Optimizing PC Refresh Cycles to Maximize Business Value

Optimizing PC Refresh Cycles to Maximize Business Value

Wipro Consulting Boston, Massachusetts

Sponsored by: Intel Corporation

© 2006 Wipro Consulting. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © Wipro Ltd. 2006. All rights reserved. No portion of this study can be used or reproduced without permission of the author. For additional reproduction rights and usage information, go to www.wipro.com. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change.

Wipro / Intel PC Refresh Optimization October 2006 2

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ............................................... 2 Our Findings ......................................................... 3 Optimizing Refresh Cycles: A Quantitative Analysis.......................................... 4 Methodology .......................................................... 5 Process Focus........................................................ 5 Assumptions Used to Model a Representative Environment .................................. 7 Insights from Survey Responses and Data Analysis.................................................. 9 Comparing Studies............................................... 10 Comparing Optimum Refresh Cycles................... 11 Software Deployment Cost Trends ....................... 13 The Impact of Complexity on IT Responsiveness................................................ 15 Conclusions ......................................................... 18 Appendices........................................................... 19

Appendix A: A Glossary of Terms Used in This Survey ........................................ 19 Appendix B. Appendix B: Selected Demographics of Survey Respondents ............ 20 Appendix C. Overview of Wipro PSA.............. 21

Executive Summary IT managers who are responsible for their companies’ PC

strategies must be on the lookout for the formula that will

help them maximize the productive use of their PC installed

base, while minimizing the cost of purchasing, provisioning,

and supporting those PCs. In other words, they need to

optimize their hardware refresh cycles. But the mix of users

has become more diverse and IT support responsibilities

more complex due to the popularity of mobile computing and

wireless technologies. Users expect the same level of

responsiveness from IT whether they are using their desktop

PCs, mobile PCs, notebooks or handhelds in corporate

offices, conference rooms, remote offices, home offices,

airports, cafes, hotels or wherever in the world they happen

to be. Understanding the cost impact of PC refresh cycles

under these circumstances is critical to setting—and working

within—a realistic, cost-effective IT budget.

This paper presents the results of a new study designed to

help IT management realize optimal refresh cycles.

Conducted by Wipro Product Strategy and Architecture

(PSA) and sponsored by Intel, this study extends and

validates the work described in an earlier Wipro PSA

research paper titled “Measuring the Benefits of Mobile

PCs in the Enterprise.” The objective of this latest is to

provide up-to-date information that identifies lifecycle

management best practices for the entire PC mix

throughout an organization.

DEFINING PC PLATFORM AND USER TYPES

• Desktop Users – Referred to as “Desktop” throughout

this document, these employees use a desktop PC

during their working hours.

• Office Warriors – Or “Office” as they are referred to

in this document, are employees who use a mobile PC

(i.e. a laptop or notebook), and are physically present in

the office at least 80 percent of their working hours.

• Road Warriors – Referred to as “Road” in the body of

this document, these employees use a mobile PC (i.e.

laptop or notebook), and are physically present in the

office for, at most, 20 percent of their working hours.

• Mobile – Will be used throughout this survey to

indicate the total population of laptop and notebook

users, including both Office and Road Warriors.


Our Findings Wipro PSA conducted extensive interviews with senior

technology managers from 30 organizations, representing

diverse industries and PC fleets ranging from 7,000 to

110,000 systems. Their responses regarding PC

management practices and associated costs formed the

basis for the statistic analyses in this study. Our key

findings are summarized as follows:

1. Configuration-related support costs for Desktop, Office

and Road PCs all increase directly with the length of

refresh intervals. While the primary cost drivers are

software deployment failures and help desk calls, the

rate of increase varies according to both platform and

user types. When compared to the findings from the

aforementioned 2004 study, the trend in these numbers

remains the same, with cost increasing as the lifecycle

extends. The real dollar values for each cycle have

lowered overall, but the trend is constant.

• Desktop PC management costs rise $93 between

service years two and three, and $127 between

service years three and four.

• Office PC management costs jump $159 between

service years two and three, and $172 between

years three and four.

• Road PC management costs rise $4 between

service years two and three, and increase by $150

between years three and four.

2. The optimum lifecycle for each PC platform type

represents a balance between fixed cost amortization

and the platform’s specific rate of support cost increase.

• For Desktop PCs, the optimum refresh interval is

three years – the same as in 2004.

• For Office PCs, the optimum refresh interval is

three years – the same as in 2004.

• For Road PCs, the optimum refresh interval is two

years – the same as in 2004.

Organizations can derive the maximum benefit from

managing PC lifecycles against these refresh rates. Those

companies already following these refresh cycles should

continue to do so, as this study and the previous one have

determined that these refresh cycle lengths should be

considered best practices.

