9 steps towards standardization

Why 9 steps?  Because that’s how many different models of PC we’ve eliminated from production so far this year.

One of my goals this year was to make as big a leap as possible towards standardizing NewPointe on one laptop model and one desktop model.  At the beginning of this year we had fourteen different desktop and laptop models on our office, and five different manufacturers:  Dell, HP, Lenovo, Compaq (old-school) and E-machines (yes, E-machines…gross).  I’d list them here, but I don’t have the complete model list in front of me and I sure can’t remember it (here’s your sign, Dave!)

After doing a few hours of homework and looking over what we could afford, how much we need to buy, and what machines we could possibly keep, we ended up replacing all of our laptops with Dell Latitude E5500s, and we replaced 75% of our desktops with Dell Optiplex 755s.  So in the end, our model layout looks like this:

Desktops: Dell Optiplex 755, HP dx2200
Laptops: Dell Latitude E5500, Dell Latitude D820, Lenovo ThinkPad T61

From 14 models down to 5…that’s a HUGE deal from a support standpoint.  Standardization makes it easier for me to train, and easier for our end-users to learn because now that they all have the same model of machine (for the most part) they can also learn from each other (shared knowledge is powerful!)

If you haven’t made a move towards standardizing your equipment, you should give it a serious look.