Your maturity result: Advanced Intermediate Beginner

Beginner

Your PC purchasing strategy is only at the beginning stage. This means that:

• Your PCs are replaced/updated with limited regularity.
• Your PC buying priorities are often misaligned with employee demands.
• Your PCs often do not empower your employees to work in a hybrid setting.
• Your hybrid or remote work strategy goals are not aligned.

To elevate your PC purchasing strategy, you must:

• Begin building a new internal coalition around the importance of PC performance. EX leaders (often in HR), recruiters (often in HR), business leaders, and even C-level leaders will play a particular role in the world of increasingly distributed anywhere work and hybrid work. They need to be part of the conversation around PC performance and stability and how it drives key goals like employee productivity, retention, and recruitment.

• Build a business case for PC replacement. If you do not have a formal business case, you will need one to circulate with your new allies in HR and business. It should begin to model potential improvements in employee productivity as well as IT-specific productivity, e.g., by lowering help-desk calls, IT teams can work on higher-value tasks and be more productive, directly and indirectly.

• Bring employees into an advocacy program. Ultimately, employees will do the best job of articulating how high-performance, stable PCs can drive value. Talk to those with early seed devices you distribute or even BYOPC users. Perhaps they notice that videoconferencing quality has improved. Collect their testimonials to add to the business case you develop.

Intermediate

Your PC purchasing strategy is at the intermediate stage. This means that:

• Your PCs are replaced/updated with some regularity.
• Your PC buying priorities are often but not always aligned with employee demands.
• Your PCs often do not empower your employees to work in a hybrid setting. 
• Your hybrid or remote work strategy goals are at times aligned.

To elevate your PC purchasing strategy, you must:

• Build a data-rich business case for PC replacement. If you do not have a formal business case, you will need one to circulate with your new allies in HR and business. It should begin to model potential improvements in employee productivity as well as IT-specific productivity, e.g., by lowering help-desk calls, IT teams can work on higher-value tasks and be more productive, directly and indirectly. If you do have a business case, you must add details by comparing data from recently replaced PCs with older ones in your fleet. The goal will be to make the case for faster refresh rates — say, every two years instead of every five.

• Build an employee testing program. As you evaluate new PCs, seed them to volunteer employees who are willing to track and share their stories, i.e., strengths, weaknesses, and wish lists. Solicit inputs from a wide array of roles: What a sales professional desires from their experience may be different from the needs of an engineer. Place these insights at the forefront of your continued strategic refinement.

• Optimize PC buying around your hybrid work strategy. In an increasingly distributed workforce, scenarios to empower hybrid work need a PC at the center: The device must successfully deliver a quality remote videoconferencing setup for home offices and have the ports to plug into a conference room, or the ability to connect wirelessly. Link your PC purchasing goals to these scenarios explicitly.

Advanced

Congratulations, your PC purchasing strategy is advanced! This means that:

• Your PCs are replaced/updated with regularity.
• Your PC buying priorities are well-aligned with employee demands.
• Your PCs empower your employees to work in a hybrid setting.
• Your hybrid or remote work strategy goals are well-aligned.

Additionally, as a result of your investments in high-performing and stable PCs, you are:

• 20% more likely to be experiencing improved employee retention.
• 19% more likely to see an increased innovation.
• 17% more likely to see improved employee well-being.

To continue to maximize on your PC purchasing strategy, you should:

• Build bridges with EX leaders. Whether they sit in IT, HR, or in other business units, EX leaders will play a key role in evangelizing how PCs can play a positive role in driving EX. They will become advocates and allies during budgeting cycles. They can also incorporate PC and technology stack performance into their models of EX.

• Establish KPS and data tracking. Your behaviors and goals are top notch, but are they translating into the business results you desire? Most companies, even advanced ones, lack systems for tracking outcomes. Where there are gaps, explore qualitatively: For example, employee retention could be stymied by trends outside the PC and technology stack. Link the data to strategic plans to better use PC buying as a lever for improvement.

• Build systems for long-term success. You are already embracing the importance of PC performance and stability alongside a commitment to hybrid work. But it’s not a one-and-done exercise. For example, high-maturity companies should consider PC refresh cycles, improving budgeting for shortening them. And the PC-as-a-service model might be a route to updated hardware, too.