3. The overall cost profile of office systems is closer to

that of road machines than desktops, which may seem

counterintuitive since the Office Warrior profile (80%

of time in the office) is more closely aligned with the

Desktop profile (100% of the time in the office). The

difference between the cost profile of Desktop and

Office is much larger than between Office and Road.

Types of usage (i.e., Desktop and Office are both

largely sedentary usage models) are less important

than similarities between systems (i.e., Office and

Road are both laptop systems).

4. Despite the fact that Office and Road acquisition costs

are nearly identical, the use and support costs for Road

are higher than for Office, which accounts for the gap

between the two profiles.

5. Minor software deployment or patching is more

widespread and automated than in the past. However,

as enterprises have consolidated around Windows XP,

the cost to roll out frequent patches to a large volume

of machines has driven up the overall total cost of

ownership for Office and Road systems.

6. By implementing a proactive client refresh—retiring

older desktop machines, reducing the number of

hardware configurations and reducing aggregate

support costs—companies can recoup the capital costs

of replacing desktop PCs with mobile Office machines

that will increase user productivity. Generally,

workers with Office machines benefit from the ability

to work with their mobile PCs while in meetings

inside their office environment, often utilizing

wireless connectivity to access critical data and

services. This ability to be always connected and able

to use computing resources substantially improves

productivity.


FIGURE 1. The time required to complete software

security patch deployment increases for all platforms with

infrastructure complexity related to longer refresh cycles.

Increased exposure to risk coincides with longer

timeframes for completing patch deployments.

7. In all cases, greater complexity in the IT environment

correlates with higher maintenance and management

costs. In addition, a complex PC population can

impede the IT organization’s ability to deliver routine

but critical software testing and deployment services.

This can result in a significantly greater security risk

exposure. Finally, extending the refresh cycle beyond

the optimal rate dramatically increases the number of

hardware failures that occur during the patching

process which, in turn, requires high levels of

responsiveness (and, potentially, higher numbers of IT

personnel). The alternative is increased security risks

on neglected older machines. Figure 1 illustrates the

effort required to apply a security patch to a PC.

Optimizing Refresh Cycles: A Quantitative Analysis In PC infrastructure, diversity—a wide range of hardware

configurations across the installed base—is generally

considered to be a bad thing. As Wipro PSA has shown in

past research, there is a direct relationship between

diversity of hardware configurations and the associated

levels of hardware-related support costs. Many people have

assumed this relationship through the years. In this study,

Wipro confirms it by investigating the differing rates of the

support cost increase associated with each platform and use

type at planned system lifecycles ranging from two to five

years. Moreover, this study provides a quantitative analysis

of the economic benefits of controlling hardware-related

diversity and optimizing PC refresh cycles.

Where relevant, this latest study compares specific data

with the previous study from 2004, “Measuring the

Benefits of Mobile PCs in the Enterprise.” In general, the

patterns and best practices identified in 2004 remain the

same: Refresh cycles that stretch beyond an optimal point

create additional cost, complexity, security risks, and lower

productivity. IT should consider all of these factors when

planning the PC refresh cycle, since cost isn’t the only

significant issue.

As an example, in the current study, the data shows that the

cost difference between two- and three-year refresh cycles

for Road PCs is minor. But by pushing out the refresh to

three years, IT must be aware that the critical security risk

point is much closer, meaning that pushing the Road PC

refresh cycle beyond three years will not only dramatically

increase costs but will also increase the risk of a

detrimental security breach, which could be costly indeed.

Industries Surveyed for This Study

Telecommunications Media and Entertainment

Retail Manufacturing

Transportation and Distribution Energy and Utilities

Banking Government

Insurance Professional Services

FIGURE 2. Wipro surveyed the opinions of senior IT managers

from 30 companies and representing a variety of industries.


Methodology In mid-2006, Wipro PSA analysts interviewed CIOs, IT

directors, and senior IT managers at 30 companies

headquartered in North America and Western Europe.

Companies selected for this study represent a diversity of

industries, management practices and user distributions,

with PC user populations ranging from 7,000 to 110,000.

Figure 2 provides the industry categories from which the

companies were drawn. All interview subjects are actively

involved in the planning and execution of the management

processes discussed in the survey. On average, they are

directly responsible for 47 percent of their respective

organizations’ total installed PC base.

IN-HOUSE OPERATIONS All the companies surveyed conduct the IT business

processes analyzed in this study in-house. Some use

contract staff for certain roles but retain final control and

accountability within the organization. This in-house

criterion ensures that all reporting reflects direct, hands-on

experience with actual management practice.

