How to Build a Winning Workstation Strategy

Like other areas of business operations, providing a stable fleet of computer workstations for an increasingly disrupted workforce is . . . complicated. Developing and maintaining a workstation strategy can seem like a matter of walking numerous intersecting tightropes. It’s a balance between computing power and need. Build quality and cost. Short-term cost-cutting and strategic investment. Predictability and immediacy.

 Affinity’s vCIOs work with clients regularly to find the right balance between these competing priorities. And while no two clients come out with the exact same strategy, a number of themes remain constant.

How to Make a Great Workstation

Consider Mobility: Laptops vs. Desktops

If the pandemic has taught us anything in business, it’s that flexibility—and specifically mobility—is a key advantage. That’s why more businesses than ever are investing in laptop workstations. True, laptops are almost always the more expensive option. But when an employee who suddenly has to work from home has a laptop, the gains in productivity are huge.

And given the computing power of modern laptops—and the utility of docking stations capable of connecting to multiple monitors and other peripherals—there is no longer any need to issue both laptops and desktops in a vast majority of cases. So, while there certainly are special cases where desktops make the most sense (shared terminals, design stations, etc.), laptops are increasingly the preferred option, even with the greater investment.

Build Quality Matters (a.k.a. Why Can’t I Just Buy Cheaper Computers at a Big Box Store?)

Most major business-class PC manufacturers have different lines of workstations. Some are targeted at home or consumer use. Some are targeted clearly for business use. And some are somewhere in between.

Our strong counsel to our clients has been to invest in truly business-class lines and models. The price difference is significant. But, in our twenty years supporting business IT, we have learned that less-than business-grade build quality not only means a loss of longevity but also productivity. Even if a consumer-grade PC is covered under warranty, hardware failures—which are much more frequent in lower-cost models—are still costly to worker productivity. Even if a spare workstation is available while a worker waits 1-2 business days for a warranty repair, the disruption to their work is still significant, and hours of productivity are likely to be lost.

 Which leads to the next point . . .

Have Spare Laptops or Desktops On Hand—and Ready to Go!

Having a spare workstation on hand can cut productivity loss due to inevitable hardware failure or loss from days to hours, and potentially even minutes with the right forethought.

The best practice is to configure and maintain hot spares: workstations that are pre-configured with needed applications and always plugged in and connected to the network to receive the necessary patches and updates. With hot spares in place, a technician will be able to get an employee with a failed computer back to work in much less time, safeguarding productivity.

Establish Role-Based and Minimum Build Specifications

Typically, we recommend having two to three standard computer configurations based on roles within your organization, matching investment in computing power to the needs of any job. This takes the guesswork and research time out of procurement, increasing efficiency.

That said, it’s best to keep in mind a minimum configuration to increase the flexibility with your inventory. For instance, if you procure an underpowered laptop for a role filled by one employee (one mainly responsible for online data entry, say), that workstation can’t be repurposed for other roles, and, at worst, the cost of that workstation is sunk if that position is no longer viable to the business.

Develop a Predictable Replacement Cycle

We recommend that companies determine an acceptable lifespan for their workstations, and then work to plan to replace them in a way that fits into their budgeting cycles. On the one hand, some companies wish to realize savings in labor and even hardware costs by replacing large quantities of workstations at the same time. On the other hand, many companies wish to spread out the cost of replacement over multiple months or quarters to prevent large capital expenditures at any time.

Either option, or something in between, might be best for your organization. The point is to evaluate the age and acceptable lifespan of your team’s workstations, and schedule refreshes well in advance to provide budgeting predictability.

Work with Business-Minded Technology Professionals to Match Computing Power to Your Team’s Needs

As an MSP, Affinity understands the balance between the many factors that go into a winning workstation strategy. We work with clients of varying sizes, in various industries, to find the strategy that provides appropriate support to the business needs of their teams, and maximizes productivity and predictability while keeping costs manageable and budget friendly.

If you’d like to hear more about Affinity’s strategic approach to IT, reach out today!