Buying PCs for the enterprise
What do you look for in a new desktop PC? A big, bright screen? Zippy new processor? Capacious hard drive? Acres of RAM? Sorry, none of these is a real concern for corporate PC buyers. What they're looking for probably isn't even in the machine.
Numerous studies have shown that the price of a new computer is only a small part of the total cost of ownership (TCO). Support, maintenance and other intangibles contribute far more heavily to the sum. Those who buy desktop computers by the tens, hundreds or thousands have taken this lesson to heart. When they go shopping, therefore, their list of desired features has very little to do with hardware. Smart vendors are paying attention to this and adjusting their offerings accordingly.
Hardware Necessities
Corporate buyers recognize that certain aspects of candidate PCs are essential, including the following:
Solid performance at reasonable price. Whenever you see magazine reviews of PCs, one editor's choice will inevitably be a supermachine to die for: primo components, primo design, at a primo price. Just turn the page. Corporate buyers know that their users probably aren't mapping the human genome or plotting trajectories to Saturn. They're doing word processing, order entry, sales contact management, programming and other essential business tasks. They need solid, competent machines at a reasonable price, not the latest whiz-bang. "Mainstream machines from respected vendors are going to do the job fine," says Bob Jorgenson, a spokesman for The Boeing Co. in Seattle. Buyers know that, so they're not looking for more.
Operating-system-ready. "A change in operating system is the most disruptive upgrade an enterprise has to face," says Paul Neilson, vice president of technical support at Monster.com, an online job-placement service in Maynard, Mass. That's why many corporate buyers want their machines to be able to handle current operating systems and anticipated new ones. While many enterprises use Windows 9x or NT, they must be able to make a possible transition to Windows 2000 or Me. In addition, any planning for three to five years into the future must take into account the appearance of even newer operating systems. Primarily, that means having sufficient hard disk space and RAM. What constitutes "sufficient" is in the eye of the buyer and not in the rosy "minimum requirements" offered by operating system vendors.
Connectivity. Networked machines are a given in corporate life, and Internet-worked machines are becoming a given. Buyers need machines equipped with reliable network interface cards or even wireless LAN capabilities. "With fewer cables to worry about, wireless LANs contribute to the flexibility of the workplace and the simplicity of PC deployment," says Matt Heller, vice president of operations at GoTo.com Inc. in Pasadena, Calif., which provides online search services to tens of thousands of affiliate partners and has more than 30,000 advertisers. Many organizations are planning for Internet-based applications and need machines ready to make fast, reliable and secure connections. "Connection performance and ports are prime factors for us," says Chris Carrara, IT manager
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