PC LIFECYCLES To facilitate cost comparison, the surveyed companies were

grouped according to their PC lifecycle length in two-,

three-, four-, and five-year categories. Interestingly, firms

refreshing on two- and three-year intervals tend to

proactively decommission desktop and mobile PCs.

Conversely, firms with longer lifecycles tend to “cascade”

older machines, passing them down through the ranks and

replacing them only after serious failure.

It is worth noting that since Wipro began measuring

desktop and mobile lifecycle support costs in 2003, we

have observed a steady decline in the practice of cascading

four- and five year-old PCs, accompanied by a clear trend

towards the proactive elimination of the oldest and most

costly configurations.

Process Focus Many variables are involved in the measurement of desktop

and mobile PC complexity. As expected in any sample of 30

firms, Wipro found some variation in terminology, standards,

tools, processes, networks, and systems. To keep the analysis

consistent across the 30 firms represented, we kept the focus

of the study on common IT business processes related to PC

hardware and software deployment, configuration-related

lifecycle support, and the costs associated with both

deployment and support.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT PROCESSES INCLUDE: 1. Installing new client computers

• Hardware Qualification – The standard process of

qualifying new hardware configurations prior to

deployment

2. Installing new operating systems on existing PCs

• OS qualification – Testing and qualifying an OS

on existing desktop and mobile PC hardware

configurations

• OS deployment failure resolution – Resolving OS

deployment failures resulting from hardware

components or drivers

3. Installing major application software and updates on

existing PCs

• Application/update qualification – Testing and

qualifying an application or update on existing PC

hardware configurations

• Application/update deployment – Packaging an

application for automated deployment

• Application/update deployment failure resolution –

Resolving application deployment failures

resulting from hardware components or drivers


FIGURE 3. This analysis examined only those tasks that pertain directly to managing desktop and mobile hardware

configurations (shaded tasks), and thus focused on a subset of desktop management processes. Tasks marked with a dagger (†)

are beyond the scope of this study but result in costs that may also be affected by hardware diversity.

LIFECYCLE IT SUPPORT TASKS RELATED TO PC HARDWARE CONFIGURATIONS INCLUDE: 1. Help desk support – The IT workload associated with

receiving, prioritizing, dispatching and resolving help

desk calls related to hardware components and drivers

2. Spares and replacements provisioning – Procuring and

distributing spare batteries, power supplies and

miscellaneous accessories

3. Decommissioning tasks – Activities related to

removing PCs from service, including data cleansing

and used equipment sales

4. Documentation – Tracking and documenting hardware

in the installed base

5. Training – Training IT staff and end-users on the use

and maintenance of hardware in the installed base

6. User relocation support – Activities related to the

movement of users and their PCs. For Desktops, this

includes physical movement of the systems,

reconfiguration and reconnection to the network. For

Office and Road Warriors this may include relocation of

base stations and network or system re-configuration.

THE SURVEY AND INTERVIEW Respondents were given detailed surveys that were

distributed several days before scheduled follow-up

telephone interviews. After respondents completed the

survey, the telephone interviews provided an opportunity to

clarify or expand upon their answers. Using specific

information from respondents, Wipro analysts generated

detailed labor cost data by determining:

• The frequency of particular events (hardware

qualifications, etc.)

• The typical time for accomplishing the tasks associated

with each event

• The labor rates for employees performing the tasks


FIGURE 4. A graphical representation of the structure of the interview guide.

As illustrated above, the interview guide was structured to

follow the lifecycle of desktop and mobile PC systems.

Sections of the guide focused on the following:

• Gathering general background on the respondents’

companies, such as number of employees, number of

client systems, and IT staff hourly rates

• Capturing the costs of system management across the

lifecycle of desktop and mobile PC clients, including

sourcing and procurement

• Processes and costs related to the configuration, testing

and qualification of hardware and software

• Ongoing support and administration costs, and

• Client decommissioning

Assumptions Used to Model a Representative Environment Based on detailed data collected from interviews, Wipro

modeled a representative environment composed of 50,000

Desktop, Office and Road PCs in order to assess the impact

of environment complexity and lifecycle length on support

costs, while holding other variables constant. We believe that

many of the findings associated with the 50,000 PC model

are also relevant for smaller organizations with PC fleets of

10,000, or possibly fewer, because many of the larger

enterprises surveyed did not centrally manage their client

environments. Instead, they managed their client PCs either

by line of business or geography, thus emulating much

smaller organizations and limiting their ability to achieve

economies of scale in managing sizeable user populations.


FIGURE 5. Assumptions used to model

a typical enterprise PC environment.

The assumptions listed in Figure 5 were used to model

typical desktop management practices, and to evaluate

the impact of complexity and lifecycle variation on desktop

PC support costs. This survey used U.S. and European

labor rates to associate desktop PC support practices with

labor costs.

