October 30, 2020
Enterprise IT professionals face many challenges when managing a large PC environment. With different device types, user groups, applications, configurations and constant software updates in multiple office locations, PC life cycle management is no easy task.
The key to effective PC life cycle management is proactive PC performance management. When prioritizing PC performance evaluation and optimization, IT teams and enterprises can lower the risk of overspending on PC tenders, shortening PC life cycles and reduced business productivity due to downtime.
Proactive PC performance management is now simpler with the help of PC benchmark and automation software making remote performance testing fast and easy. PC performance benchmarking supports you at every stage of the PC life cycle, helping you make informed decisions to maximize PC life cycle and improve IT efficiency.
Make your IT procurement budget go further with benchmarking
With the help of PC performance benchmarking, you can keep your team within an IT budget while adapting to new technologies. Because it is difficult to compare technical specifications and insufficient to examine PC performance on the individual component level, the German Association for Information Technology (Bitkom) recommends using benchmarks to measure and specify PC performance in a vendor-neutral tendering of desktop computers process.
Using an industry-standard benchmark such as PCMark 10 can help IT teams measure accurate PC performance and formulate a PC procurement strategy to save costs. PCMark 10 translates system performance into a vendor-neutral benchmark score objectively with real-world tests covering a wide variety of office tasks. Each test simulates different workloads that are designed based on a specific, comparable and reproducible method. The test generates a score reflecting the performance for the measured use case.
You can use PCMark 10 scores to specify the minimum required performance in your PC tender and request that your suppliers provide benchmark scores in their proposals to make offer comparisons easier. Benchmarking simplifies PC performance comparison and hardware cost justification, so you can avoid spending on overspecified PCs while delivering PC performance and making savings from open competition between vendors.
Get systems into production faster with benchmarking
Benchmarking also helps validate that newly acquired PCs meet standardized baselines for system performance and configuration stability. Created in cooperation with leading technology companies in CPU, GPU and computer manufacturing, PCMark 10 features a comprehensive set of benchmark tests.
PCMark 10 performance benchmarks help IT teams evaluate PCs for a workforce with a range of performance needs. The benchmarks consist of workloads covering Web Browsing, Video Conferencing, App Start-up time, Spreadsheets, Writing, Photo Editing, Video Editing, Rendering and Visualization, and CPU and GPU tests.
PCMark 10 Applications benchmark helps you measure practical PC performance based on Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Edge.
PCMark 10 Battery Life benchmark helps you test battery life based on real tasks and activities in different common scenarios in an office setting.
PCMark 10 Storage benchmarks help you test the performance of the latest internal and external storage devices.
With the help of benchmarking translating complete, real-world system performance into a score for easy comparison against user-defined baselines, you can streamline your new hardware validation and IT standardization processes to improve efficiency and deliver increased business value.
Automate time-consuming field inspections with benchmarking
Centrally managed PC benchmark automation can help save time and effort. Manual testing requires manned time to set up systems, run tests, collect results and format for each PC. Benchmark automation takes care of the labor-intensive tasks of standardized benchmark installation and execution, improving efficiency and creating additional time for you to focus on identifying PC issues and optimizing performance.
With features designed specifically for IT professionals who manage a large PC environment, Testdriver Cloud Edition makes remote performance testing automation and monitoring fast and easy. You can schedule recurring runs of PCMark 10 performance benchmarks on unlimited PCs in multiple locations simultaneously to improve IT efficiency and systems visibility without affecting employee productivity. Not only can you add hours to your workweek, but you can also reduce downtime by taking control of PC life cycle management with proactive performance testing and monitoring.
Make informed PC life cycle decisions with benchmarking
Benchmarking can help you make informed decisions throughout the PC life cycle. You can get more flexibility and avoid costly wastage by replacing systems only when needed rather than following a fixed time-based schedule that could shorten the PC life cycle. Grouping PCs into different functions or regions for easy user group management helps ensure employees get the PCs that suit their needs, and helps you optimize and predict your IT budget planning.
You can also gain accurate performance insight into your systems environment and identify poorly performing PCs. With Testdriver Cloud Edition storing and tracking PC performance over time in one central database for easy access, you can monitor organizational and individual PC performance trendlines against user-defined baselines. You can also evaluate the impact of image and software updates on systems easily by searching and comparing historical test results stored in the central database before deployment.
Introduce benchmarking to your PC life cycle management approach
Benchmarking can help you step up your PC life cycle management strategy to maximize PC life cycle and improve IT efficiency:
- You can cut costs and make your IT procurement budget go further with simplified PC performance comparison and cost justification.
- Easy benchmark performance comparison against user-defined baselines can help get systems into production faster and streamline your new hardware validation and IT standardization processes.
- You can automate time-consuming field inspections to improve efficiency with fast and easy remote, cloud-based, centrally managed benchmark automation.
- With reliable historical benchmarking data in one central database, you can make informed decisions throughout the PC life cycle to optimize IT budget planning and PC performance.
Get started with benchmarking today to optimize your PC life cycle management strategy to cut costs, save time, deliver performance and improve productivity.
For more information, visit https://benchmarks.ul.com/testdriver-cloud-edition or contact us at UL.BenchmarkSales@ul.com