SiliconRepublic.com Ireland's Technology News Service

The research from global application delivery infrastructure provider Citrix Systems shows IT managers and administrators spend an average of 44.5 minutes on each PC or laptop every time software applications need to be upgraded.

The survey finds there is an average of 3,700 desktops in medium to large enterprises, which means those businesses spend 2,744 hours on every software upgrade. That’s the equivalent of one person working around the clock for 16 weeks, or nine-to-five for 343 days.

With independent figures suggesting IT support staff can earn up to €19 an hour, Citrix said this represents a cost of €52,136 per upgrade in manpower.

Four out of five respondents said these high costs were the biggest factor in deciding how frequently software and hardware resources are upgraded.

“IT teams are wasting the equivalent of a working year simply upgrading their resources,” said Patrick Irwin, product manager at Citrix UK, Ireland and South Africa. “This must be addressed if IT is to achieve its aim of spending less time and money on running computers, and more on contributing to business success.”

Over three quarters of respondents said desktop virtualisation increased efficiency by introducing centralised management.

“You can spend 30 minutes upgrading each desktop or 30 minutes upgrading the whole estate. Surely this makes virtualisation a no-brainer?” said Irwin. “In an economic downturn, businesses should be looking at every possible way to stop haemorrhaging resources.”

The research was carried out among 118 IT professionals who attended the 2008 Citrix iForum in Edinburgh in June. Some Irish companies took part in the survey.

By Sorcha Corcoran