SPECIAL NOTE ON THE MODEL ASSUMPTION: COST OF A NEW LAPTOP In the 2004 study, “Measuring the Benefits of Mobile PCs

in the Enterprise,” the model assumptions included a cost

of $1,750 for a new laptop PC. As hardware prices have

generally fallen since 2004, this study uses a model

assumption of $1,350 for a new laptop PC. The only area in

which this change created a difference is in the refresh

cycle for Road PCs. Using the original $1,750 laptop price,

the optimum refresh cycle for Road PCs in the new study is

three years. But at the current and more accurate

assumption price of $1,350 for a new laptop, the new study

shows that the optimum Road PC refresh is two years,

which is the same as the 2004 study.

The optimum refresh cycle for Office PCs, which are also

laptops priced at $1,350 in the model assumptions, is three

years. This is the same as the study in 2004.

Model Assumptions Value

Number of PCs 50,000

Number of Vendors 3

Number of Models Deployed per Year 2

Number of PC Configurations Deployed per Year 6

Number of Applications Qualified per Year 7

Number of Applications Deployed per Year 11

Number of Minor Updates Qualified per Year 38

Number of Minor Updates Deployed per Year 38

Frequency of Operating System Deployments (Years) 2.5

Level 1 Resource Burdened Labor Rate (U.S. Dollars) $42.48



Cost of New Desktop PC $800

Cost of New Office Laptop $1,350

Cost of New Road Laptop $1,350


Insights from Survey Responses and Data Analysis Older Desktop PCs are more expensive to support

• Support costs jump from $344 to $471 per year as Desktop PCs age from three to four years—a 37 percent increase. This is due to increased software deployment costs, including OS and major and minor application deployments.

• Minor software deployment costs increase particularly fast, from an average of $125 at three years to $172 at four years and $218 at five—increases of 38 and 27 percent, respectively, over the three-year rate. Respondents told us that this correlated with incompatibilities introduced by older hardware (often unsupported), as well as the fact that older PCs tend to run older OS versions.

• Hardware-related help desk calls become more frequent and consume more time, leading to increased costs.

• There is a consistent pattern for Desktop PCs in this and the 2004 study. Specifically, the real dollar cost is higher, but the pattern of increase and optimal refresh cycle are the same.

Office Warrior PCs follow a similar trend

• Support costs jump from $592 to $763 per year as Office Warrior PCs age from three to four years—a 29 percent increase.

• As with Desktops, this is due to increased software deployment costs, including OS and major and minor application deployments.

• Minor software deployment costs for these PCs increase at a similar rate to desktops, from an average of $322 at three years to $399 at four years and $505 at five—increases of 24 and 27 percent, respectively, over the three-year rate.

• More frequent and lengthier hardware-related help desk calls become a major cost factor as Office systems age. Our analysis reveals that up to 20 percent of help desk costs are incurred when the user is out of the office, and that wear and tear on laptops is consistently higher than on Desktop systems

• When compared to the data for Office Warrior PCs from the previous study, the pattern remains constant, except now minor software deployment costs are significantly higher than in the previous study. This issue is covered in detail later in this paper.

Road Warrior PCs also become more expensive as they age

• Support costs start relatively high and increase markedly, going from $629 to $858 per year as Road Warrior systems age from three to four years—a 36 percent increase.

• As with Desktop and Office systems, this is due to increased software deployment costs, including OS and major and minor application deployments,

• Minor application deployment is the major cost contributor right from the start, growing to 61 percent of total costs by year five. This is consistent with the trend we saw in Office systems but more pronounced.

• The lack of decommissioning costs points to two phenomena for which we have only anecdotal evidence:

• Road systems are commonly recycled or cascaded as Office systems

• Many Road systems are not as thoroughly decommissioned as their Office and Desktop counterparts

• When compared to the previous study, Road Warrior systems follow the same trend and, as with Office systems, minor software deployments are the most significant aspect of overall cost.


TO REDUCE COSTS, REDUCE THE NUMBER OF VENDORS

One result of our analysis has been to correlate the number

of PC vendors used by an organization with the per-PC

support costs incurred. Our data reveals that firms with four

vendors spend 20 percent more in support costs, on

average, than firms who use just two vendors. This is

consistent with our earlier finding that the number of

configurations directly influences support costs. Therefore,

CIOs can further lower their support costs by carefully

reducing the number of PC vendors they use, keeping in

mind that some PC vendors excel at helping organizations

manage costs.

Comparing Studies

As mentioned previously, key trends uncovered in the 2004

study hold constant in its 2006 counterpart, with few

exceptions. Specific data points that vary from the 2004

study have been addressed in the main body of the text.

