Going back to the fact that IT should be exploited as a differentiator to give companies a competitive edge. This is the last of three blogs in my series that computers should not be treated like commodity potatoes.

So take this scenario, we get a load of cheap computers, they fail, someone needs to monitor the alerts, your customers have to have a degredation in service for a while, someone needs to unplug the cables from the failed commodity server, needs to order a new one (which with commodity servers will never be the same as the one replaced), then someone needs to cable it back correctly and install the software. Hopefully install the s/w automatically and hope that the drivers work the same way as the old failed cheap system, as you are using commodity computers the replacement will probably be different than the one replaced. To get to commodity equipment the manufacturers use the cheapest components available at that time, changing the type of equipment used within the computer every month.

There is an environmentaly cost here too. Would it not be better for the earths resources to have one server that lasts 3 years rather than two servers that last 18 months each. You have to add the costs of disposal and the environment to using commodity computers. So after doing all this what have we saved. If the commodity devices are on site in stock waiting to be used then we are wasting money on unused assets and stock, plus the cost of storage, and inventory control.

Think of all the transport costs you are creating in the excess transport of all the commodity equipment that you needlessly replace and move around. Bad CO2 creation, bad CO2, just like bad carbs. Any company that uses commodity IT needs to think about the knock on affects of using disposable commodity computer, if they want to be a responsible organisation. A computer is not just for christmas.

Should we charge companies for the disposal of computers, should companies who like to say that they are environmentaly friendly in their annual reports stop using disposable/commodity equipment. Rather, companies should say and work to a sustainable IT policy, where they are not using lots of commodity items with short lifespans. But use better quality computers with upgrade paths and longer lifespans.

Have we just done some fancy financing and hidden the IT mainteance costs for commodity computers in the christmas party fund. Next time there is no sheery and mince pies at the christmas party, remember the food budget went to pay for commodity computers and you are now eating the cheapest food and drinking the cheapest sherry. Surely not, not in todays sophisticated economy.