New, Modern PCs Can Save Small Businesses Time and Money

Helping small businesses not just survive but thrive is key to our global economic recovery. Together, small and midsize businesses employ the majority of the world’s workforce and as we all know, will be the key to future job creation.

Cutting costs and being more productive are top of mind for all of us, including small business owners who had to hunker down over the past couple of years. As a result, many are now faced with aging hardware that doesn’t meet the demands of today’s business environment. Small business owners are ready for new PCs but are wondering if now is the right time to make that investment.

Market research firm Techaisle conducted a survey with 1000 small businesses in the US, UK, China, Brazil and India, funded in part by Microsoft and Intel, and found that having older PCs negatively impact small businesses in several ways, including productivity and maintenance costs. What’s more, the study found that 40 percent of PCs in small businesses are more than 3 years old, and many are still running Windows XP (which was released about a decade ago and whose support is about to end.)

Techaisle’s research showed that there are five main ways small businesses can benefit from newer PCs, including better security, improved productivity (40% less downtime than older PCs,) often 1.5 times less costly to maintain, they can take advantage of newer applications and enhanced support – all benefits that should save small businesses real time and money.

Looking at specific hardware and software innovations that help make new PCs more efficient and the people that use them more productive, Techaisle pointed out the benefits such as improved graphics, energy efficiency and wireless communication in PCs with faster, multicore processors, including those in Intel’s 2010 Core vPro processor family. Techaisle suggested upgrading to Microsoft’s Windows 7, in particular Windows 7 Professional, rather than Home Premium, for its advantages in stability, security, collaboration, manageability and compatibility with older applications.

We’re glad to see these benefits coming through for small businesses because they helped us build Windows 7 Professional and identify the benefits that mattered most on a variety of new business PCs. Our passion is helping small businesses thrive – we encourage small businesses to go to our Windows for Small and Midsize Businesses site to learn more about Windows 7 Professional.

And if you’re wondering where to find out about the new, hot business PCs available out there – check out our blogs on Dell’s new Vostro 3000 (announced today!), HP’s new PCs for businesses, and Lenovo’s new ThinkPads.

We also want to hear from you how we can take your technology experience to the next level for your business – drop us a note!

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