Research Executive Summary: Sustainable Mobile Device Strategies Deliver Significant Savings for Business

Foreword

Jan Kaempfer General Manager for Marketing for Panasonic Computer Product Solutions

This research clearly shows that businesses have quickly realised that taking a sustainable approach to the purchase of their mobile devices delivers significant financial, as well as environmental benefits. Practical considerations, such as the long-term compatibility of accessories and peripherals, failure rates, warranties and easily swappable batteries all add up to longer lasting devices, resulting in better TCO and a reduced spend on new equipment.

Businesses still waiting to implement a sustainable mobile device strategy are missing out on significant savings – on average 30% of their annual mobile device budget. These savings are primarily driven by the ability to extend the life of notebooks, hybrids, tablets and handhelds by an average of two years.

For the companies still planning or not considering a sustainable mobile device strategy, I urge you to reconsider or to prioritise this activity. The financial, as well as environmental, benefits are too significant to ignore.

As well as this research, I also recommend a whitepaper we have commissioned from respected analyst group QuoCirca on the key issues to consider when implementing a sustainable mobile device strategy.

We hope you find the information useful in your quest for sustainability. Panasonic is playing its part at a global level with its “A Better Life, A Better World” sustainability philosophy and you can read more about this and how we apply it to our rugged mobile devices at the end of this executive summary.

Sustainability is a difficult concept to pin down. And in the case of mobile IT – as studied in this research – it is extremely wide ranging.

First of all, there are the practical considerations. When evaluating the sustainability of new equipment, compatibility with legacy technology, peripherals and accessories must be considered, as must issues such as replaceable batteries, failure rates, ruggedisation, warranties and the need for software upgrades.

These practical concerns have a direct impact on the financial sustainability of an IT strategy,

affecting overall TCO and long-term productivity.

From a wider environmental perspective, energy efficiency and power consumption, the use of environmentally sensitive or hazardous materials (covered in ROHS regulation), recycling options, CO2 emissions and environmental performance (EPEAT standards) are all important factors in policy making.

What is a ‘sustainable IT strategy’?

1-10

%

11-2

0%

21-3

0%

31-4

0%

41-5

0%

51-6

0%

61-7

0%

71-8

0%

81-9

0%

91-9

9%

100%0%

9.3%

33.9%

20.2%

13.2%

8.5%

5.1%

3.5%2.8%

1.6%0.9% 0.6% 0.2%0.3%

Perc

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Mobile device budget per year being saved

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Research FindingsQ1. How much of your mobile device budget per year is being saved because of a sustainable mobile device strategy being implemented?

Companies are saving an average of 30% of their annual spend on mobile devices by introducing a sustainable mobile device strategy.

The independent research, undertaken by Opinion Matters and commissioned by Panasonic Business, questioned 1,001 IT decision makers in companies employing more than 50 people including 250 in the UK; 250 in Sweden; 250 in France and 251 in Spain.

Save

annual mobiledevice budget

14.9%

37.8%28.2%

11.8%4.2%

2.2%

0.7%

0.2%

10.1%45.1%

24.2%

11.8%

5%1.9%

1.5%

0.5%

13%28.5%

32%16.9%

5.8%1.9%

1.9%

12.7%29.1%

32.2%13.2%

6.7%2.9%

2.4%

0.7%

10.3%23.1%

28.2%

10.3%

5.1%12.8%

5.1%

5.1%

Q2. How much longer would you expect your mobile devices to last with a sustainable mobile device strategy in place?

Buyers estimate that by carefully considering their mobile device purchases against key sustainability criteria they can extend the average life of their notebooks, tablets, hybrids and handhelds by more than two years.

Percentage of respondents

Percentage of respondents

Percentage of respondents

Percentage of respondents

Percentage of respondents

Handhelds 2.08 years

Other 2.53 years

Hybrids 2.25 years

Tablets 2.08 years

Notebooks 2.25 years

Up to 1 year

Up to 1 year

Up to 1 year

Up to 1 year

Up to 1 year

1-2 years

1-2 years

1-2 years

1-2 years

1-2 years

2-3 years

2-3 years

2-3 years

2-3 years

2-3 years

3-4 years

3-4 years

3-4 years

3-4 years

3-4 years

4-5 years

4-5 years

4-5 years

4-5 years

4-5 years

Over 5 years

Over 5 years

Over 5 years

Over 5 years

Over 5 years

The same as without a sustainable mobile device strategy

The same as without a sustainable mobile device strategy

The same as without a sustainable mobile device strategy

The same as without a sustainable mobile device strategy

The same as without a sustainable mobile device strategy

Less than without a sustainable mobile device strategy

Less than without a sustainable mobile device strategy

Less than without a sustainable mobile device strategy

Less than without a sustainable mobile device strategy

41.6%

37.6%

37%

36.6%

24.6%

18.9%

16.7%

14.5%

10.9%

0.2%

Q3. Which financial and eco savings did your business care about most when a sustainable mobile device strategy was implemented?

The primary savings that businesses cared most about as a result of implementing a strategy were:

Reduction of spend on new devices

Reduction of spend on new batteries

A reduction in the TCO of devices

A reduction in carbon footprint to manufacture and deliver devices

Reduction of CO2 emissions (when using devices)

Reduction of spend on accessories

Reduction of software upgrade spending

Productivity savings by workforce

Other

Better recycling of devices

Q4. How important do you consider the sustainability of mobile IT to be to your business?

97% of IT buyers say that sustainable mobile IT is highly important or important to their business.

sustainable mobile IT is

highly importantor important

Highly important Important Unimportant

0-1 1-2 2-3 3-5 5-10

41.1% 22.9% 15.6% 3.7%1.5%

80.4%

45%

41.6%

36.2%

Q5. Do you implement / when do you intend to start implementing a sustainable mobile device strategy?

