Step 8B - Improved IT Productivity

Improved IT productivity from VDI can be seen in three areas:

  1. Rapid Provisioning: setting up a new VDI user requires only a few simple commands at a management console. Baker Hill found VDI cut time spent setting up training rooms from 8 hours to less than 5 minutes, while Chumash Casino saw new desktop deployment drop from 6 hours to 30 minutes.
  2. Faster Support and Repairs: reproducing and resolving a desktop problem can be done entirely from the data center, eliminating the need to travel to a user’s location or to ship a computer for upgrading.  Chumash Casino estimated that VDI reduced the time spent managing and repairing desktops by 34%.
  3. Improved Security and Reliability: longer life-spans from simpler zero-client VDI endpoints, along a complete lack of client software or local storage, reduces the need to purchase or manage anti-malware or complex endpoint security solutions.

Savings from VDI improvements in IT productivity can be calculated by multiplying the average burdened IT salaries by the expected time savings. VDI can even double IT productivity. Overall, Baker Hill found that Pano Devices enabled a single employee to perform tasks that had previously required two IT personnel, effectively cutting desktop administration costs by 50%.

You can calculate IT Productivity savings for your VDI deployment by following these steps:

  1. Take the average fully burdened annual salary of your IT desktop administration or desktop help desk staff.
  2. Multiply by the number of personnel involved in supporting current desktop users to get the annual total of PC-related salaries.
  3. Multiply the total salaries by the estimated percent improvement in productivity expected (typically 25% to 50% in Pano System deployments) to get the amount of annual IT Productivity savings.

For example, a productivity improvement of just 30% in an IT staff of 10 with an average fully burdened salary of $90,000 who are supporting 1,000 users can result in OpEx savings of $270,000 per year, or $270 annually for every PC replaced by Pano System virtual desktop.

This productivity savings can be realized by reassigning IT staff to strategic initiatives, having them support a greater number of VDI users or provide enhanced service levels, etc.  You can apply these savings and the OpEx savings illustrated in the next next two steps (Better User Experience and Lower Environmental Impact) towards the initial CapEx investment made in deploying VDI to determine the ROI for the VDI deployment.

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