ROI Calculation in using Desktop Central

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Objective

This document will help you arrive at the ROI (Return on Investment) on using Desktop Central versus doing it manually.

Assumptions

• Network of 100 computers.
• Hourly salary for a technician to be $35.

Summary

The following graph depicts the time spent on each of these tasks manually versus doing it with Desktop Central. You will save a whopping 90% of cost and efforts when you use Desktop Central.

Note:

The graph shown above is for doing these tasks just once. When you increase the number of times you perform these tasks, you would tend to save even more as most of these taks gets automated in Desktop Central.

Notes:

• While the cost of doing each task manually can be calcuated, it is hard to do it for Desktop Central as it is an integrated software. The graph above shows the total cost of performing these tasks uisng Desktop Central and not individually.
• Whether or not you do these taks once or multiple times a year, the cost of doing it with Desktop Central is going to remain the same or may increase marginally, if you take into account the time spent by the technician in initiating the tasks from the management console.

Now, we will see the break-up of the data shown above for each tasks/modules.

Manual Procedure

Asset Scanning and Reporting

Task	Time per computer	Total Time for 100 computers
Manual Scan to get hardware and software details	5 minutes	8.33 man hours
Preparing a report on results	5 minutes	8.33 man hours

Task	Time per computer	Total Time for 100 computers
Identify the missing patches for 3rd party applications like Adobe, Java, Firefox, etc.	3 minutes	5 man hours
Download the required patches from the vendor's website and install them	5 minutes	8.33 man hours
Identifying the missing Microsoft Patches**	5 minutes	8.33 man hours
Downloading and Installing the missing Microsoft Patches**	5 minutes	8.33 man hours

** Applicable only if automatic update is not enabled.

Deploying software applications

Task	Time per computer	Total Time for 100 computers
Deploying a simple software	3 to 5 minutes	5 to 8.33 man hours
Deploying MS office applications	15 minutes	25 man hours
Installing Service Packs	3 minutes	5 man hours

Desktop/ Application configurations and Security Restrictions

Task	Time per computer	Total Time for 100 computers
Configuring display settings, application settings, browser settings, etc.	3 minutes	5 man hours
Applying security policies, restricting USB device access, file restrictions, etc.	5 minutes	8.33 man hours
Local user management, mapping drives, installing printers, etc.	5 minutes	8.33 man hours

Using Desktop Central

Task	Time per computer	*Total time for 'n' computers
Installing and setting up of Desktop Central	-	120 minutes
Automating Asset Scanning and Reporting	-	2 minutes
Automating Patch scanning and deployment	-	5 minutes
Deploying a simple software	2 minutes	2 minutes
Deploying MS Office	15 minutes	15 minutes
Installing Service Packs	2 minutes	2 minutes
Configuring display settings, application settings, browser settings, etc.	2 minutes	2 minutes
Applying security policies, restricting USB device access, file restrictions, etc.	5 minutes	5 minutes
Local user management, mapping drives, installing printers, etc.	5 minutes	5 minutes

*Note: 'n' ranges from 1-10000.

Comparing the time taken to do things manually and using Desktop Central

Task	Doing Manually		Using Desktop Central		Annual Savings
	Man hours	Cost	Man hours	Cost*
Performing asset scanning, patch management, software deployment, and configurations once in a year	114	$3990	2.63	$1087	$2903
Perform Asset scanning once in a quarter, install patches once a month (excluding Microsoft Patches), Install software and configure systems once a year	284.92	$9972	2.63	$1087	$8885
Perform asset scanning once in a quarter, install patches once a month (including Microsoft Patches), install software and configure systems once a year	484.84	$16969	2.63	$1087	$15882

*- includes an additional $995 towards the annual subscription fee for 100 computers.

Bandwidth consumption analysis between Manual and Desktop Central for MS critical patches:

Assumption:

• Patch size of 8MB (average).
• Ten patches per system (Data based on the 2012 first quarter).

Manual Procedure	Desktop Central
For one system: 8MB*10 patches=80 MB For 100 systems: 100*80MB=8GB	Once, the patch is downloaded in the server (i.e. 80MB file). It can be deployed any number of times, without any additional consumption of internet bandwidth. Result: Save bandwidth cost up to 100 times.

Additional Benefits with Desktop Central

• Reduce the power consumption by enabling power saving option to all the systems centrally.
• By tracking asset details, you can plan asset budgetary objectives well ahead.
• Saves your time on trouble shooting, record the session and send it to the user for self-serving (only on similar issues).
• Reduce the time and pain-stalking efforts of software deployment by automating it.
• No interruption on your weekends, update the patches even in offline.
• Get comprehensive reports to meet your audit requirements anytime.
• Get a complete insight into your Active Directory infrastructure components.
• It is not only a management software but also a health administrator, boosts your system's performance.
• You can scrutinize the information, by getting complete details about actual user login time with history.