So far 85% of companies have introduced a sustainable mobile device strategy for their notebook, hybrid, tablet and handheld devices, with 64% introducing one in the past three years.

Have introduced a sustainable mobile device strategy

We have had a sustainable mobile device strategy for

Introducing one in the past three years

years years yearsyearsyears

Tablets

Handhelds

Notebooks

Hybrids

Q6. Which mobile computing devices do you currently provide for your staff?

Q7. How often does your company expect to replace / change its mobile devices?

25.8%43.6%

20.4%7.3%

1.8%1.1%

17.6%49.4%

24.5%6.6%

1.2%0.5%0.1%

25.7%38.1%

24.3%9.7%

1.4%0.8%

20.2%33.9%

27.6%13%

4.1%1.2%

25.6%23.1%

30.8%12.8%

5.1%2.6%

Percentage of respondents

Percentage of respondents

Percentage of respondents

Percentage of respondents

Percentage of respondents

Handhelds 1.82 years

Hybrids 1.88 years

Other 2.11 years

Notebooks 2.11 years

Tablets 1.85 years

At least once a year

At least once a year

At least once a year

At least once a year

At least once a year1-2 years

1-2 years

1-2 years

1-2 years

1-2 years2-3 years

2-3 years

2-3 years

2-3 years

2-3 years3-4 years

3-4 years

3-4 years

3-4 years

3-4 years4-5 years

4-5 years

4-5 years

4-5 years

4-5 yearsOver 5 years

Over 5 years

Never

Over 5 years

Over 5 yearsNever

The independent research, undertaken by Opinion Matters and commissioned by Panasonic Business, questioned 1,001 IT decision makers in companies employing more than 50 people including 250 in the UK; 250 in Sweden; 250 in France and 251 in Spain.

A Better Life, a Better WorldPanasonic is committed to a better life and a better world, continuously contributing to the evolution of society and to the happiness of people around the world. This commitment extends to the global environment with a commitment to realising a sustainable society, the development of environmentally responsible products and services, reducing adverse environmental effects and improving productivity across all manufacturing processes, and increasing environmental awareness among employees, partners and the communities it’s part of.

Panasonic’s range of rugged mobile business devices has been designed with sustainability in mind to enhance the productivity of mobile workers across many industry sectors. The key factors that ensure Panasonic devices are built for Sustainability include:

Panasonic built for Sustainability

Reduced TCO

To choose a Panasonic Toughbook is a decision to protect and secure your data, your technology investment and the environment. Thanks to Toughbook’s legendary reliability, durability and security, failure and damage is vastly reduced, meaning the initial outlay is soon recovered over the lifetime of the device. Fewer failures result in fewer service calls and fewer transportation miles saving valuable CO2 emissions.

The average annual failure rate of PC laptops is around 18%*. Panasonic Toughbook PCs, however, are more than eight times more reliable than the average industrial notebooks without rugged features.

*Source: IDC

is the average annual failure rate of PC laptops*

Specialist Engineering

Panasonic Toughbook PCs and tablets aren’t built using third-party components. We design and build every part of a Toughbook ourselves. So every form, feature and function is built specifically for purpose and quality control is unrivalled.

Approximately 50% of all damage to notebooks is the result of accidents on the road such as drops and other impacts*. The display, casing and hard drive are most frequently affected, which is why we developed Toughbook devices that are impact and shock resistant. Toughbook casings are made of a magnesium alloy making the strength of the case several times greater than standard hard plastic casings.

Using flexible suspension and magnesium alloy thickener on all displays protects the screen and absorbs any impact. The hard drives are embedded in a newly developed material, offering first class impact and shock resistance. All fully ruggedised models comply with the MIL-Standard (MIL-STD 810G) on impact resistance and additionally meet the ingress protection norm IP65 on water and dust resistance.

Multi-Generational Peripherals and Accessories

We understand that investing in peripherals and accessories for your mobile devices is expensive. So, we are working to ensure that all our Panasonic Toughbook and Toughpad accessories are forward and backward compatible. This means that when businesses decide to upgrade their Panasonic mobile devices, they do not have to automatically outlay for new peripherals and accessories at the same time.

*Source: Panasonic

of damage is the result of accidents on the road*

Environmental Awareness

As a global organisation, Panasonic is committed to developing sustainable, beneficial products and procedures. So we promise to produce energy-efficient products. We are committed to reducing CO2 emissions across all manufacturing sites; and work to encourage the spread of environmental activities throughout the world. One example of this environmental responsibility is demonstrated by the fact that Panasonic factories already recycled 99.2% of waste in 2016*.

All Panasonic Toughbook products are certified by an environmental impact scoring system known as the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). This helps purchasers compare and evaluate desktop PCs, laptops and monitors based on the environmental attributes, grading factors such as the elimination of environmentally sensitive materials and energy conservation.

All Toughbook devices are either gold- or silver-rated by EPEAT, ensuring the highest levels of environmental performance.

*Source: Panasonic

Panasonic factories recycled

of waste in 2016*

Significant benefits from specialised devices

Looking more closely at the devices themselves, concern for sustainability is clear in a number of ways. Product features, such as low power consumption, exchangeable batteries and exceptionally long lifecycles with minimal failures and service requirements (with the inherent reduction in waste disposal) mean Toughbook and Toughpad offer significant environmental advantages over less specialised devices.

Equally, initiatives such as the Toughbook Buyback programme and the ability of these devices to reduce the need for travel, offer significant sustainability benefits.

Take a look at our full range of exclusive white papers >>

Visit www.toughbook.eu