80% of IT isn’t in purchase price

PC purchase prices are often just 20% of the total cost of running your machines: the other 80% is maintenance, support and the rest. IBM is concerned that users are forgetting this important factor and treating PCs as commodities in their IT upgrade decision-making. “You can’t treat PCs like fridges or washing machines,” warns Adrian Horne, specialist for IBM’s PC Division. “You can’t just plug them in and forget them, especially in a business environment.” He argues that criteria like depreciation, management, operating costs, deployment and updating must be considered when specifying PCs. “Over the life of the PC, those issues will cost you far more than the initial purchase price,” he says. “You can’t ignore that. That’s why leasing is often a good idea, especially where cash flow is an issue. And leasing these days can also include support, server systems, upgrades, help desk…” The point: you need a back-up infrastructure to support the PCs, otherwise you’re wasting money. And vice versa: IBM is arguing for a better balance between PCs and servers – the back end and the front end – in the infrastructure world.