Episode 04 – Make the Shift to a Modern Device

with Penny Conway

 

 

This transcript was first posted on the Connection Community

 

Announcer:

Welcome to another Connection podcast. Today Windows 7 End of Life and the need to upgrade and migrate to modern devices. That is what is in our spotlight. To begin, a quick stat. Over 85% of SMBs have PCs that are four years or older. Did you know that? Are you in that camp? If so, is your organization at a higher security risk? Are there challenges around device management? Are you missing out on new employee talent because you can't offer the latest and greatest machines to team members? Many questions to address on this episode and we have gathered a strong team to discuss the opportunity that in an event like Windows 7 going End of Life can mean to your company.

 

Again, Penny Conway, Connection Senior Program Manager for Workplace Transformation sits down to lead this discussion with our Windows and OEM team members. Ashley Lofaro is with us. She's Partner Development Specialist. Seamus Kirwan is an Intel Partner Development Specialist. And Dave Olivier is our Product Line Supervisor, again from those Windows and OEM team. We join the conversation with Ashley, sharing from a security perspective, why it is imperative to modernize and migrate from Windows 7 as soon as you can.

 

Ashley Lofaro:

January 14, 2020 is the end of support date, and once it does go end of support, there are no pod fixes, there are no security features. So, that's definitely getting to Windows 10 is the first part, but what people have to realize is not only the OS for the device was made for an operating system that is almost 10 years old, and we don't have the modern threats today that we did back then.

 

So, definitely moving to a modern device like Windows 10 would help. Starting with the OS, security is actually built in, which is one of the money saving reasons to move to Windows 10. It's built in right into the OS so you don't have to have their party applications that you would normally to have everything covered.

 

And then with the modern device, the hardware actually supports those features like secure boots so that the OS will launch. So, it won't get attacked before it's fully operational. And then also our OEMs are doing great things with the devices. They're adding, like, privacy covers for your camera. They're adding privacy screen, so there's no over-the-shoulder looking and spying on what you're working on. Even proximity sen- sensors so when you walk away, the device knows, locks up. So really cool things from it, from our OEM partners.

 

Penny Conway:

Personally, you know, I have a new Windows 10 machine and I think a lot of times we really thought that as long as I've moved to Windows 10 and I've made that migration, no matter what device I'm on, I'm getting all of those advanced security features. But I'm really not, unless I've got that newer device in my hands that's got those additional features and things that are built in to the actual machine.

 

Ashley Lofaro:

Yeah, this OS is built differently than the other OS' where the OS and the hardware are cohesive, and they work together to give you the best protection.

 

Penny Conway:

Outside of kind of the security risk and the cost of that, is there a physical cost to holding on to devices that long or not upgrading to a modern device?

 

Dave Olivier:

On average, a four-year-old device is costing an IT department 2,397 dollars per user. So when we start looking at 2,397 dollars per user you're gonna start looking at how many users a company have. An SNB may have 100 users, that's 239,000 dollars a year. When you're spending a quarter million dollars a year on support, you may want to start thinking about why I should be refreshing my devices now to a new modern device and what the cost is. An average system to replace is around 1,400 dollars. So, you're spending 140,000 dollars on new devices versus 240,000 dollars on maintaining old devices.

 

Penny Conway:

Holy cow. So, when we think about how much a new device cost but really not having the new device is costing us way more.

 

Seamus Kirwan:

And, I, I just want to throw in there too. So, th- those are for people that have already moved to Windows 10. But if you're still on Windows 7, come end of support to get those extended security updates, it's gonna cost 50 dollars for the first year. And that doubles every year. So that's gonna add to your costs exponentially.

 

Penny Conway:

And so that's security cost. There is a physical dollar cost. And I think, more now than ever we hear a lot about the millennial work force and wanting new devices in their hands. And so, when we really look at someone who might be holding on to, to, to devices that are four years or older, there's also kind of that productivity and talent attraction piece to it. And I know I don't nearly take advantage of all of the productivity features in my Windows 10 device, but where would you guys say Windows 10 can really improve that productivity for users?

 

Ashley Lofaro:

So maybe starting with the OS first. The Windows has a live feature that, to take advantage of. So, things like Snap Assist, the virtual desktop is awesome. I could be working on a full project to have my whole screen covered, my boss can come over and be like, "Hey, I need you to work on something else?" And I have a brand-new clean desktop that I can pop up, be able to work on it, and then go back to whatever I was working on the other desktop without having to minimize everything and then expand it all. So those are really good features.

 

I'm a huge fan of my pen. I love collaborating and drawing things out. I'm a very visual person, so the fact that I can just draw something or mark up a page that we're working on is really helpful for me to be productive and collaborate people that I'm working with. And then Intel has a lot to help with the device productivity.

