Elementos Del Tco

TCO Analyst
A White Paper on GartnerGroup’s Next Generation Total Cost of Ownership Methodology

Prepared on Behalf of Sponsors of a Multiclient Study on Total Cost of Ownership:
AST Computer AT&T Cirrus Logic Citrix Compaq IBM Intel Microsoft NEC Novell Toshiba Wyse

by: GartnerConsulting Stamford, CT

Entire contents © 1997 by Gartner Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction ofthis publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. GartnerGroup disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner Group shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretationsthereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

TCO Analyst White Paper

Management Summary
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) has become an important metric for the information technology (IT) industry. As the leading research and advisory firm on thistopic, GartnerGroup is entering the next phase in its quest to extend the TCO concepts for managers and suppliers of IT. We are expanding the scope of our current TCO methodology and encapsulating our expertise into a new TCO model (currently in prototype form) that provides a more comprehensive analysis of distributed computing costs. The enhanced TCO methodology includes a broader list of technologyplatforms than is currently addressed. The methodology is designed with a consistent architecture and chart of accounts to permit both high-level and fine-grained analysis. In addition, the effect of best practices is evaluated from both a base technology and implementation perspective. The design also includes several new dimensions to which GartnerGroup has already devoted years of research:complexity and worker type. We have found that a more complex IT environment typically leads to a higher TCO and we hope to help enterprises lower computing costs by reducing complexity. We also note, however, that some highly complex environments warrant higher costs (for example, a stock trader) than others (a data entry clerk). Therefore, we are adding to the TCO model quantitative informationthat reflects the nature of the work performed. Many organizations have equipped workers as if they are knowledge workers with sophisticated computing requirements, even if they are not. Finally, a risk factor is added as a new evaluation metric in addition to cost. We think risk is a critical component in that a pure cost management approach may actually increase risk in the IT infrastructure. Forexample, backing up data is a pure cost/risk exercise. Without taking risk into account, backup would be an intolerable cost; by considering risk, it becomes a prudent IT process. The original GartnerGroup TCO model was based on a "typical" loosely managed deployment of 2,500 PCs in a campus setting. We recognize the need to easily customize the model to accommodate the myriad types ofinstallations worldwide, so we have developed a powerful software prototype, the TCO Analyst, as a proof of concept. Its objective is to create a comprehensive TCO profile of a current IT environment and enable extensive "what if" capabilities to explore the impact of new technologies and its implementation against this profile.

GartnerConsulting

Copyright © 1997

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TCO Analyst White PaperWe have embarked on this effort with support from many of the most influential suppliers in the IT industry. The common objective is the desire to help enterprises lower computing costs by credibly evaluating more sophisticated technology and labor intensive processes, such as peer support. If best practices are used to intelligently deploy this technology and attack these high cost processes,...