By Billy MacInnes
23 July 2008
The high cost of upgrading software on PCs and laptops at many large organisations has been revealed in research from Citrix which claims it can take nearly a year of work for a single employee at a cost of around £43,000 to perform each software upgrade.
The research found the high cost was the biggest factor for 80 per cent of respondents in determining how frequently organisations upgraded software and hardware.
With an average of 3,700 desktops in medium to large enterprises, companies spent 2,744 hours on each software upgrade, the equivalent of one person working nine-to-five for 343 days.
Citrix claimed that with independent figures suggesting IT support staff could earn up to £15 per hour, each upgrade could cost up to £43,000 in manpower.
Patrick Irwin, product manager at Citrix UK, Ireland and South Africa, said the issue needed to be addressed. “In a time of economic downturn, businesses should be looking at every possible way to stop haemorrhaging resources. Looking at basics like software upgrades is a must.”
He suggested desktop virtualisation would help reduce the time and cost of software upgrades. “You can spend 30 minutes upgrading each desktop, or 30 minutes upgrading the whole estate. Surely this makes desktop virtualisation a no-brainer?"