 

Seamus Kirwan:

Right. So, from a hardware standpoint, so Intel's new processors, 8th gen processors, over 6th gen, which is, equates to about a four-year-old machine. You're gonna get about 80% better performance on, they say about 2.1% better multi-tasking. So that's gonna, when you're running a lot of applications, productivity, using Office all day, running those things at the same time is going to, to be, make a huge difference in your, your workday.

 

Having those those hardware features, be it collaboration, it, it's going to make a big difference when you're interacting with these devices all day.

 

Dave Olivier:

Yeah, and, and Penny I don't think that we can have this conversation without talking about Intel's technology such as vPro. With vPro the, the big fix there is that employees are gonna be able to have support remote. The days of going out to remote site and supporting an employee that's, or multiple employees that are users at that remote site are gone. It gives you much better manageability, it's a footprint for security. It's a very key factor that we find 50% of our customers already buying vPro enabled machines and they're not even leveraging it. Right?

 

So, we're really trying to get the message out there that better understand vPro, make sure you're taking advantage of technology you're already paying for.

 

Penny Conway:

So vPro is built into the machines and it allows an IT department to actually remote into other machines and solve problems?

 

Seamus Kirwan:

What vPro does is allow IT to remote into all the machines, install updates, patch the machines, troubleshoots. And these can all happen if the machines are, are even off or have an inoperable OS. So, as I mentioned before this, this data's coming up pretty quickly and a lot of businesses are putting it off because they, they're saying, you know, this is gonna be a big headache to roll out all these new machines. But with vPro you can do this, not even being on site, and you can do it for a large number of machines as well.

 

Penny Conway:

Wow, that's awesome. Because I, I always think about and, you know, in my day to day job, you, or you think about PCs that might be three, or four, or five, I've even heard eight to 10 years old in some scenarios. And when you have a machine that is that old, the down time and the cost of down time and the repairs that might be needed on that older machine and not having a feature like vPro to remote into a machine to do those diagnostics. I think I had read a statistic that it was like 90, an average company has like 98 hours of down time for their users. And when you think about an hourly rate or even a salary rate of how long a user can go without a device, a huge loss in productivity. Right, guys?

 

Dave Olivier:

Yeah, absolutely. So, there was a Techaisle study out, that four-year-old devices can cost 98 hours of down time per year due to repairs. If that employee's on average salary of 25 dollars an hour, it can cost 1,965 dollars in lost productivity per employee. So again, we're pretty much paying for a device through...

 

Penny Conway:

Right.

 

Dave Olivier:

...Lost productivity, which is a scary thing.

 

Penny Conway:

(laughs) Right, through security, through lost productivity at this point, and not moving to a Windows 10 even on that new or old device. All around the cost already that you guys have added up are, is way more than the cost of a new device.

 

Dave Olivier:

Yeah, and you know, when we start talking about security, we talk about the maintenance cost, we talk about the new technology, wire mounting device. The other thing that we have to start looking at is with the millennial employees coming into the work force, being, you know, the, the higher percentage of employees. We have to start looking at things like employee attraction, employee retention. And when you look at these, what, what you're gonna start finding is that people aren't as committed to a company as maybe they used to be due to technology needs. They wanna be better workers. They wanna be better employees. And if a company's not willing to get new technology for them, or attract them with new technology, they're not gonna be as attractive of a, a job, a company to work for.

 

There's stats out there that are showing 75% of workers feel their employees don't give them access to the latest technology that prevents them from doing their job. Two out of five state they'd quit their jobs due to poor technology. And, and that's, and that's something that with DaaS, with Autopilot, which are, are two things that are coming to be more and more prevalent in the industry that they can really take advantage of to leverage, to retain and attract those employees.

 

Penny Conway:

Yeah, 'cause we're in that, we're in that unique time where there's lots of growth in the economy. There's lots of jobs. There's lots of cool jobs out there. Companies, you know, versus maybe 10 years ago are now competing for good talent, versus, you know, that talent out there competing for the few jobs that are around. We talk a little bit sometimes about a millennial generation and how if they don't have Dave, I think you actually use the term ghosting?

 

Dave Olivier:

Yes.

 

Penny Conway:

Yeah (laughs).

 

Dave Olivier:

The ghost thing is a real thing and it's happening. People are, are taking positions. They're there for six months a year. And something better comes along and they just leave, without ever giving a resignation, a notice. It's, it's a new world.

 

Penny Conway:

And stats are showing, of course, you know, someone's not like, "Oh, I'm leaving this job because that job's gonna give me an iPad." But, oh I'm sorry, I should probably shouldn't say iPad. (laughs)

 

Dave Olivier:

No, that's okay. I wouldn't take a job if they are giving me an iPad either.

