The Hidden Costs of a Failing Small Business IT Infrastructure
November 6,2013
By Bob Coleman
Editor, Coleman Report
This quirky article, alright, press release is by Intel, urges its small business customers to upgrade their PCs at the peril of lost employee productivity.
However, it is relevant for small business lenders as an off balance sheet metric to determine if your borrowers are spending the necessary dollars to keep their employees productive – and happy as well.
We love stats. Check out these eye popping stats.
42 working hours are lost when an older PC needs repair.
47% of small businesses are unaware of Microsoft ending service support for Windows* XP.
On average, small business workers lose more than one work week per year due to old PCs.
Older PCs negatively impact work performance – On average, employees lose 21 more hours by using a PC that is 4 years or older due to time needed for repairs, maintenance and security issues as compared to PCs that are less than 4 years old. Repair and maintenance is 1.5 times more frequent on PCs that are 4 years or older.
Repair costs for older PCs either equal or exceed the purchase price of new PCs — Small businesses are spending an average of $427 to repair a PC that is 4 years or older. This is 1.3 times the repair cost of PCs that are less than 4 years old.
Security risks and other costs will increase in 2014 — Forty-seven percent of respondents were unaware that Microsoft is ending service support for the popular Windows* XP platform, placing a higher maintenance burden directly on small businesses. Moreover, since automatic updates will no longer be provided to help protect PCs, valuable business data is more vulnerable to security risks and viruses.
Small businesses in the United States are using the oldest PCs – Of the countries surveyed, 8 percent of small businesses in the United States are running PCs that are 5 years or older, in contrast to only 5 percent of small businesses worldwide and 1 percent in India.