By Michael Ngan
Country General Manager, Lenovo Philippines
In the relentless pursuit of bigger margins, it pays to be first, fast, and economical.
However, in this march towards ever-greater speed and efficiency, companies often overlook an important variable: the optimized workstation. Whether you design garments for fast-fashion retailers or assemble high-end industrial components, your success is highly dependent on efficient workflows that are powered by well-tuned workstations.
IMAGE BY GERALT FROM PIXABAY.COM
Oftentimes, however, workflows are compromised by hardware that is out of date or not properly configured to actual needs. Investing in hardware that runs faster and is properly configured will reduce project timescale and increase output. It ensures that your designs, renderings and final products are hitting the right development stage at the right time.
Ultimately, this timing is the difference in being first-to-market and being a laggard. It even saves money on the back-end through less need for overtime, and a happier and more engaged workforce. These savings are tangible and significant.
But the right solution doesn’t mean the most expensive solution. This misconception is what leads companies to making the wrong choice in the first place. There are three key factors you need to consider when evaluating a workstation solution.
We call these the “Three Ps”:
Primary purpose: Workstations are designed with specific tasks in mind, which make certain products more suitable for certain industries. If you run an animation or special effects shop, then you need a base workstation that supports high-end visualization and rendering speed. If you are a game developer or a product designer, you should also consider CPU clock speed.
Similarly, if you’re an engineer at an OEM, your machine should support 3D CAM visualization needs and also be VR-ready. At the very least, however, your hardware should be ISV-certified and support multiple independent displays.
Physical space: Although workstation towers are getting slimmer and smaller each year, many companies still face space constraints, especially in densely populated cities [like Hong Kong and Singapore]. With that in mind, tech brands have unveiled two types of solutions to meet these needs: 1) miniature-chassis workstations that can sit in the palm of one’s hand, yet also deliver big performance; and 2) mobile workstations which can deliver “tower power” from a laptop. Despite their size, there are no constraints to their functionality, with even some of the more demanding industries opting for small workstation solutions in recent years.
Plans for the future: Are you expecting to close a deal that will require increased output in the coming years? Are you slowly divesting an existing product line? Does your business analyst foresee a trend that will re-shape consumer demand? As with any capital investment, you must take into account where you expect your business to be in one, three or five years’ time.
As your company grows, your workflows must keep up in terms of speed and power. Not all workstations allow for future scalability. If you want maximum flexibility on a budget, consider a modular design for an all-in-one workstation.
Although there are many factors that contribute to a company’s success, sometimes it is what we take for granted which are the most important. By taking short-cuts on basic capital expenses—like workstations—you will almost certainly pay the price at the back-end at a later date. It’s a false dilemma. Don’t fall for it.
