Can you cut the cost of equipping staff on the road?

Employers are equipping mobile workers with a growing number of devices, including phones, laptops, tablets and a raft of accessories. With Covid-19, this has ramped up further with many organisation replicating office setups in employee homes with monitors, docks, cameras and audio headsets (we have launched an employee purchasing website for this very thing).
All of this is causing more cost, and more complexity for both fleet and user management.
Now is a good time to take stock of what you are spending on.

​Typical equipment for employees on the road:

First off - what are employees being equipped with now? Let's look at the devices we're seeing in the field, their capabilities, and the crossovers in capabilities between the devices that are issued to staff:

That's around $3700 for the basics, based on standard business-quality equipment.
As you can see, there is a small amount of crossover between standard laptops and phones, a large amount between phones and tablets, but a large number of essential business and administrative tasks can only be done using a laptop computer when outside the office.
Many employees also supply a desktop computer and monitors in the office (add $1200), and monitors and a dock at home for remote working (add $800) as part of standard business continuity planning (thanks mostly to Covid-19 and earthquakes).

Sum total: Over $5500 per employee, excluding software and mobile data.

And more if you opt for high quality equipment. Flagship smart phones alone start at $1300+GST, and monitors can each go well in to the $1000 range.

Where can you make savings?

As part of our Switch to Surface campaign, we've looked at our product portfolio to identify devices that can tick all of the above capabilities. We're also looking to see whether any one device will allow us to dial back spending and requirements on other devices. The Surface range is notable for providing unique products not available from competing brands.

Here's what we found:

​The Surface Go 2 tablet is ticking a lot of boxes

When specified with the Intel Core m3 processor, the 10.5 inch Surface Go 2 tablet ticks many boxes, and it does each very well (view range here >). Well enough to dial down the specification of employer-issued smart phones (thanks to its high quality front and rear cameras, light weight and app store support).
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It's also powerful enough to replace standard laptop and desktop computers for administration and reporting tasks in Windows 10, and able to connect to multiple monitors and external keyboards for a full desktop experience. It can run the legacy software required by most enterprises and public sector teams without needing a second PC.
It's compact and interactive enough to replace any pro-quality mobile tablet, providing pen, app and touch screen support. At around 544 grams, plus Type Cover keyboard, it's a full Windows PC in the body of an entertainment tablet.

Shown with and without optional protective Type Cover keyboard and Surface Pen.

Total savings: $1850 (before discounts)

This is based on an entry level smart phone at $300 for calls and emails, plus the recommended retail price of a Surface Go 2 with 4G mobile data, 8GB memory, a Type Cover keyboard and Surface Pen. A total of around $1850+GST total instead of $3700. Note that government, education and corporate volume discounts reduce this further (contact us for details).
You can also get a discount of up to 40% off your first seed unit for volume contracts through The Laptop Company. Again, contact us for details.
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A welcome oddity

The Surface Go 2 is unique, we're not aware of any competing business-class device running Windows 10 in the same form factor and with the same performance. The closest is the larger Surface Pro series and its equivalent competitors with 12" or larger screens.

Connects to dual desktop monitors and desktop accessories

If your users have legacy monitors and accessories in the office or at home, try the Surface Dock 2 and your choice of cable connectors for existing monitors. As-per most new docking stations, the Surface Dock charges the Surface Go 2 when connected and it works with all current Surface devices. You can also use a variety of USB-C docks and docking monitors with the Surface Go 2. Contact us to test.

We recommend you try before you buy

With potential savings at that level, we can understand if you would like to try before buying. At current we have a number of demo devices available if you want to inspect the device, or launch a pilot programme. Minimum quantities apply to the seed unit discount, so please contact us to find out more about this.

Cut costs on device and user management

If you run your own mobile device management service, you've reduced your device count between 33 and 50% by scrapping tablets and desktops on your next fleet renewal. That means less complexity and fewer potential security holes.
If you would like to find other savings in user-management, ask us.

Find out more about the Surface Go 2:

If you have workers on the road in enforcement, sales, construction management, healthcare, monitoring or compliance, we recommend you assess the device.
Go to https://procure.laptop.co.nz/surface/surface-go - or speak to one of our account managers to find out more.

Contact us for pricing, or to trial with your team.

View the Surface Range >