLICIES Locating business data on user machines becomes problematic because often the data is stored in nonstandard locations. When you know where to locate the data and understand how it is stored, you can then determine what data from each of these sources you ll need to migrate. Data backup software that allows you to centrally set data policies and automate the backup process ensures that even data stored in non-standard locations will be backed up. Consider the form the data currently takes, and the form it will take when it arrives at its new destination. Can you restore user shortcuts? Will you be migrating to a different Operating System? Will the files be restored to the original location?

16 16 08 CHECKPOINT #2: EXTRACT, CLEAN & TRANSFORM THE DATA One of the reasons that such a high percentage of data migration projects fail is the difficulty associated with finding and transforming the user data into the correct format. Different Operating Systems store data in different locations, further complicating the process of backing up business data before a refresh. Automated and centrally managed software with shortcut support will ensure that all user business data is selected, backed up and can be restored on the new hardware (or a new OS) in its original location. CHECKPOINT #3: SYSTEMATICALLY RELOCATE USER DATA, PLAN A PHASED ROLLOUT Data relocation, if done manually is a timeconsuming process. It is easiest to restrict this to after hours during low network usage. However, this isn t always a possibility. The best way of relocating enterprise data is using an automated tool that allows centrally managed, unattended and wizard-driven restores. This will save IT time and ensure data integrity. } Prioritise applications and machines and plan a phased refresh. This should be anticipated and approved in the planning phase. If you re not using a tool to simplify the refresh project you will have to take this as the perfect opportunity to clean your business data and identify any issues or omissions. This might include enforcing naming conventions or standardizing formats. Then you ll need to assess the format of the data and the format required for the new system ensuring that you can easily restore the user data. Automated tools are best practice for handling this, especially when dealing with multiple computers.

17 17 07 CHECKPOINT #4 TEST & VALIDATE Check and test the migrated data to verify it s an accurate representation of the original data. This is why a test restore should always be done first. Without effective testing you run the risk of wasted time, costs and IT frustration. Always test and validate. Obviously there will also be user acceptance testing once the new hardware is in the hands of its new owner. CHECKPOINT #5 DOCUMENT & REPORT ON THE PROCESS (AND DON T DELETE THE DATA BACKUPS) When the refresh is complete, make sure you document any challenges you experienced with specific hardware, software, Operating Systems or file types. This will ensure that your next hardware refresh project is easier. This reporting also gives management a documented process for risk control and corporate governance compliance. Don t delete the backups. Keep them for a period of at least 3 6 months to allow users to identify any possibly missing data and have it restored on their new hardware.

18 18 09 WHAT ABOUT THE OLD HARDWARE? As many as 150 million company PCs are trashed every year, without enterprises considering the security of their data. 10 Don t make the mistake of giving away or disposing of company PC s without ensuring that all the data has been removed. Even if you ve erased and reformatted the system, the hard drive can contain large amounts of business data from s to legal contracts and employees personal details. Not appropriately destroying this data can also leave your company liable under federal compliance laws such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Graham-Leach-Bliley or State Laws. Software that overwrites the entire drive is one of the best solutions. Before you dispose of your company PC s- consider employing a licensed vendor to perform the task. The EPA estimates that over 220 million tons of old computers and other hardware is trashed per annum. 11 Certain hardware manufacturers also have programs to take back old products

19 19 10 CONCLUSION Undertaking a corporate PC refresh project and formulating the best refresh cycle for your enterprise takes considerable planning and research. However the challenges of optimizing these operations and ensuring that costs are controlled and minimizing user downtime can be answered with the right solution. } Cibecs offers a complete data backup and recovery solution, allowing the enterprise to take full control over business critical data and ensuring that data operations such as PC refresh or OS migration are easier to manage, more cost-effective and drastically less disruptive for users and IT alike. To find out more about Cibecs software visit the website here Or download our FREE 30 DAY TRIAL com/product/30-day-trial/ Visit for more information or contact Cibecs at +?.