Letters: July 7

Advice on buying computer systems

I read with interest your recent article (Optician, May 26) debating where and how practices should source their PCs.

My background relates to IT sales more than the optical sector and I was surprised by both the basic premise of the article and some of the views expressed.

In fact I thought I had taken step back in time with such outmoded views and, in my opinion, the content at best did not represent good advice to your readers and at worst perpetuated the fear of IT that so many people unnecessarily have.

The article focuses on the PC and its initial purchase cost. This is the wrong area to debate for two reasons. Firstly, the PC is merely an access device to the wider IT infrastructure. It is one of the less critical and cheaper parts and is, in reality, a commodity item. What about the server, the network or software and their associated running costs?

Secondly, the real cost of IT hardware lies in areas beyond the purchase price. These include data storage, backup, virus and security protection, maintenance, support and, finally, disposal. This is the total cost of ownership (TCO) and the only meaningful metric to measure. It is a proven fact that the initial purchase price represents only 20 per cent of the TCO over a typical three-year ownership period. This research can be readily found in papers produced by IT analysts such as Gartner & IDC.

The article also debated branded PCs versus those made by local suppliers. Branded PCs such as Dell & HP address the TCO costs more effectively which is why they are the market leaders. Despite their purchase price being higher, the TCO is lower. Few people reading this would need an explanation of the differences in quality, ease of use and reliability between a prestige car marque and a budget brand. It is no different when buying IT equipment – you get what you pay for.

Then there was the suggestion of only buying a PC from a software provider. This is also an outmoded selling technique; the PC today runs many different applications simultaneously including:
 
Email
Internet and internet applications
Back up
Virus protection
General office programs
Line of business applications.