Are AIOs the answer to a CIO’s desktop requirements? Here’s a look at how these PCs are perceived in Indian enterprises. By Jasmine Desai
A few years back, the iMac was hailed as the only product in all-in-one PCs. However, the scenario has completely changed with all major vendors in this domain having offerings in this segment. Also, all-in-one PCs have always been viewed from the consumer perspective and not the enterprise perspective. Is the scenario changing now? Are enterprises willing to accept all-in-one PCs, considering the escalation in mobile workforce and the wide variety available in the form of smart tablets, ultra-books and laptop? Will all-in-one PCs be able to make its mark amongst enterprise users?
The upside
According to CG Prasad, GM-IT, Premier Inn Ltd, “It was not very popular earlier and it is still a new concept. Presently, the technology is quite robust. All-in-one PCs are quite good in a customer facing environment like hospitality.” To its advantage comes the look and feel and also there is no clutter of wires associated with it. All-in-one PCs work well in enterprises if one knows that there are certain types of standard applications to be run. Organizations that buy assembled PCs or white boxes are not prospective buyers of AIOs. This kind of product makes sense in an organization with 500-1,000 employees. In verticals where there is a security threat and data cannot go out, such organizations like banks can look at AIOs. On the other hand, due to certain work habits, employees buy laptops or other mobile devices. Presently, the government and banking verticals are witnessing high adoption of this product category.
According to Vishal Tripathi, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner, “In metro cities where the cost of real estate is high, all-in-one PCs can help save space. However, organizations calculating devices from the cost perspective are not buying it.” Organizations that are technologically advanced are readily willing to invest in these devices at least for a few people to begin with.
Rajiv Rao, Director SMB – Lenovo India, commented, “For the first time in 10-12 years, there is a major shift towards the all-in-ones from the traditional desktops. We are witnessing huge demand from the enterprise segment (both large enterprise and SMBs) for these machines owing to the benefits that they provide.”
Lenovo has market share of close to 50% in this segment. This growth is driven by some of the key factors such as enhanced product specifications, competitive pricing and user-friendly machines.
These devices offer lower power consumption and come with ergonomic designs. A laptop cannot give as large a screen as an all-in-one PC does. All-in-one makers now put greater emphasis on style and design and touch screens have practically become the standard here. Some models such as the HP TouchSmart IQ500t and TouchSmart IQ816 and the Dell Studio One 19 come with multi touch displays, which let a user use two fingers at a time to pinch, push, rotate, and scroll items on screen.
The downside
Many organizations are cautious about spending and investing in these devices. According to Subhasish Saha, Head-IT, Apeejay Group, “It cannot be a preferred to a mobility device. A laptop will always have an edge over an AIO PC and, considering current economic scenario, extra spending is not justified.” Counting its negative points, firstly, it has a single point of failure and with any component failure, one needs to replace the entire set. Also, there is limited scope to customize or upgrade in future, probably RAM is the only thing you can play with in an all-in-one PC. As it is more proprietary in construction, hence the availability and spending on support is higher than on conventional desktops or even laptops. Lastly, all-in-one PCs can be more expensive than even some of the high performance desktops available in the market.
Certain organizations in their PC refresh cycle have not even considered all-in-one PCs as an option. At ACG-Worldwide, they are in the midst of making a move from PCs as such and have implemented thin-clients. So far they have implemented 150 thin -clients and the number will grow to 300. In the future, they would mostly have laptops, tablets and thin-clients. Mentioned Vilas Pujari, CIO, ACG-Worldwide, “All-in-one PCs are technically not much different than regular PCs. The only thing different is the look of it.”
Final word
There are more vendors selling these devices including Asus, Averatec, MSI, Shuttle, and Sony. While these devices may not suit every organization, there are industry verticals where their aesthetic would fit well such as hospitality or even in the reception of any company for that matter. Moreover, large enterprises with global ambitions would likely look to these products.