That notwithstanding, the following table summarizes some

of the key issues, noting two interesting differences.

2004 Findings 2006 Findings

Optimum Desktop PC refresh is three years

Optimum Office system refresh is three years

Optimum Road system refresh is two years

Optimum Desktop PC refresh is three years

Optimum Office system refresh is three years

Optimum Road system refresh is two years

Hardware-related help desk support costs are the major

contributors to overall support costs for Road systems.

Minor software application deployment is the major

contributor to overall support costs for Road systems. The

“Software Deployment Cost Trends” section of this paper

goes into more detail on this issue.

Help desk call volume increases at three and a half years

into a PC’s lifecycle and then levels off.

Help desk call volume spikes dramatically at three and a half

years into a PC’s lifecycle and continues to climb. This

increase is much higher than previously seen, further

emphasizing the need to follow refresh cycle best practices.

Operating system heterogeneity is extremely high. Operating system heterogeneity is extremely low. A large

majority of organizations have standardized on the Windows

XP operating system for PCs since 2004. This introduces

new management issues that are discussed in the “Software

Deployment Cost Trends” section of this paper


Comparing Optimum Refresh Cycles

FIGURE 6. Cost optimizing the Desktop lifecycle

THE OPTIMUM DESKTOP PC REFRESH INTERVAL: THREE YEARS

Our analysis indicates that longer lifecycles result in higher

support costs. Because of this, determining the most cost-

effective desktop lifecycle will optimize a company’s cost

to benefit ratio.

Figure 6 shows the sum of hardware and support costs

given an initial cost of $800 for a Desktop PC (excluding

keyboard, mouse, and monitor). A three-year refresh offers

the lowest total yearly cost at $610 per Desktop PC,

compared to $671 for a four-year lifecycle and $741 for a

five-year lifecycle. For a firm with 50,000 Desktop PCs,

this translates to an annual total cost of $30.5 million for a

three-year refresh,

$33.6 million for a four-year refresh, and $37.1million for a

five-year refresh.

Firms on a three-year lifecycle invest an additional $67 per

Desktop PC each year on hardware, deployment and

decommissioning costs compared to firms on a four-year

cycle, but they manage to save $127 per PC each year in

support costs. The result is a net savings of $60 per

Desktop PC per year—a $1.05 million annual savings for a

fleet of 17,519 Desktop PCs, which is the average number

for respondents in this study.

“We try to keep client PCs for three years. After that, they

are decommissioned and recycled.”

– Infrastructure Director, retail industry


FIGURE 7. Cost optimizing the Office system lifecycle

THE OPTIMUM OFFICE PC REFRESH INTERVAL: THREE YEARS

Using the same logic and similar core assumptions, Wipro

analysts deduced that three years is also the optimal refresh

cycle for Office systems. Figure 7 shows the sum of hardware

and support costs for an Office system, given an initial cost of

$1,350 (excluding keyboard, mouse, monitor, and/or docking

station). A three-year refresh offers the lowest total yearly cost

at $1,042 per Office system, compared to $1,101 for a four-

year lifecycle and $1,217 for a five-year lifecycle—increases

of six and eighteen percent, respectively. The additional

security exposure and cost to mitigate this exposure increases

significantly from years three to four. Combining the cost

increase and security risk exposure makes for a compelling

case to refresh at three years.

For a firm with 50,000 Office systems, this translates to a

total yearly cost of $52.1 million for a three-year refresh,

$55.1 million for a four-year refresh, and $60.9 million for

a five-year refresh. On average, firms on a three-year

lifecycle thus invest an additional $112 per Office system

each year on hardware, deployment, and decommissioning

costs compared to firms on a four-year cycle. However,

they save $171 per machine in support costs each year. The

result is a net savings of $59 per Office system per year—a

$260,000 annual savings for a fleet of 4,410 Office

systems, which is the average number per respondent in

this study.

FIGURE 8. Cost optimizing the Road system lifecycle


THE OPTIMUM ROAD SYSTEM REFRESH INTERVAL: TWO YEARS

The most cost-effective refresh cycle for Road systems

according to Wipro analysts is likely to come as a surprise.

Figure 8 shows the sum of hardware and support costs

given an initial cost of $1,350 for a Road system (excluding

keyboard, mouse, monitor, and/or docking station). A two-

year refresh offers the lowest total yearly cost at $1,304 per

Road system versus $1,308 for a three-year lifecycle,

$1,457 for a four-year lifecycle, and $1,626 for a five-year

lifecycle.

