Panasonic Toughbook 19 Using Manual page 9

One of the most striking
misunderstandings in TCO is how little
hard costs actually matter in the total
cost of the deployment, yet price
remains the leading product selection
criteria among end users.
© 2009 VDC Research Group, Inc.
However, the core idea behind TCO – to measure direct and indirect costs of an
investment over time to determine its viability – is a sound and useful business
concept. Having a full view of the cost of a mobile computing deployment over its
lifetime provides insight into the type of solution that needs to be deployed. In
particular, TCO analysis can show the significance in cost of mobile device failure.
One of the most compelling aspects of this solution is the availability of a Web-based
reporting tool and supporting analytic engine that makes information regarding what's
happening on the retail floor available to other locations, including participating
trading partners, providing a platform for item-level intelligence:
VDC defines TCO to include the following components:
•
Hard costs (Deployment costs): hardware, accessories, software,
implementation, and training costs
•
Soft costs (Operational costs): productivity loss, opportunity loss, and IT
support, costs of repairs and replacement parts
Easily quantified through supplier estimates, a majority of TCO analyses overly rely
on hard costs. In fact, hard costs for a commercial-grade notebook only account for
18% of the deployment's TCO over a five year period. One of the most striking
misunderstandings in TCO is how little hard costs actually matter in the total cost of
the deployment, yet price remains the leading product selection criteria among end
users.
Hard/Deployment Costs
Soft/Operational Costs
Soft costs make up the bulk of TCO and the greatest expenses in soft costs relate to
lost productivity, IT expenses, and opportunity cost when a device fails. Annual
device failures for non-rugged hardware can exceed 30%. This is a staggering figure
considering that each percentage point of failure results in an increase of almost 5%
in the mobile computing indirect or soft costs.
Exhibit I-1
TCO Comparison Over Five Years
Fully
Rugged Rugged
Notebook Notebook
34.0% 29.2%
66.0% 70.8%
Business- Consumer
Rugged Grade
Notebook Notebook
20.8% 18.2%
79.2% 81.8%
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