BRACKNELL, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Businesses could make total cost of ownership savings of 15% over five years by equipping their mobile workforces with rugged notebooks, tablets and handheld devices, according to calculations by Panasonic Business. It’s TCO Calculator, launched today, shows that these savings could be achieved through reduced failure rates and extended use if Panasonic Toughbook and Toughpad devices were deployed.
“The challenge is in convincing IT decision makers to pay now, to save later,” said Jan Kaempfer, General Manager for Marketing at Panasonic Computer Product Solutions. “Due to the superior design and investment in protection, rugged devices often cost more than a traditional notebook or laptop but as the evidence quite clearly shows, the return on investment quickly pays-off - in year one for tablet and handheld devices and year two for notebooks.”
To fully understand the costs of notebook, tablet and handheld device damage to organisations, Panasonic commissioned IDC to research IT decision makers at 800 organisations across a broad range of vertical industries.
Failure Rates
They found that on average about 18% of a company's notebooks require repair of some kind during a year. The majority of these repairs are due to accidental damage. The repair numbers are slightly lower for tablets (16%) and handheld devices (14%), but they are still material. While 11% of notebooks are likely to fail in the first year and the likelihood of failure nearly doubles to 21% by year five. Year one tablet failures are 13% and year five failures 19%. Year one handheld failures are 14% and year five failures 17%.
At Risk
The components most often damaged in the notebooks were the screen, followed by the keyboard and then the storage drive (HDD or SSD). For tablets, the most damaged component was the screen, followed by ports or connectors and then the outer chassis. For handhelds, the top component likely to be damaged were the screen, the battery, and the outer chassis.
ROI Calculations
Respondents report spending an average of £1,075 per non-rugged notebook and £1,616 per rugged notebook. A look at the annual device failure rates and the average per-incident repair cost of £2,775 shows that the ROI for rugged devices is achieved by the second year of the non-rugged device. This schedule is well within the two-year eight-month average PC refresh cycle for respondents in the survey.
For tablets, the premium for rugged devices is less than for notebooks and the cost benefits of rugged devices are easily achieved. Respondents report paying £1,016 for non-rugged tablets versus £1,140 for rugged devices. Given an average repair cost of £2,003, the ROI is achieved after the first year.
For smartphones and handheld devices, the average price paid for non-rugged devices is £659 and for rugged devices is £762. Given an average repair cost of £2,512 for these devices, the ROI can be expected to be achieved after the first year.
“Rugged devices do cost more to purchase up-front, but based on the amount of money saved in terms of employee downtime, IT servicing time, and other related costs, the investment in a high-quality rugged device could pay dividends for years,” concluded Jan Kaempfer.
Download an Executive Summary of the Pay Now, Save Later research here.
About Panasonic System Communications Company Europe (PSCEU)
Panasonic System Communications Company Europe’s (PSCEU) goal is to improve the working lives of business professionals and help their organisations’ efficiency and performance through world leading technology. We help organisations capture, compute and communicate all sorts of information: image, voice, and textual data. With around 350 staff, engineering design expertise, global project management capability and a large European partner network, PSCEU offers unrivalled capability in its markets.
PSCEU is made up of six product categories:
- Broadcast & ProAV offers high quality products and solutions to ensure smooth operation and excellent cost-performance to end-users in the areas of remote camera solutions, switchers, studio camera solutions and ENG P2. The VariCam line-up of professional digital video cameras are capable of true 4K and High Dynamic Range (HDR) which makes them the ideal solution for cinema, television, documentary and live event production.
- Communication Solutions offer world leading communication solutions including professional scanners, telephony systems and SIP terminal devices.
- Computer Product Solutions help mobile workers improve productivity with its range of Toughbook rugged notebooks, Toughpad business tablets and electronic point of sales (EPOS) systems. As European market leaders, Panasonic Toughbook had a 67% revenue share of sales of rugged and durable notebooks and Panasonic Toughpad held a 56% revenue share of sales of rugged business tablets in 2016 (VDC Research, March 2017).
- Industrial Medical Vision provides applications for various segments such as medical, life science, ProAV or industrial. The product portfolio includes complete and OEM micro camera solutions. End-users, system integrators or distributors can choose from a range of full product solutions and component vision technology.
- Security Solutions, including video surveillance cameras and recorders, video intercom systems and intruder alarms.
- Visual System Solutions, including projectors and professional displays. Panasonic offers the widest range of Visual products, and leads the European high brightness projector market with a 37.20% market revenue share (Futuresource >5klm (FY16 April 2015 - March 2016, excl. 4K & digital cinema).
About Panasonic
Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development of diverse electronics technologies and solutions for customers in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, and B2B businesses. Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2018, the company has expanded globally and now operates 495 subsidiaries and 91 associated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of Euro 61.711 billion for the year ended March 31, 2017. Committed to pursuing new value through innovation across divisional lines, the company uses its technologies to create a better life and a better world for its customers. To learn more about Panasonic: http://www.panasonic.com/global