For a firm with 50,000 Road systems, this translates to a total

yearly cost of $65.2 million for a two–year refresh cycle,

$65.4 million for a three-year refresh, $72.9 million for a

four-year refresh, and $81.3 million for a five-year refresh.

Firms on a two-year lifecycle will invest an additional $225

per Road system each year on hardware, deployment, and

decommissioning costs compared to firms on a three-year

cycle. But they will save $229 per machine in annual

support costs. The result is a net savings of $4 per Road

system per year—a $7,684 savings on a fleet of 1,921 Road

laptops, which is the average number for respondents in

this study. While this difference is quite small, consider

that additional security risks increase as a Road system

moves into its third year of service, with that security risk

exposure dramatically increasing at 3.5 years. For these

reasons, two years is the most cost-effective and secure

refresh cycle for Road systems.

FIGURE 9. Side-by-side cost comparison of Road, Office and Desktop systems for various lifecycles.


COMPARING OPTIMUM REFRESH CYCLES

Figure 9 presents the relative cost profiles for Desktop,

Office, and Road systems at one-year lifecycle intervals up

to five years. As expected, for any given refresh cycle,

Desktop PCs are the least expensive and Road Warrior

most expensive. Aggregate costs for Road systems are

markedly higher than Desktop and Office machines.

IT organizations that already use these refresh cycles are

utilizing best practices. They are not only saving their

companies money, they are also minimizing downstream

security issues and support headaches associated with older

PCs. IT organizations not following these best practices are

advised to look more closely at their own practices and

build and execute a strategy to align PC refresh with these

optimal cycles.

“My experience has been that older PCs cause more

problems than they are worth. We stick to our refresh

plan because I know that this saves my staff a lot of

time and effort.”

– VP of IT, insurance industry

Software Deployment Cost Trends One of the new issues that emerged in this study as

compared to the previous study is the rise in cost of minor

software deployments for Office and Road systems as a

percentage of the total cost of individual systems. This

points to the reality that IT is patching much more

frequently than in years past. Increased focus on responsive

patching is a very encouraging development, as is the

increased use of automated patching software. But while

these trends are positive, they skew support costs higher.

One of the points of data that sheds some light on this

matter is the consolidation around Windows XP.

FIGURE 10. In just two years, IT has largely consolidated its client operating systems around Windows XP.


As Figure 10 shows, since 2004, IT has standardized

on the Windows XP client operating system. While

this has reduced the complexity of managing large

numbers of PCs (as compared to an equal number

running multiple OS types), it has also contributed to

raising the cost of minor software deployment due to

the higher volume of security patches needed to

support Windows XP. What’s more, this higher

volume of patches is being rolled out to a higher

number of laptops. In the previous study, Road

systems had a much higher cost for Help Desk calls

than for minor software deployment. The change

demonstrates IT’s strengthening commitment to

rolling out patches to Road Warriors and thus

minimizing downstream Help Desk costs.

Regarding client systems in general, when asked the

level of agreement with a strategy of deploying patches

at the time of release or on a scheduled cycle

independent of patch release, survey respondents

strongly favored deploying patches immediately. Figure

11 below shows the level of agreement for deploying

patches upon release on a scale of 1 to 7 with 1 being

Strongly Disagree and 7 being Strongly Agree.

Figure 11: Companies are very proactive with regard to

deploying patches as soon as they are released. This bar

graph illustrates the importance that IT survey respondents

place upon deploying security patches at the first

opportunity. Responses are measured on a scale of 1 to 7

with 1 being Strongly Disagree and 7 being Strongly Agree.

“We have worked hard to implement a proactive patching

strategy and automation tools so that we can greatly lower

the risk of a security breach.”

– VP of IT, banking industry

In summary, IT is responding more quickly to patching

requirements for Windows XP, but this increases the cost

associated with minor software deployment within the

overall PC cost.

The Impact of Complexity on IT Responsiveness It’s a truism that more complex environments are more

expensive to maintain, and that they impede the IT

organization’s ability to deliver critical services. This is true

for Desktop, Office and Road systems. Not surprisingly,

Wipro’s analysis validates that the following conclusions:

• Minimizing the number of images for the fleet of PCs

will also reduce complexity and lower support costs.

• Following the refresh cycle recommendations for

Desktop, Office and Road systems outlined above can

make a significant difference in IT responsiveness.

“We make every effort to reduce the number of images

because it lowers expenses when trying to deploy new

software, patches, and OS updates.”

– IT Manager, retail industry

REFRESH CYCLE IMPACT ON SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT FAILURE RATES

Our analysis has established that IT departments are doing

more software deployments than ever before, and that the

cost of those deployments rises as refresh cycles lengthen.

This is due in large part to the fact that longer refresh cycles

mean markedly higher failure rates for operating systems as

well as for application deployments, both major and minor.

