The Use Case and ROI Analysis of Mobile Workstations

Transcription

1 The Use Case and ROI Analysis of Mobile Workstations CAD and design professionals face many of the same demands for mobility as traditional white-collar workers. The difference is that while white-collar workers have adopted mobile computing in huge numbers, design professionals have not as yet. One reason is that historically, many design professionals travel far less often than their white-collar counterparts.

2 2 Another reason for the lack of mobile adoption is the gap between desktop and mobile workstation performance. This too is changing; the performance gap is evaporating with the introduction of new mobile workstations such as the Lenovo ThinkPad W540, which provides true desktop workstation performance levels. The capabilities of this new Lenovo mobile system, coupled with design professionals increased mobility, is causing a groundswell of mobile workstation customer adoption. However, the addition of mobile workstations must also make business sense for an organization. This white paper addresses the return on investment (ROI) of equipping design professionals with mobile workstations. Technology overview of the Lenovo ThinkPad W540 A number of new innovations and features make the ThinkPad W540 a smart mobile workstation choice. With a combination of high system and graphics performance, mobility, and certifications for key CAD software products, the ThinkPad W540 delivers increased designer productivity and benefits to the organization. Some key features include: Next-generation NVIDIA Quadro graphics (K1100M, K2100M) 4th Generation Intel Core CPUs with vpro for maximum manageability & throughput ISV Certifications on more than 100 applications FHD / 3K IPS display allows for vivid colors and nearly 180-degree viewing angles Thunderbolt port for high-resolution display and high performance data connections Up to 16GB memory for demanding applications Optional solid-state drives (SSDs) for improved performance The ThinkPad W540 s performance level and capabilities are much greater than the mobile workstations of two or three years ago, making it a truly no compromise mobile solution. This product is certified to run nearly all of the most recent versions of the leading design software. An overview of the key mobile use cases The first step an organization needs to take when considering whether to buy mobile workstations is to determine what ROI calculations and usage scenarios will justify these new purchases. Variations in the use cases depend upon the type of CAD professional using the device, the vertical industry in which the designer works, and the specific type of work the designer performs. However, for the purpose of this analysis, the use cases considered are more general and therefore applicable across different organizations.

3 3 As project timelines have shortened and the need for collaboration has increased, more CAD professionals are leaving their offices to work with others at different locations. The primary use cases analyzed here include, Time at remote site or non-office location. As project timelines have shortened and the need for collaboration has increased, more CAD professionals are leaving their offices to work with others at different locations. The common aspect of this use case involves making time away from the officebased workstation productive by enabling designers to make modifications or perform actual design remotely rather than waiting until they return to the office. Different types of travel or location will drive variations of this use case. They may include time spent on a remote job site or at a customer/ partner location. When focusing on public safety, for instance, a mobile workstation is often required to display building plans in case of a fire or when there is a need for accurate building-specific information in an emergency. Work at home. Most organizations operate with fewer design staff than in the past, and design organizations are no different. As a result, more and more CAD professionals want/need to work from home. Some workers are using their work-from-home capability to enable them to leave the office in time to have dinner with their family before resuming work later in the evening. The focus on telecommuting also drives the work-from-home use case. States like California are supporting mandated telecommuting to ease road congestion and pollution. The ability to use the same system at home and in the office is a major benefit to the worker. It s important to note that, unlike a traditional white-collar worker who can telecommute with a lower-cost home PC, CAD professionals require robust systems like the ThinkPad W540 to work from home. Travel transit time. As designers start to travel more frequently, their time in transit could be productive with a mobile workstation. Without one, this time spent in transit can represent significant lost time for a CAD professional and therefore impacts productivity. In some organizations, and for certain design professionals and engineers, there may be other use case scenarios where mobile workstations would provide value. However, this analysis focuses on the most common across all workstation users and isn t meant to be all encompassing. Rather, it is a list of the most likely cases where the purchase of a mobile workstation generates ROI. Adding other unique situations only increases the ROI from deploying mobile workstations. Use case ROI and benefits analysis This section provides calculations to illustrate ROI based upon some general assumptions that are itemized for each use case. To drive these calculations, the fully loaded cost of a CAD professional is derived from external, unbiased sources: Indeed.com and Salary.com. Other information in the tables below is based on assumptions developed for this analysis. Based on an evaluation of various data points, an average salary for a CAD professional (including designers and engineers) is estimated to be $82,000, with a fully loaded cost of $118,900. This results in a cost of $59.45

4 4 per hour based on a 2,000-hour work year. For this analysis, the Lenovo website was used to configure a ThinkPad W540. It is configured with an Intel Core i7 4700MQ processor at 3.40 GHz, NVIDIA Quadro K2100M graphics card, 256GB SSD, and 8GB of memory; the cost is $2,149. Examples of Use Case ROI Analyses TIME AT REMOTE SITE CAD professionals require robust systems like the ThinkPad W540, whether they are working at the office or from a remote location. Number of remote site visits per yr. 10 Average hrs. at remote site 4 hours Total hours per year at remote site (assume 10 per yr.) 40 hours Cost of designer time per hr. $59.45 Value of time at remote site $2,378 Payback period for ThinkPad W months Number of site visits to generate payback 9 WORK AT HOME Number of work-at-home sessions per year (assume 3/mo.) 36 Average hrs. per session Total hrs./yr. work at home 2 hours 72 hours Cost of designer time per hour $59.45 Value of time for work at home $4,280 Payback period for ThinkPad W months TRAVEL TRANSIT TIME Number of plane/train trips per year 5 Average hours per trip (round-trip calculation) Total hours per year at remote site 4 hours 20 hours Cost of designer time per hour $59.45 Value of time at remote site $1,189 Payback period for ThinkPad W months

5 5 It is important to note that in the first two use cases, which are the most common and frequent, the payback period is less than one year. From a hard dollar perspective, the ROI of a mobile workstation like the ThinkPad W540 is well proven. Summary The penetration of mobile devices for design professionals has been far lower to date than for traditional white-collar workers. The result is lower productivity and less work flexibility, which limits the leverage of these key members of the corporate workforce. Although a mobile workstation is more expensive than a business notebook, the reality is that the ROI and payback data is very compelling. While CAD professionals actual out of office time is not as much as for some other workers, the productivity benefits and ROI of mobile workstations cannot be ignored. It is also important to note that new mobile workstations like the Lenovo ThinkPad W540 provide the no compromise performance required for the most modern CAD and design software products. The examples in this white paper use a very limited amount of non-desk work hours, but the benefits to the design professional and the organization are substantial Lenovo. All rights reserved. Lenovo is a trademark of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Atom, Intel Core and Core Inside are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.