Consumer devices gained huge popularity for commercial use. The convenience of compact, easy-to-use smartphones and tablets is alluring, because the user’s familiarity provides a seamless transition to workplace and when compared to rugged devices, the price of the consumer version makes it even more tempting to choose this option.
But, the initial purchase price represents a very small portion of your total cost of ownership.
Let’s have a look at the actual costs.
Consumer devices aren’t designed to withstand a harsh environments, like field work, construction or manufacturing. The average lifespan 6 to 18 months and if consumer device keeps working after a 12 month period, it will become very slow with battery issues. Then you have to pay higher replacement costs, when rugged device last on average 3-5 years.
5 Year device costs (Per ONE User)
Smartphone
In this sample I’ll be using average cost for both consumer and rugged device.
3 consumer smartphones (18 Month lifecycle) – @~C$900 each
2 rugged smartphones (3 Year lifecycle) – @~C$999
10 consumer smartphones (6 Month lifecycle) – @~C$900 each
2 rugged smartphones (3 Year lifecycle) – @~C$999
Tablet
In this sample I’ll be using cheapest Microsoft Surface VS the most expensive Rugged tablet Industrial One has to offer, so please consider performance difference.
5 consumer tablets (12 Month lifecycle) – @~C$699 each
1 rugged tablet (5+ Years lifecycle)
15 consumer tablets (4 Month lifecycle) – @~C$699 each
1 rugged tablet (5+ Years lifecycle)
This initial cost of consumer device doesn’t include the cost of accessories, at minimum a rugged case and a screen protector
Please note, that I’m not counting the costs of specific accessories and options like barcode scanners, MSR, MRZ, RFID and so on, that 90% of consumer devices cannot even offer.
5 Year device costs
Smartphone
+ 3 Cases @~C$70 each and at least 3 screen protectors @~C$40 each
at least 5 cases @~C$70 each and at least 10 screen protectors @~C$40 each
Tablet
+ 5 cases @~C$100 each and at least 5 screen protectors @~C$40 each
+ at least 5 cases @~C$100 each and at least 15 screen protectors @~C$40 each
Next, we have to consider the cost to service and support the consumer devices. With the higher Failure rate, expect your IT team to invest more time (=Money) in troubleshooting and servicing consumer devices, including data recovery and data migration. We also need to consider that consumer devices are frequently updated and earlier versions aren’t necessarily supported, so the consumer device becomes obsolete faster than the rugged device.
In addition, the downtime that results from device failure adds indirect cost to the TCO. Average service cost for a consumer device in an enterprise environment is C$950, versus C$280 for the rugged device.
5 Year device costs
Smartphone
+ Cases C$210 + Screen protectors C$120 + Service @ C$950 per device = C$3180
+ Service @ C$280 per device = C$560
+ at least 5 cases C$350 + at least 10 screen protectors C$400 + Service @ C$950 per device = C$10250
+ Service @ C$280 per device = C$560
Tablet
+ 5 cases C$500 + at least 5 screen protectors C$200 + Service @ C$950 per device = 5450
+ Service @ C$950 per device = C$950
+ at least 5 cases C$500 + at least 15 screen protectors C$600 + Service @ C$950 per device = 15350
+ Service @ C$950 per device = C$950
Finally, multiply these costs by the number of units you need to support in your organization, including the spare pool for replacement. The TCO gap becomes a great divide if you deploy 100 devices.
5 Year TCO of 100 devices in the organization
100 Smartphones
Consumer smartphones
Rugged smartphones
Difference
Consumer smartphones
Rugged smartphones
Difference
100 Tablets
Consumer tablets
Rugged tablets
Difference
Consumer tablets
Rugged tablets
Difference