The unfortunate thing is that IT personnel assigned to resolve


failed software deployments are effectively barred from

engaging in other activities of more strategic importance.

Figure 12: Regardless of the type of client system,

software deployment failures increase rapidly with

longer refresh intervals.

Two important trends are apparent in the data charted in

Figure 12. The first is that OS deployments suffer the

steepest rise in failure frequency, becoming prohibitively

inefficient and expensive for all client types after just 3.5

years. The second is that failure rates for Desktop, Office,

and Road systems are effectively identical. This is interesting

inasmuch as it dispels the widely held notion that client

systems on LANs or enterprise networks have much higher

rates of software deployment success.

THE IMPACT OF REFRESH CYCLE ON HELP DESK OPERATIONS

A consequence of longer refresh cycles that is often

overlooked is the impact of the additional complexity of the

installed base that results as time passes and aging systems

remain in service. This can have a substantial impact on the

IT Help Desk, and it isn’t positive. In fact, this added

complexity can have a double impact on firms, since:

1. IT employees are occupied longer resolving help desk

issues, and

2. Help Desk personnel are busier, a problem that is

exacerbated by the recent trend to downsize IT

departments.

3. There is also a hidden burden borne by Help Desk staff:

Older systems typically run older OS versions, and have

hardware subsystems that require specialized

knowledge—all of which adds to the training,

documentation and knowledge base required.


FIGURE 13: Help Desk calls rise dramatically at 3.5 years

into a refresh cycle.

In analyzing the Help Desk call volume data collected in

our survey and displayed in Figure 13, two additional facts

become evident:

1. The number of calls from Desktop, Office, and Road

users is strikingly similar and grows at almost the

same rate as the installed base ages.

2. When client systems reach approximately 3.5 years of

age, the volume of Help Desk calls rises dramatically

for all three user populations.

Road system call volume is dramatically affected by the

refresh cycle length, emphasizing the need to proactively

refresh those systems as described earlier in this report. A

single four-year-old Road machine averages nearly eight

calls per user per month—the same as two of the same

machines at two and a half years old. Firms should

therefore see dramatic, measurable decreases in their Help

Desk call volumes as they modernize their Road systems.

ADDITIONAL REFRESH-RELATED SECURITY RISKS

Longer refresh cycles directly increase the time it takes for

firms to successfully test and deploy software patches.

Moreover, every un-patched system increases an

organization’s vulnerability and risk of successful attack, and

many analysts agree that firms have not effectively patched

their networks until more than 95 percent of candidate

systems are covered. Reducing this interval of heightened

risk exposure is a top priority for almost all the IT executives

we spoke with. But the challenges are formidable.

• A four-year Desktop refresh cycle adds an average of

48 minutes of effort per PC per patch when compared

with those on a three-year refresh. For 10,000 systems

this means an additional 8,000 hours per patching

event.

• A four-year Office refresh cycle adds an average of 77

minutes of effort per PC per patch when compared with

systems on a three-year refresh. For 10,000 systems,

this means 12,834 additional hours per patching event.

• A four-year Road refresh cycle adds an average of 156

minutes of effort per PC per patch when compared with

those on a three-year refresh. For 10,000 systems, this

means 26,000 additional hours per patching event.

FIGURE 14. The time required to complete software

security patch deployment increases as refresh cycle

lengths increase. This is due to increased complexity

of the installed base related to longer refresh cycles,

as well as the difficulty of working with older systems.

Additional deployment time translates to additional

security risk exposure.


The values shown in Figure 14 reflect the average

additional time required to test and successfully deploy

software patches to an installed base of 50,000 PCs. The

efforts measured and included in this display include:

• Patch testing

• Resolution of hardware-related failures during

deployment

Efforts not measured include:

• Initial patch deployment (manual or automated). This

cost is dependent on several IT systems such as patch

management and systems management software that are

not within the scope of this analysis.

Of course the potential liabilities associated with security

breaches will vary by firm, industry, and the nature of the

threat. However, more proactive refresh cycles can have a

direct, dramatic, risk-mitigating effect regardless of whether

you are patching Desktop, Office, or Road systems. By

retiring older, more vulnerable systems, the enterprise

increases the productivity of its IT administrators, who are no

longer saddled with the ongoing, time-consuming need to

apply patches to aging PCs. A security patch on an older

machine can require an end user to surrender their machine

to IT and thus render them without access to corporate

computing resources. This is likely to create a loss of

productivity and can even lead to a business crisis should the

patching event occur at an important moment in the business

cycle such as the end of a quarter for a sales person. The

downstream effects of reduced IT responsiveness due to time

spent patching and repairing older PCs can be far reaching.

