A slow PC can seriously impact productivity in a business – which means it becomes a cost to your business. One computer can be the most effective tool across an entire business. However, if it is not maintained correctly, it can quickly become the most cumbersome.

We all know that budgets are tight, and that business owners and managers make tough decisions every day on where to allocate limited resources. What most people don’t think about is how the decision to not spend money could end up costing a lot more.

The cost of using slow computer hardware

• Repair costs

A Techaisle survey reveals the cost of repairing an old computer can be higher than buying a new one. The study finds that businesses are spending an average of $427 per PC that is 4 years or older on repair cost, which is 1.3 times the repair cost for a PC that is less than 4 years old. The repair cost therefore either equals or even exceeds the purchase price of some new PCs.

• Security vulnerability

Besides increasing your vulnerability to hackers, viruses, malware, and other cyberthreats, outdated hardware puts you at risk of irretrievably losing data and information. While every business should have a comprehensive, redundant data backup and data recovery plan, many don’t. Old computers and software are more prone to problems that can mean your data is lost forever.

• Digital downtime

Older computers inhibit productivity. Older computers have trouble running multiple applications at once, consume more power, and have a shorter battery life. The study found that an average of 42 productive work hours are lost per year while older computers are being repaired. For PCs less than 4 years old, only 21 hours of repair time are needed, cutting downtime in half.

The cost of lost productivity quantified

For the sake of simplicity, we’ll consider the numbers in the context of a normal business with slow computer equipment. Opportunity cost is the amount working hours lost that could have been used to complete business as usual.

Assume a user experiences slowdown for 5 minutes every hour, and they work 7.5 hours per day. This translates to a loss of productivity for almost 40 minutes each day, or around 3 hours per week. In a year, that is approximately 145 hours per year of lost productivity. (220 days x 40 minutes).

With a salary of $20,000 per year, that is an estimated opportunity cost of $1,740 per user.

The bottom line

Never put up with a slow computer again. Next time an employee in your business complains about working on a slow computer consider the actual cost to your business. The upfront and underlying costs of a slow computer to your business can be significant.

For a small outlay, avoid the cost associated with using old computer hardware. Get in touch with us to find out how Recompute can help your business.