The Shaky Future of the PC

There's been a lot of talk lately about the seemingly bleak future of the PC due to the rapid growth of the mobile device market. Will the PC ever really be extinct, or will it find a way to evolve? How will the questionable future of the PC impact your business?

It's in the Design
Let's dispel the rumor right off the bat; we don't believe the PC is going anywhere, mostly because of what it's designed to do. Simply put, PCs are designed to handle the pressing needs of businesses, large and small. Whether it's word processing, storing lots of data, communicating through various networks, or simply surfing the web, the PC can handle the needs of business operations. Over thirty years of refinements, evolution, development of hardware and software, and the PC is the go-to machine for businesses that need to produce high volumes of work. At Directive, we wholeheartedly expect it to stay that way.

Aside from their efficiency, PCs are designed for simplicity of use. Since smartphones and tablets are still relatively new to the technology market, there hasn't been any standardization to their operating systems, and considering the diversity with platform, there may never be. This lack of standardization presents a huge learning curve to employees who need to maximize efficiency at work. Conversely, the PC has become a standard machine that nearly everyone knows how to use. Even if a user is being introduced to new software or hardware, it's all intuitively standardized, seeing as most people know how to operate a mouse and keyboard at this point.

Different Devices with Different Functions
One clear-cut advantage that mobile technology has over PCs is the ease of worldwide connectivity. Mobile devices allow for social media sites and various accounts to be accessed instantly and easily by a maximum of two touches with your finger. Your company can certainly benefit from this level of connectivity. By allowing the use of mobile devices in your business operations, your employees will be able to access company files and business applications without having to be at their desk. Company mobile device policies have more positive outcomes that you can read about in our previous blog articles about "BYOD".

The obvious major downfall of working with mobile devices is their ability to handle large amounts of productive work with ease. For example, have you ever tried creating a newsletter on a smartphone?

It seems as though PCs and mobile devices aren't so much in competition with each other as much as they actually complement each other. Each of their functions seems to directly complement the others. Instead of asking the question, "How long will it take for mobile devices to thwart PCs?" Perhaps our energy would be better spent discovering how they work together to provide incomparable work experiences. Directive can work with you to analyze your needs and help determine what functions each device can fulfill best. Give us a call today at 607.433.2200 to learn how we can help integrate a BYOD work environment, and ensure that your mobile devices and PCs play nice with each other.