Conclusions Data gathered from 30 firms in a variety of industries shows

that, when it comes to PC installed base management,

limiting complexity and optimizing platform refresh cycles

lowers overall ownership expense substantially.

Because the ongoing support and administrative costs for

Desktop, Office and Road systems rise steeply over time,

the cost-optimized lifecycle for each platform is a balance

between initial cost amortization and continuing cost

minimization.

• For Desktop PCs, the optimum refresh interval

is three years

• For Office systems, the optimum refresh interval

is also three years

• For Road systems, the optimum refresh interval

is two years.

IT can save substantial sums of money by optimizing PC

refresh cycles. Beyond cost savings, IT can greatly

minimize security risks and support headaches by retiring

older systems. This study clearly shows that IT

responsiveness to security patching drops because of the

extra time needed to patch older PCs that are well beyond

their optimal refresh point. This trend can lead to a loss of

productivity not only for IT but for the end-user population

it supports.

By implementing a proactive refresh strategy for their PC

fleets, tailored to optimum lifecycle intervals, companies

can greatly reduce their total spending on PC infrastructure,

while improving enterprise operating efficiency and

security. Companies should closely evaluate these finding

and aggressively implement proactive refresh strategies

across their PC environments.


Appendices APPENDIX A. A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN THIS SURVEY

Office Warrior Employees who use a mobile PC (i.e., a laptop or notebook) and are physically

present in the office for at least 80% of their working hours.

Road Warrior Employees who use a mobile PC (i.e., a laptop or notebook) and are physically

present in the office for at a maximum of 20% of their working hours.

Deployment The process of placing an application in a distributed environment and making

the application available for use. Deployment can include such tasks as

installation, configuration, and administration of various parts of the application.

Desktop/Laptop Mix The proportion of PCs in an enterprise that are desktop models vs. laptop

models, e.g., a 70:30 mix.

Hardware Configuration A collection of PCs that use the same hardware driver stack.

Installed Base The PCs already installed and in use within an organization.

Operational Costs The ongoing costs of managing an installed base of PCs, such as deploying

software updates, answering user queries, fixing broken hardware or software,

etc. Typically, most if not all of these costs are labor-related. They may also be

called support costs or management costs.

Proactive Refresh Cycle A plan to replace PCs on a regular basis, not just when they break or

performance falters. With a three-year proactive refresh cycle, about 1/3 of the

PCs in an installed base would be replaced each year.

Refresh Cycle The planned length of time from when PCs are deployed to when they are

decommissioned and replaced by new PCs.

Software Image The “master copy” of an enterprise’s operating system, tools, drivers, and

applications that is cloned to end-user PCs. There may be one or multiple software

images. “Image engineering” is the creation and testing of a software image.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

TCO accounts for all of the costs associated with procuring, deploying and

owning IT systems. TCO includes purchase, lease and maintenance costs for

hardware and software. It also includes labor costs associated with planning,

purchasing, testing, configuration, deployment, software updates, training and

technical support. Some TCO models, such as Gartner’s, also include end-user

costs (such as downtime and peer support); others do not. TCO models do NOT

take into account the end-user benefits that flow from a technology, such as

increased productivity.

Software Updates Changes to an existing deployed application or operating system, such as

hotfixes, patches, and point releases, as well as updated and new versions.


APPENDIX B. SELECTED DEMOGRAPHICS OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS


APPENDIX C. OVERVIEW OF WIPRO PSA OVERVIEW OF WIPRO PRODUCE STRATEGY & ARCHITECTURE PRACTICE The Wipro Product Strategy & Architecture (PSA) Practice is a division of Wipro Technologies, a global technology services

division of Wipro Ltd. (NYSE-WIT). Wipro’s PSA Practice has more than 10 years experience in researching, analyzing, and

documenting the business value of technology solutions. Wipro’s PSA practice helps enterprises and technology vendors develop

innovative and effective product and IT strategies that enable them to expand their market opportunities, extend their competitive

advantage and economize their business operations.

In addition to providing consulting to technology vendors, Wipro’s PSA Practice consultants and technologists work with global

enterprises and service providers in architecting and implementing large-scale systems. This practical, hands-on experience gives

Wipro’s PSA Practice consultants and technical architects first-hand knowledge that informs their business analysis work. For

further information, contact [email protected] or visit http://www.wipro.com/psa_practice.


For further information, contact [email protected]

or visit http://www.wipro.com/psa

Copyright © Wipro Ltd. 2006. All rights reserved. No portion of this study can be used or reproduced without permission of the

author. For additional reproduction rights and usage information, go to www.wipro.com. Information is based on best available

resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change.

Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

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Optimizing PC Refresh Cycles to Maximize Business Value