New IDC Study Identifies PC Support and Management Costs, Reveals Strong Opportunities for Desktop Services Providers
PR Newswire - January 28, 1998 09:55
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Study Pinpoints Key Customer Needs Regarding Desktop Life-Cycle Services
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizations running PC LAN-
based desktop environments suffer the greatest pain regarding desktop support
and management costs, according to a new report published by International
Data Corporation (IDC). These organizations can see an annual cost-per-PC of
nearly $10,400 to provide support services such as help desk and hardware
maintenance & repair, and operational services such as asset management and
hardware & software upgrades.
Organizations that have moved to full-fledged enterprise-wide,
client/server environments -- in which the majority of heavily-used
applications reside on a division or company server and company-wide servers -
-see lower support and management costs of around $3,300 annually per PC.
Standalone environments, mainly because of their simpler configurations, see
lower costs than PC LAN environments, at about $4,800 annually per PC. This is
still higher, however, than organizations running enterprise-wide client
server environments.
The study shows broad opportunities for outside service providers to sell
and deliver desktop services to customer organizations, particularly those
shops that are migrating from PC LAN to enterprise client/server environments.
"Service providers have a great opportunity to help customers support and
management their desktop environments, by delivering those services that
internal IS and business-unit managers lack the bandwidth to provide," said
Doug Chandler, senior analyst in IDC's Client/Server Support and Operational
Services research program. "In particular, services such as help-desk and
software technical support, as well as operational services such as asset
management and backup & archiving, are ripe areas for outside providers."
IDC found that across most organizations, IS and business-unit managers
have firm control over desktop hardware and software purchases. Although
downloading of software from the Internet, for example, can subvert this
control. On the other hand, few organizations have formalized asset
management programs in place. With support resources often stretched thin, a
significant percentage of end users turn to local "PC gurus" to help them with
day-to-day software usage and other PC-related problems. When managers go to
an outside provider for desktop services, they do so typically because
specific in-house expertise is missing. "IS departments across all types of
organizations are struggling to manage the desktop, as costs become more of
the focus," said Chandler. "Outside providers can provide needed expertise or
simply added resources to help organizations regain control and reduce overall
costs."
The IDC study, PC Cost to Use: Drawing the Road Map for Desktop Life-Cycle
Services Opportunities (IDC #B14764), identifies and validates opportunities
for providing services in desktop PC computing environments. IDC surveyed 400
business-unit managers and 200 IS managers as part of its Desktop Cost-to-Use
Survey. The study is also based on interviews and focus groups with business-
unit and IS managers.
The report contains annual cost-per-PC data that focuses on the cost of
supporting and operating desktop PCs. This data is presented across three
different desktop IT environments that vary by level of network complexity.
This data is also presented across four different installation sizes,
according to how many PCs are being managed in these environments. In
addition, the report contains a view of current desktop trends based on
customer organizations practices and opinions regarding the purchase,
management, and support of PCs. It also includes data that shows which
support and operational services are being spent on most heavily, in dollars
as well as time commitments, across the three IT environments and four
installation sizes. It provides an analysis of this data and recommendations
to service providers about the support and operational services opportunities
that currently exist in the desktop environment.
This report is available for purchase by contacting Cheryl Toffel at
508-935-4389 or by e-mail at ctoffel@idcresearch.com. For additional
information on IDC's Client/Server Support and Operational Services research
program, please contact Kara Murphy, group marketing manager, at 508-935-4136.
About IDC
Headquartered in Framingham, Mass., International Data Corporation
provides IT market research and consulting to more than 3,900 high-technology
customers around the world. With a global network of 300 analysts in more
than 40 countries, IDC is the industry's most comprehensive resource on
worldwide IT markets, products, vendors, and geographies.
IDC/LINK, an IDC subsidiary, researches and analyzes the home computing
market, leading-edge technologies in telecommunications and new media, and the
convergence of computing and consumer electronics.
IDC's World Wide Web site ( idc.com ) contains additional
company information and recent news releases and offers full-text searching of
recent research.
IDC is a division of International Data Group, the world's leading IT
media, research and exposition company.
All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks
of their respective holders.
SOURCE IDC
/CONTACT: Kara Murphy, 508-935-4136, kmurphy@idcresearch.com, or Doug
Chandler, 508-935-4301, dchandler@idcresearch.com, both of IDC/
/Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax, 800-758-5804,
ext. 113987/
/Web site: idc.com |
