Despite the rapid advance of technology over the past two decades, enterprises’ device refresh strategies have remained largely unchanged. For all the telemetry, analytics, and user insights now available to IT leaders, many use one simple metric to guide their refresh decisions: the age of the device.
In some cases, this means workers must use devices that do not perform as required, damaging the user experience and impacting productivity. According to research from HP, only around half of knowledge workers say they have the tools they need to be successful and many explicitly request faster and more efficient hardware.
The limitations of age-based refresh cycles
According to research from Scalable Software, 77% of organizations replace technology based primarily on age rather than actual usage or performance data, relying on fixed refresh cycles driven by calendar schedules instead of tangible business requirements.
This age-centric approach is not without its merits, as it simplifies budgeting by making device costs predictable. However, the approach can result in perfectly good devices’ being replaced too early whereas others that are past their prime and are holding users back remain in service for too long.
There is a clear opportunity here for CIOs to better align their device investments with productivity and user experience, thereby ensuring a better overall return on investment (ROI) over time. The secret to success lies in being able to surface the data and insights needed to make the best-possible refresh decisions.
Fueling data refresh decisions with data
Here, digital experience platforms come into their own. By analyzing factors such as device performance and stability, application experience, battery health, and directly captured user sentiment, these tools can reveal which devices are genuinely supporting productivity and which are creating friction.
HP and AMD offer complementary capabilities that help CIOs put data at the heart of device refresh decisioning. HP’s devices and digital employee experience solution provide visibility into endpoint performance, stability, and user experience, and AMD Ryzen™ PRO–based devices are designed to deliver consistent performance and efficiency across a wide range of enterprise workloads. This combined proposition enables refresh decisions that are driven by evidence and business impact rather than device age alone.
The impact of data-driven strategies
HP used its own Workforce Experience Platform (WXP) to guide its internal device refresh program. The results were compelling, with overall fleet performance improving by 9% and with 85% of employees who responded noting that the new PCs improved their productivity.
AMD has experienced similar benefits from its own device refresh strategy. In a recent blog, the company noted, “Instead of relying solely on device age, we used real-time endpoint data to identify systems that are most at risk — prioritizing refreshes for users experiencing instability or performance degradation. This targeted approach not only improved user satisfaction and productivity but also validated our belief that intelligent lifecycle management is a strategic IT advantage.”
A smarter approach to refreshing PCs
Instead of relying on static and outdated refresh timelines, CIOs can use device and user behavior data to identify high-performing systems that can remain in service longer, pinpoint underperforming devices that should be prioritized for replacement, and align their refresh decisions with role-specific needs and business impact. The result is a much more strategic, evidence-based approach to device life cycle management that improves ROI while directly improving the employee experience.
Learn more about how HP and its partner AMD can help set the stage for success.