 

Penny Conway:

So, but they're, they're not necessarily saying I'm leaving 'cause I don't have the best technology in my hands. But when we look at all of the things that are appealing to a new workforce, technology really is probably in the top three, you know, with company morale, new technology, and things like that, really convince them in to move around. So that's a great way to retain and get new talent is by having that more modern, you know, work, working device.

 

Seamus Kirwan:

Right, and, and I'd even say, you know, it, it doesn't matter the type of job you're doing. You're interacting with technology for most of the day. And, as Dave was saying, you, you have one company that gives you a, a new laptop with all these Windows 10 features, most secure, most productive. Versus the same job at a different company that gives you a 15-year-old Windows XP laptop.

 

Penny Conway:

(laughs)

 

Seamus Kirwan:

I-it's clear which, which one you'd, you'd chose just because we, we interact with these devices all the time. And it, it really is just a no brainer with these, these touch, these stylish type interactions not having that really impacts your productivity.

 

Penny Conway:

You guys mentioned DaaS, for those who are listening that might not have heard of DaaS before, it is a Device as a Service model, really now everything is as a service. We seem to find in our personal and our working lives. But device as a service if I understand it correctly, is really a monthly subscription for a device that could include their deployment and services and licensing to keep them up and running.

 

How do you, you mentioned Autopilot, Dave, if you guys wouldn't mind touching on Autopilot, but how are those things, do you think going to sort of penetrate the, the business market and make it simpler for companies to not only stay on the latest OS but also keep those modern devices?

 

Dave Olivier:

Everything we've been talking about is leading to as a service in topics such as DaaS and Autopilot. When we, when we look at everything, we've been discussing from security to maintenance cost to why migrate, DaaS is a perfect way to do it. So, when you're looking to attract new employees, when you're looking to retain employees, you can leverage device as a service as something where you're refreshing users every 12, 18, 24 months. And you're paying the same amount of cost. Right?

 

So, so you have a fixed cost now, you can budget more accurately, you can retain a talent, you can attract the talent. The other thing with, with device as a service as you know, Penny, you can take advantage of features such as telemetry, right? So, when you have alerts coming up that are saying a remote user, a field worker's battery is, is not gonna be able to sustain for more than a couple of weeks. You can send out a batter ahead of time.

 

You know who's using the full capability of the machine, versus, you know, you have two employees, one person uses their mach- machine sporadically. Somebody else may be doing a lot of spreadsheets. A lot of, consuming a lot of data. And when they do that, they may need something more powerful. So now you have the intuition to say, this user should have a workstation level machine, this one just needs a two-in-one, and it helps with the overall cost, it helps with retainment, it helps with attraction. It's very, very important for us.

 

In addition to that, we have Autopilot, right? So, Autopilot is a new service coming from Microsoft. It's driven by Microsoft. There's some licensing requirements that are out there. The reality is, it's pretty much imaging machine in a new or more efficient way. Typically, we'd have to go and image a machine and we'd ship it to a distribution center. We'd open it up. We'd load the image. We'd box everything back up then we'd ship it to the customer. Those days are gone with Autopilot. It's literally putting it on autopilot. And what the customer now can do is, is they can provide their data to us, we provide it to distribution, they can ship all, Lenovo, Dell, HP, Service, all these products are Autopilot approved.

 

And again, this is brand new so we're really excited. We, we currently have an unmanaged offering. We're building in a managed offering. With the unmanaged they're getting these machines pre-loaded without opening the box. It's, it's a much more efficient, timely manner. When we're shipping to customers, we no longer have to ship to our distribution center from another partner, we can ship directly to the customer. And it's, it's time savings, it's cost savings, and we're really excited about that.

 

Penny Conway:

You guys covered a lot today with the Intel vPro and what the capabilities and tools are for it to be able to work with remote users and beyond. From the Windows 10 point of view, what the enhanced security features and productivity tools are in that. And then I think one of the most important things is how do we keep an evolving workforce satisfied with new technology, the most productive that they can be to do their jobs better.

 

I really appreciate you guys coming in today. Great stuff. Really informative, really helpful for our customers. And really showing that we have an entire team here at Connection that can really help with the the Intel vPro, the Windows 7 to Windows 10 migration, and the modern device. Thank you so much guys.

 

Announcer:

And a big thanks to Dave, Seamus, Ashley and Penny. And folks, if you are looking for more support to help with your move from Win7 to Win10, or if you want to learn more about Intel vPro, if you want help choosing the right new device, or devices for your team, then the team at Connection is happy to help. If you have an account manager and team in place, reach out to them, they would love to hear from you. And of course, you are invited to visit Connection.com, or call 1-800-800-0014 at any time to get more information.

 

On behalf of the entire Connection team, thanks for listening. We look forward to talking to you down the road.