Reseller refreshes keeping the faith in PCs

Analysts continue to offer bearish outlooks for the immediate future of the PC industry. But that doesn’t mean computer sales are dead – far from it. 

Over the past year transformational end-customers have refreshed their IT infrastructure in preparation for digital business models.

Admittedly, the macro numbers aren’t great. In March, IDC’s unit sales tracker found worldwide PC sales fell 6.7 percent to 68.5 million units compared with the same time a year before – the lowest first-quarter volume since 2009. 

IDC now expects worldwide sales to fall 4.9 percent this year, a greater drop than the 3.3 percent it had originally predicted. On value, US$201 billion of PCs were sold globally last year. 

Gartner posted similar numbers for the period, estimating PC shipments fell 5.2 percent to 71.7 million units. 

Things aren’t so bad in Asia-Pacific, where Gartner found PC shipments declined 1.2 percent from the quarter a year ago, passing 24.3 million units. But mobile PCs
grew 3.7 percent, suggesting organisations are transforming how they do business.

PC sales last year were supported by the end of Windows XP support, but with Windows 10 held out until the end of the year, organisations on Windows 7 or Windows 8 are sitting tight. IDC expects 293.1 million PCs to be sold this year.

“Fortunately for PC makers, tablet growth has slowed,” says IDC senior research analyst of worldwide PC trackers Jay Chou. 

“The PC ecosystem has also begun to see some fruits from efforts to narrow the divide between the PC and mobile devices in terms of both user experience and price points. Nevertheless, much more needs to be done as advances in both hardware and software are expected to benefit an ever wider spectrum of form factors, such as 2-in-1 devices that will further siphon volume from notebooks.”

The news has flowed back to microprocessor maker, Intel, which in March cut its quarterly revenue outlook almost US$1 billion, down to US$12.8 billion.

Despite the subdued forecasts, there are still plenty of opportunities for computer resellers to upgrade customers to new forms of computing that will prepare them for new digital business models. 

The following projects, all three sold through the channel, have transformed the customers – a healthcare provider, a regional council and the National Library of Australia – by cutting waste, better serving customers and citizens and fostering innovation.

Next: Case study #1 - National Library of Australia