iQor looks to save costs by using thin clients

Last semester when I went to work, I would see the tradition blueprint of any company, including Loyola- individual offices with their own PCs. I imagine if you walk into any company, you would most of the time see cubicles all with their own desktop PCs or laptops. Working at Loyola, I do know that the individual computers all have their own C drives where they store data on their computer, and then there are also network drives, which are shared by the computers in a given department.

Seeing this as the traditional model, a company, iQor, a call center company, has decided that individual PCs were too much of a hassle to maintain, for "50 cents on the dollar maintaining it", says Vikas Kapoor, the CEO of iQor(1). For a whole PC, this is A LOT of money every year. Loyola has a call center, "phone-a-thon", that operates like this- individual PCs for every phone line. Each call station has its own computer, its own cpu, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. The program that lets users call is shared by a central server.

Seeking an alternative, iQor has opted for thin clients- what they call "lollipops"(1). These are stripped down computers that aren't equipped with hard drives(1). These "lollipops" rely on a central server for most of their functions, processing and storage(1). This is much like the client/server model that has been discussed in class. This model, especially for a company like this, is much more efficient than the traditional model. For iQor, they have a lot of information- phone numbers, addresses, probably social security numbers- for a long list of clients. If everyone has access to that information in their call center, it will make it much more efficient. No more asking around to get information, or a report on a client. Now employees are empowered and have all client information at their disposal. Also, if the "lollipop" fails, you throw it out and get another one(1). The article I read doesn't give it a price specifically, but there are pictures attached to the article that suggest thin clients go for around $ 200. The thin clients also use way less energy than a PC computer. Besides, what would a calling associate have to do other than make and receive calls? Not much on a traditional PC is needed for this business employee. In addition, for the most part, people don't use nearly all the hard drive space that is given to them on a computer. So, in addition to time, energy, and accessibility, the thin client model improves hard drive storage space for iQor.

However, a downfall of this model is that if the server goes out, all of the "lollipops" are out of order. Without the server, the "lollipops" can't do any work. This makes the server the most vulnerable and targeted area when hackers try to hack into a business. Installing the new thin clients might take some time, as well as disposing of the PCs while maintaining their stored data. Transferring data as well from the PCs to the server might take a considerable amount of time as well.

In addition, iQor has made this decision to cut costs. iQor "expects to cut its IT staff to about a quarter of its previous size"(1). Some people might look at this statement and say, "bad- it's a bad economy, people are losing jobs". This is the approach if you don't want to critically think about the good that can come out of this. The company becomes more efficient. IT adds only secondary value to a company usually. If costs can be cut in this division, they will be. This will free up considerable capital for the company to use, whether it be through reinvestment, dividends, or paying its employees more. In addition, all the IT workers that will be cut will find new jobs. IT is obviously a rapidly growing field so there should be no problem for them, even in this economy. In addition, when people are laid off, they either sulk or they get moving on a new job- or a new idea. Lay-offs can foster new business ideas- way to make businesses more efficient, or in some cases, new ideas all together-sometimes revolutionary.

Loyola could easily implement this client/server model to its campus call center. This would make the center more efficient, use less energy (Loyola claims to be going green), and cut maintenance costs it could incur. It would probably be easier to have everyone able to access the same data at any time. The thin client model makes companies, and particularly iQor, more efficient and can help spur more growth within a company through lower costs for the IT sector of a company.

See article:

King, Rachael. "Companies seek alternatives to the old desktop PC," BusinessWeek, January 4, 2010, http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2010/tc2010014_392808.htm (accessed February 11, 2010).

End notes:

1. King, Rachael. "Companies seek alternatives to the old desktop PC," BusinessWeek, January 4, 2010, http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2010/tc2010014_392808.htm (accessed February 11, 2010).