Companies switch to tablets and laptops to cut costs and let workers feel benefits of mobile technology
The headquarters of iCore Networks has not seen a desktop computer in five years. Instead, each of the McLean, Virginia-based information-technology firm's 160 employees relies on a company-issued iPad. They may request a laptop if they need it, but iCore is free of the bulky personal computers common to many offices, opting for devices employees can take home with them.
"We're pretty mobile – throughout multiple departments such as sales teams, account management, engineers, [employees] are always on the go," said Lorena Roberts, marketing vice-president. "They begin at the office, maybe in the morning, but by the time 11 o'clock hits, they're really out in the field."
The company is part of an emerging trend among businesses eschewing PCs for laptops and tablets. The pattern is reflected in the global computer market: PC shipments suffered their worst decline in history in the final quarter of 2013, according to a Gartner report, the seventh consecutive quarter of shipment declines. The 82.6m units shipped globally last year represented an almost 7% decline from the previous year.
Losses in the PC sector were enough to force Sony to exit the market altogether. The company announced plans last week to sell Vaio, its PC brand, to Japan Industrial Partners, citing declining sales.
iCore buys about 15 laptops each quarter for new hires, Roberts estimated, enough for about 75% of the employees. All iPads are installed with iCore's proprietary software, which it sells to other businesses, allowing users to manage phone calls and video chat requests. The machines also come loaded with Microsoft's virtual desktop software, which allows employees to remotely access programs on their laptops. They can access email, use Microsoft Office and complete any other computer task, Roberts said.
For those tasks that are easier to complete with a larger screen or a mouse, – such as compiling Excel spreadsheets or working in Photoshop – employees often keep laptops as backup. Although maintenance, software licences and hardware costs make laptops significantly more expensive than tablets, iCore continues to invest in them to offer employees "that sense of security you have with your laptop that people are used to".
Some analysts say the steady decline in PCs partly reflects the relatively high price of tablets, making it an either-or proposition for some buyers. Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa recently wrote that as tablet and laptop prices decline, PC sales might improve, because more people can own both.
Tablet sales, meanwhile, are rising quickly. Almost 80m tablets were shipped globally in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to anInternational Data Corp report, representing a 62.4% growth over the previous quarter and a 28.2% growth since the corresponding period the year before.
Still, PCs remain a necessary part of office routine for many workers. Jeremy Collins, who runs the sales division at Consolidated Communications, a Sacramento, California-based internet and cable company, issued his 24 sales representatives iPad minis to accompany – not replace – their PCs.
Although they often use tablets when visiting the residential neighbourhoods where they sell cable connections, employees spend about 30% of each day answering and logging customer-service requests from their PCs, Collins said. Some customer-service requests are easier to address when employees have large, dual-screen monitors – and some have more data stored on their computers' hard drives than could fit on a tablet.
Collins said the team tried using Dell laptops to offer employees the functionality of a PC in a device they could use at their desks and in the field, but "laptops aren't realistic. You can't carry a laptop with you when you're walking around territory," he said. Employees complained they had to leave them in their cars.
So last year, Collins decided to get rid of the laptops and invest in tablets, while maintaining the PCs for office use. "It's more of a convenience factor," he said. "If you're already sitting down at your desk [in front of a PC], you're going to be a lot quicker navigating through everything you have to navigate."
This article appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from the Washington Post
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/11/personal-computer-decline-pc-obsolete
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