Jacqueline Emigh | Guest Contributor

More and more enterprises today are starting to break free from the long-time stranglehold of buying, upgrading, and administering Windows PCs.  Here are four great reasons why they're choosing Chrome devices instead.

Chrome devices offer much better value for the money.

According to a recent Total Economic Impact (TEI) study by the Forrester industry analyst firm, organizations using shared Chrome devices achieved benefits of $5 million over three years versus costs of $1.3 million, adding up to a return on investment (ROI) of an astounding 295 percent.

Results showed that the use of Chrome devices improves employee productivity by minimizing downtime while also saving money for enterprises on hardware and software, deployment, upgrades, training, and IT management and services.

Forrester produced the report after surveying 236 organizations and interviewing seven of these. The interviewed organizations included businesses in the healthcare, retail, manufacturing, research, and human resources consulting industries. Based on the interviews, the analyst firm estimated that by purchasing Chrome devices instead, enterprises avoided annual averages of $900 in legacy hardware costs and $100 in legacy software costs per device.

Chrome devices are very versatile for deployment throughout enterprises.

The Chromebook is probably the best-known Chrome device, but it's hardly the only one.  CTL has been manufacturing best-in-class Chromebooks along with with Chrome notebooks, Chromebox desktop devices, computer displays, workstations, and high-end servers since 1989. Through a recent partnership, CTL’s Chromebox CBx1-7H is featured as part of Logitech’s Google Rooms videoconferencing hardware.

CTL also provides affordable Chromebox bundles, which work like desktop PCs but without the heavy hardware. Our 2-in-1 Workstations combine a Chromebox with a monitor of the customer's choice.  

Chromebooks and Chrome tablets can be used in a variety of corporate-owned settings, too, including restaurants, retail stores, and construction sites, to name a few. We’ll soon be adding two new products to our TX line of touchscreen Chromebooks. Our most rugged Chromebooks yet, these will be protected top and bottom against any spills, drops, or damage on impact. Are you looking for lighter-weight devices instead? Then Chrome tablets will meet your needs.

Students today are using Chromebooks in school.

From 2016 through 2019, Chromebooks have accounted for nearly 60 percent of all computers sold to K to 12 schools in the US, up from 50 percent in 2015, according to Futuresource Consulting. This means that, in growing numbers, young people just entering the workforce will already be comfortable with the devices as well as with apps such as Google Docs and Google Groups. 

Moreover, many students have already learned how to use Google’s Jamboard, a super cool shared whiteboarding solution that’s also a fun and collaborative way for enterprises to hold meetings and brainstorming sessions.

CTL's Chromebooks for Education, Chromebook tablets, and Chromeboxes have received widespread recognition from noted tech publications such as PC Magazine, ChromeUnboxed.com, Android Police, Android Central, CNET, and Laptop Magazine. CTL's headquarters, sales, and support teams are all located in the United States. CTL is also a Google Education Premier Partner and an Intel Technology Program Platinum Partner.

Chrome devices offer better IT administration than PCs.

In its TEI report, Forrester found that Chrome devices save money on IT administration for two reasons. First, Chrome devices save time on deployment tasks such as laptop imaging, application testing and deployment, and policy management. Secondly, the cloud-native quality of Chrome devices leads to significantly less IT management and services efforts around policy updates and end-user service desk tickets. Google Apps, however, can now be downloaded and then operated offline, too, for scenarios such as remote work locations where reliable Internet connections aren’t available.

Google has helped to further the cause of better administration with its own innovations. Google’s Chrome management console, provided directly within the Google Chrome Enterprise operating environment, enables IT administrators at businesses and schools to easily force-install apps and extensions, set up Chrome features for end-users, enforce policies, and provide access to internal VPNs and Wi-Fi networks, for instance. 

Other services available in Chrome Enterprise include deep security controls, cloud, and native print management, theft prevention, application virtualization, and 24/7 enterprise support, for example.  Chrome Enterprise can also be used to manage PCs in mixed Chrome/Windows environments, through integration with Microsoft Active Directory and VMware Workspace ONE.

Conclusion

What kinds of computers can your organization buy that will save money on hardware and software, save time on IT administration, require less training than PCs do, and be easily deployable in just about any enterprise setting? The answer is Chrome devices, of course. For more information about CTL and to purchase CTL products, visit us at ctl.net

Sources:

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3230293/7-reasons-chrome-os-computers-are-ideal-for-enterprises.html

https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/forrester_tei_of_shared_chrome_devices.pdf

https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/u-s-k-12-market-mobile-devices-remains-flat-2-percent-growth-2018/

https://www.androidcentral.com/5-reasons-you-want-chrome-tablet-over-chromebook

https://redmondmag.com/articles/2017/08/23/chrome-enterprise-offering.aspx

https://www.blog.google/products/chrome-enterprise/introducing-chrome-enterprise/

https://support.google.com/a/answer/1289314?hl=en

By Jacqueline Emigh | Guest Contributor
Jacqueline Emigh is a highly experienced writer and editor with a strong specialization in technology for enterprises and freelance writes for dozens of major tech websites.