You are rushing to get somewhere. You thought your phone was secure in your jacket pocket. But one wrong move, and it falls out. Then the awful sound of the device hitting the ground. Followed by the agonizing moment when you pick it up to assess the damage – or, if you’re lucky, let out a sigh of relief and go about your business.
Screens are the part of smartphones and tablets that get damaged or destroyed most frequently. And fixing screens can be an expensive endeavor. As a result, many users replace their devices with a low-cost option. With purchase price as their main motivation, they replace devices with non-rugged, minimally durable equipment, without taking into account the long-term cost of using this equipment in industrial environments.
In hazardous areas, device failure can have serious consequences. Suddenly an employee is out in the field, on a tanker, or on an oil platform without his work tool or an online connection – then what? They can no longer be reached, and they have no access to required data. Or an accident happens, and they have no way to report it. If they lose consciousness, they cannot be localized and rescue procedures cannot be initiated.
Avoiding rising repair costs by understanding TCO
Understanding the principle of TCO is key. Only then will it become clear that ruggedized devices exhibit a completely different cost ration than ordinary consumer-grade devices. The key is looking beyond the purchase price. To really assess the total cost of a product, it is important to consider the cost of its entire life cyle.
Calculating the TCO has to include all actual costs of the device. To simplify that for the sake of clarity, it can be split into hard and soft costs. The hard costs involve purchase price, development, replacement, and deployment. Soft costs include training, repair and downtime.
A consumer-grade device has little or no protection against chemicals, dirt or dust. Durable computers typically have only rubber buffers and possibly a shockproof hard drive. Semi-rugged computers are tested to some MIL-STD-810F / G and IP specifications, and fully rugged units are generally fully MIL-STD-810F / G tested and often completely resistant to water and dust.
So what is the difference between the TCO of a consumer-grade device and a fully ruggedized device in a harsh environment? The Venture Development Corporation (VDC) has carried out TCO calculations across the four levels of rugged computers in a number of established mobile applications. VDC calculated the total cost of each ruggedness level over a five-year lifespan and then annualized the costs. These costs (broken down into hard and soft costs) are illustrated in the figure shown above.
The figure shows that using a consumer-grade or non-rugged device costs a lot more in the long run – about 65% more per year than a fully rugged device. ecom devices are not based on rugged devices for no reason: by implementing explosion protection technology, they become even more rugged. And if they ever get damaged, ecom offers a comprehensive, worry-free three-year service level agreement (SLA) for the Tab-Ex® Series and Smart-Ex® Series, among other products. The SLA covers all repair, parts, and physical damage to the device. This helps you protect your investment, maintain business continuity, and reduce downtime caused by hardware failure.
Discover ecom's rugged devices like the Smart-Ex® Series and the Tab-Ex® Series, as well as many other peripherals with matching accessories, approved for worldwide use in Zone 1/21 and Division 1, Zone 2 and Division 2 applications as well as harsh environments.