Tablets are becoming increasingly common in the enterprise, largely because they offer a new level of mobile productivity. Workers can collaborate and stay connected with a portable, easy-to-use form factor that they can take on the go. Customer-facing workers can better serve customers’ needs with quick access to real-time data and tracking capabilities that improve service and reduce wait times.

While the productivity benefits are undeniable, there are associated costs with tablets that are critical to evaluating total cost of ownership (TCO). Many organizations make the mistake of focusing solely on device acquisition costs, without considering related expenses. And there’s a common misconception that overall costs are reduced when the user purchases the tablet, or when the price of the tablet is lower, but it’s not that simple. In fact, the cost of the actual tablet represents only 20 to 35 percent of total operations and support costs.

MAy 2013

Understanding the Big Picture To gain a comprehensive view of TCO factors, it’s important to work with different business units across your organization. This will help ensure that all requirements are met, such as budget, regulatory compliance, human resources, and system performance. You’ll gain insight into specific cost factors and where they fall—from procurement, integration, and applications to risk management and support. As you partner with different groups, you may find that the following costs are spread across

multiple departments:

• Device service costs, including help-desk support

• Device connectivity costs, such as Internet service provider and wireless roaming fees

• Support for a better user experience including peripherals, software, and user training

• Support for security and management solutions to protect business data and user privacy

• Capabilities on the go in a highly portable device

Consumerization of IT

Evaluating Tablet TCO in the Enterprise

Management Models: Basic Services, Partial Integration, Full IntegrationWhen incorporating tablets into the enterprise, costs and security risks can vary widely depending on the device, services, management, and financial support provided by the organization. There are various management models IT can follow, but in most cases, enterprise tablets fall into three categories defined by who owns the device and what services are delivered.

• Owned and purchased by employees

• Deployed as companion devices (secondary to the primary work device)

• Supported with access to a limited set of basic corporate services over the network (e-mail, calendar, contacts)

• Either employee-purchased, employer-subsidized, or employer-purchased

• Deployed as companion devices (secondary to the primary work device)

• Supported with access to select office and enterprise applications, in addition to basic corporate services, on tablets with enhanced security and management capabilities

• Employer-purchased, with the highest level of services and support

• Deployed as primary work devices, most often for mobile task workers

• Fully supported by IT, including installation of all applications and standardized tools with life-cycle support and full integration to workflows

This Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model improves productivity by helping users stay connected on the go or when away from the office. This model typically includes tablets that are:

This increasingly popular partially managed model includes support for IT-approved devices that integrate business applications to help boost productivity and streamline workflows. This model typically includes tablets that are:

This fully managed model helps users perform comprehensive job tasks at any time, from any location. This model typically includes tablets that are:

BASIC SERVICES SUPPORT

PARTIAL-ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION

FULL-ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION

Security and ManageabilityBoth the partial-enterprise integration and full-enterprise integration management models include a higher level of IT security to manage risk and meet compliance regulations for safeguarding data and devices from theft or loss.

A TCO ComparisonTo gain a better understanding of TCO considerations for tablets, Intel worked in partnership with Principled Technologies to evaluate a variety of common tablet devices, support models, and costs. This in-depth analysis reflects a cost comparison of three different tablets deployed using a partial-enterprise integration model within a hypothetical enterprise environment over a two-year period.

General Assumptions

The tablet TCO evaluation in this analysis was based on the following assumptions:

• Tablets come with at least 64 GB of storage.

• Business tablet users go beyond the basics of tablet usage—e-mail and Web browsing—with the need to read and edit Microsoft* Word docs, spreadsheets, and team sites.

• A keyboard is included as a required peripheral to streamline content creation and editing.

• The tablet could be a primary work device for a mobile task worker.

Cost Categories

In general, you can effectively assess TCO by including considerations for hardware (the device and its peripherals); software (applications and support); management (deployment, user training, and help-desk support); and security (data protection). For comparison purposes in this analysis, costs were divided into six major categories, similar to those commonly used to assess TCO for PC notebooks. It is important to note that when any device is integrated as part of business-critical workflows, some level of IT support must be assumed, even if the employee is procuring the device.

• Device procurement (undiscounted cost)

• Peripherals required to support user productivity (keyboards, stands, docks, and cases)

• Connectivity to business services (including cellular access)• Access to common or custom business applications and collaboration tools (purchase, development, and license support)• Access required for cloud or enterprise data storage solutions

• IT life-cycle/help-desk support (calls, on-site repairs, and accidental damage)

• Data protection and device management tools, including mobile device management (MDM) solutions, if applicable• Device administration (cloud-based applications and services; repair and replacement costs)

• Business costs associated with lost productivity (unexpected device or application downtime) • Training users on new device usage to support business workflows

Tablet cost

Hardware support

Software support

IT support

Management and security

User-related costs

COST CATEGORIES CONSIDERATIONS

Whitepaper Charts — A TCO Comparison

Figure 1. Analysis cost categories.

Reducing TCO with Intel®-Based TabletsAccording to the comparison results, the Intel®-based tablets offered the lowest TCO over a two-year period. Intel-based tablets running the Windows* 8 operating system can help reduce overall business costs with built-in security1 and manageability tools.

Regardless of the integration scenario you choose, one of the biggest TCO advantages is the way these tablets fit with your existing computing environment. You can use the same IT management tools as you use for desktops and laptops, and there is no need for extra cloud storage or collaboration tools. Intel-based tablets also offer:

• Compatibility with legacy applications, peripherals, and drivers

• Powerful performance and greater productivity for users

• A familiar architecture that uses existing IT skill sets

Learn More

This snapshot reveals some interesting results, and it’s a great start. However, it’s always best to do your own research; TCO depends on the many factors identified here, as well as additional software required for your business. Get started by exploring these resources:

• Visit intel.com/tabletforbusiness.

• Read the full analysis at principledtechnologies.com/Intel/Atom_tablet_TCO_0313.pdf.

• Find out how Intel IT evaluated tablets based on the Windows* 8 operating system at intel.com/content/www/us/en/it-management/intel-it-best-practices/evaluating-microsoft-windows-8-security-on-intel-architecture-tablets.html.

TCO DISTRIBUTION

Intel® Atom™ processor- based tablet running

Windows* 8

Apple* iPad* device with dual-core A6X

Google* Android* tablet with NVIDIA* Tegra* 3

quad-core CPU

TABLET COST

HARDWARE SUPPORT

SOFTWARE SUPPORT

IT SUPPORT MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY

USER-RELATED COSTS

$2.5K

$2.4K

$2.0K

Whitepaper Charts — A TCO Comparison

Figure 2. Total cost distribution per the Principled Technologies white paper, Comparing the TCO of Intel Atom Processor-Based Tablets vs. Alternatives in the Enterprise.

Three Tablets over Two yearsThe following graphic shows a breakdown of total costs by category for each of the three tablet models.

This paper is for informational purposes only. THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ANY WARRANTY OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF ANY PROPOSAL, SPECIFICATION, OR SAMPLE. Intel disclaims all liability, including liability for infringement of any property rights, relating to use of this information. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property rights is granted herein.

Copyright © 2013 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, and Intel Atom are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

1No computer system can provide absolute security under all conditions. Built-in security features available on select Intel processors may require additional software, hardware, services, and/or an Internet connection. Results may vary depending upon configuration. Consult your system manufacturer for more details. For more information, see http://security-center.intel.com/.

0513/BC/ME/PDF-USA 328984-001

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