Over the past few years, the variety of client devices in use at Intel has grown significantly. While we still find that a 2- to 4-year refresh cycle offers the best total cost of ownership, some of our client device fleet management practices have also evolved. Improvements in security have enabled Intel IT to broadly support personally owned mobile devices, while advances in the Windows OS have accelerated the adoption of touch-based devices. Several use cases across the enterprise have shown the value of new form factors, such as Intel® architecture-based tablets and 2-in-1 devices. We believe that a standardized build using Windows 8, supported across a wide choice of devices, provides the best opportunity for enhanced productivity. Even with the proliferation of device types, we continue to adhere to the fundamentals of client device lifecycle management:
- Develop an understanding of device total cost of ownership
- Treat devices as strategic assets
- Simplify and secure the hardware and software ecosystem, while still supporting employee choice
- Emphasize the productivity benefits that new technologies bring to Intel’s employees
When making decisions about device lifecycle management, we are guided by our previous experience and by more recent proofs of concept and pilot projects that extend this experience to a wide variety of devices.
