In an effort to further define the value of the Centurion Technologies product line, it was identified that a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis would provide the greatest insight to customers, prospects and partners. In researching the available tools to perform TCO analysis, it was determined that an independent website (www.classroomtco.org), created by the Gartner Group and The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a national non-profit organization that is the premier voice in education technology leadership, would provide the basis for a simple analysis tool that spotlights the dramatic, positive affect the Centurion Technologies suite of products has on TCO.
The CoSN mission is to advance the K-12 education community’s capacity to effectively use technology to improve learning through advocacy, policy and leadership development. Understanding the full range of costs associated with technology investments will assist school leaders in planning for the future. The Gartner/CoSN TCO Tool is designed to help schools and school districts make sound budgetary decisions, conduct technology planning in an organized way, establish a baseline for future analysis and maximize benefits from their investments in technology.
The Centurion Technologies line of hard drive protection (HDP) products can provide a significant benefit to your customers by reducing the Total Cost of Ownership through dramatic reductions in the Maintenance and Support dollars spent year after year.
As an example, an organization with 250 public access machines, equipping them with the Centurion Guard, DriveShield, MacShield, or CompuGuard Cornerstone will conservatively save the organization over $50,000 annually in Maintenance and Support dollars. This is supported by the tool shown below.
Protecting 1000 machines provides over $200,000 in annual savings.
Protecting 5000 machines will save the organization over $1 million annually in Maintenance and Support dollars.
To break down this analysis, Centurion Technologies established an average cost for both desktop and laptop computers. These averages were based upon industry averages in early 2003. Multiplying the total number of workstations by the average cost of a workstation gives the total Capital Cost. The Total Cost of Ownership Factor of 4 is taken from the Gartner/CoSN website and establishes that it takes approximately 4 times the cost of the equipment to keep it functional throughout its expected lifecycle. (The TCO Factor for a corporate environment is closer to 6.) The TCO Factor takes into account Maintenance, User Support, Management, Deployment, Planning and Acquisition, Administration, and Technical Support.
The Capital Cost is multiplied to the TCO Factor to show the Total Cost of Ownership. Centurion Technologies divided the Total Cost of Ownership by the Expected Life Cycle of the machine to determine the Per Year TCO. This number was multiplied by a percentage (45%) that equates to the amount of the total that relates to a function or cost that a Centurion Technologies product can affect (i.e. Maintenance, User Support, and Tech Support), which shows the Maintenance and Support TCO. Centurion Technologies products have no affect on Planning and Acquisition, Deployment or Administration.
In addition, Centurion Technologies multiplies the Maintenance and Support TCO by a percentage (40%), which conservatively establishes the level to which our products reduce the Maintenance and Support Costs. (Centurion Technologies has numerous customer testimonials quantifying that our HDP save over 90% of the technical support time versus non-protected machines.) This establishes the Annual Savings with DriveShield, MacShield or Centurion Guard.
By utilizing the Centurion Technologies line of HDP products, education institutions, libraries and organizations can dramatically reduce the costs associated with Support and Maintenance of their computers while stabilizing the machine and improving the overall performance.