Johannesburg, 29 Sep 2015
Corporate users dazzled by the latest trendy consumer computing devices might be forgiven for wanting to use these devices in every setting, but the fact is there are important differences between enterprise and consumer computing devices, says Dell.
Boitumelo Tumi Kgonare, Client Product Marketing Manager - SADC at Dell, says few users understand the difference between business and consumer devices. "Users see the glossy, high resolution screens and fashionable design, and want to use these devices in the workplace. Companies may see a lower price point on consumer devices and opt to equip staff with these with a view to controlling costs. But in the long run, this could prove to be a mistake."
Kgonare explains that there are a number of trade-offs in choosing consumer devices over enterprise devices in the workplace. "For one thing, enterprise grade desktops, laptops and tablets are designed with heavy use in mind. They are made of premium materials and designed to withstand the knocks, bumps and even coffee spills associated with use in the workplace. And the more mobile the device is meant to be, the more robust its construction must be. An entry-level consumer device may come at a lower initial price point, but the trade-off here is the fact that it might easily be damaged and need replacing sooner than a more robust machine.
"Consumerised products are also designed for home entertainment with rich multi-media features that are not always fit for a corporate environment, which have been deemed as distracting for a professional when they are trying to number crunch and work with spreadsheets," she says.
Enterprise devices are also built to support high workload applications, which is crucial for productivity. "Whether it's a desktop or mobile device, performance is crucial in the workplace. This is what Dell Precision workstations, for example, include the free Dell Precision Optimiser tool to ensure that popular applications such as SOLIDWORKS, AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Cloud, Siemens NX and PTC Creo run optimally. Applications demanding a great deal of processing power simply won't run as effectively on a low-spec consumer machine," she notes. In the long term, lower cost, lower performance devices add to overall costs and hamper productivity and availability, Kgonare points out.
Importantly, she says, Dell's enterprise devices are designed to easily integrate into the network for simplified management and security. "When you're running a huge fleet of devices, you cannot allocate resources to install, manage, update and secure each device separately. Our enterprise devices are pre-loaded with management software that allows IT to easily add them to the network and then manage and secure them all from a single point."
Does this imply that if companies want reliability, security and management simplicity in their computing devices, they must use unattractive, bulky devices? Not at all, says Kgonare. "Over the past few years, Dell has brought to market a wide range of enterprise grade computing devices incorporating beautiful, premium materials and finishes such as aluminium and magnesium. These include the increasingly popular two in one devices and sleek ultra-portable devices. Users don't have to sacrifice aesthetics to enjoy high end enterprise computing," she says.
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