Leasing IT equipment - worth it or not
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@Dashrender said:
Because the owners are closer to the employees, and therefore the employees make emotional pleas to the owners and the owners cave.
Was there ever a discussion with everyone where it was said "What you are asking for is purely for emotion and ego and will actually lower your ability to work on top of making you a $600 less valuable employee?" Did management understand the amount of productivity and financial loss associated with the decision?
I feel that there had to be some loss of communications. What owner throws away $600 per head over something that silly? The owner must be on drugs!! That's insane. And not $600 to get something better, but to get something worse! It's not like there is some soft value here to offset the spend.
I've found that owners tend to see the money going out as "their" money, which it is, unlike a big company where a manager might sign the check because it is the investor's money, not their own.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
But before the upgrade, when people complained, I said.. hey, I'm working on a computer from 2007, just like you and I would show them the manufacture sticker... they normally quiteded right up and walked away.
Do you feel that you have lost this leverage now?
Of course I have, for the moment, but my new computer is the same age as their new computer so when they start complaining in 3-5 years I'll do what I did before, and most likely they will just walk away.
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@Dashrender how do you handle user turnover now? When you had used machines, everyone got the same used machines. But now that you've set the expectation of "whine to the owner, guarantee yourself a new computer" how to you plan to handle new employees who do the same thing and the inability to redeploy the existing gear?
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@scottalanmiller said:
Why don't they complain that they need company BMWs? What is making the business willing to waste IT budget but not other budgets?
Sadly they do complain, granted it's not that they want BMWs, but other things... For example, one doc went out and bought himself a couple of new wireless mice (don't as me why) and was talking to me about them in front of medical staff... one of them started hounding him for a new mouse.. within a few days he just gave her one to shut her up.
As for the budget questions - I know this will blow your mind - but we don't deal in real budgets.
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@Dashrender said:
As for the budget questions - I know this will blow your mind - but we don't deal in real budgets.
Actually that is something that I believe strongly in - that budgets are bad. But one way or another, overspending in IT will probably come back to bite IT. Even if there is no budget, do you not fear that management will be like "but we just spend an extra $600 per person to shut them up, what is IT doing ?!?!"
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From looking at HP's data sheet, my guess is that fourth generation "i" processors would be available off lease already.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender how do you handle user turnover now? When you had used machines, everyone got the same used machines. But now that you've set the expectation of "whine to the owner, guarantee yourself a new computer" how to you plan to handle new employees who do the same thing and the inability to redeploy the existing gear?
I wouldn't say I did what you suggest. All of the gear I replaced was at least 7 years old and had Windows XP licenses - instead of buying new SSDs and more RAM and a new OS added with the possibility that the MB could die the next day, it doesn't/didn't make sense to bother upgrading the old machines. In hing sight, perhaps used machine that came with at least windows 7 and upgrading these cheap machines with small SSDs and some RAM might have been worth it.. And I'll definitely consider it next time in 7-10 years.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
As for the budget questions - I know this will blow your mind - but we don't deal in real budgets.
Actually that is something that I believe strongly in - that budgets are bad. But one way or another, overspending in IT will probably come back to bite IT. Even if there is no budget, do you not fear that management will be like "but we just spend an extra $600 per person to shut them up, what is IT doing ?!?!"
This assumes that they KNOW they spent $600 to shut them up... Heck honestly I didn't know two year old machines could be had so cheap! So they sure as heck don't.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
As for the budget questions - I know this will blow your mind - but we don't deal in real budgets.
Actually that is something that I believe strongly in - that budgets are bad. But one way or another, overspending in IT will probably come back to bite IT. Even if there is no budget, do you not fear that management will be like "but we just spend an extra $600 per person to shut them up, what is IT doing ?!?!"
This assumes that they KNOW they spent $600 to shut them up... Heck honestly I didn't know two year old machines could be had so cheap! So they sure as heck don't.
Management doesn't know the price difference? Is this because they were not told or because they were not presented options?
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender how do you handle user turnover now? When you had used machines, everyone got the same used machines. But now that you've set the expectation of "whine to the owner, guarantee yourself a new computer" how to you plan to handle new employees who do the same thing and the inability to redeploy the existing gear?
I wouldn't say I did what you suggest. All of the gear I replaced was at least 7 years old and had Windows XP licenses - instead of buying new SSDs and more RAM and a new OS added with the possibility that the MB could die the next day, it doesn't/didn't make sense to bother upgrading the old machines. In hing sight, perhaps used machine that came with at least windows 7 and upgrading these cheap machines with small SSDs and some RAM might have been worth it.. And I'll definitely consider it next time in 7-10 years.
Putting money into seven year old machines often does not make sense, I agree. Especially if you are not leasing them and have the risk that they might just die on you and that is that. That's where the OP about leasing comes in. Seven year old machines on a forever lease with included support work great. I believe customers used to pay $5 per month for those. Super cheap when you think about that being a permanent warranty. They could upgrade back to modern machines anytime that they felt it was worth it. No penalties.
But yes, it is getting off lease machines, ones that are fast and still affordable, that is often what makes a lot of sense. The same kind of gear that server vendors sell as refurb in many cases. Lightly used, still modern.
Look at xByte and ServerMonkey, often they are selling same gen or last gen equipment at a fraction of the new price.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
As for the budget questions - I know this will blow your mind - but we don't deal in real budgets.
Actually that is something that I believe strongly in - that budgets are bad. But one way or another, overspending in IT will probably come back to bite IT. Even if there is no budget, do you not fear that management will be like "but we just spend an extra $600 per person to shut them up, what is IT doing ?!?!"
This assumes that they KNOW they spent $600 to shut them up... Heck honestly I didn't know two year old machines could be had so cheap! So they sure as heck don't.
Management doesn't know the price difference? Is this because they were not told or because they were not presented options?
The options I presented were between Levono and HP - pretty close in price actually. So yeah they are unaware (as was I) of the used option.
