Business Impact of Ubuntu

We here in the Finance Department are always looking for expense reducing activities that will positively impact our business. One of those activities came up in our Quarterly Meetings with our I.T. Staff where we laid out a timeline of events that are on the horizon. At the end of the year, our lease will be expiring on our Dell Desktop Computers which are bundled with the licenses for the Microsoft Office Suites. Instead of renewing our lease and purchasing another license for bulky software which we do not use to its full potential, we should as an organization look into Thin Client Computing with Desktop Virtualization. Making this migration, we have the potential to save this organization close to $150,000 in one year.

            As mentioned earlier, our lease with our Dell Desktops, which we use in all of our offices, is set to expire at the end of the year. The cost per desktop is $533. Not factored into that cost are the software programs which we run (Microsoft Office) which amount to over $250 per work station. Per work station, we are spending close to $800. In years past, we have looked into cost-cutting options of reducing the amount of work stations or reducing the amount of licenses but we have found in all of our research that these moves only reduce productivity of our staff.

In an expense reducing venture and as we look to become a more innovative organization, I believe it is in our best interest to look to invest in a Thin Client such as the Google Chromebook and utilize a Virtualization Program to run the open-sourced Ubuntu Operating System. While this may sound like gibberish, it is an exciting opportunity that is actually user-friendly and familiar looking to any computer user.

A Thin Client gives us the bare-bones of what we need. A Google Chromebook is an exciting Thin Client that does the basics and costs $250 per unit. It provides us the essentials of a graphic interface and an internet connection with just enough storage to run what we need. Instead of coming pre-loaded with our familiar Windows Operating System, we need to install a Virtualization Player, which is free, to operate the Ubuntu Operating System which again is free. The way it works is that the Thin Clients will become guests to a host server and we will be able to share and create documents just as we would now but at a reduced cost.  

The Ubuntu Operating System which I have been mentioning is a free Operating System. It is an open-sourced system which means that its coding was created publicly and it is a variation of the Linux software. Right off the bat, even though it is publicly created, modified, and studied, it is regarded as one of the most secure operating systems out there by the United Kingdom’s Security Branch of their Government. When the Operating System loads it gives the user a similar interface to that of a mix of Windows Operating System and Apple iOS. It comes with applications that look and feel the same as Microsoft Office Suite, known as Libre Office. Since these applications are pre-loaded, we do not need to pay the excessive costs of software licenses every time we get new computers. The familiar web-browser FireFox is also preloaded into Ubuntu allowing first-time users to not miss a beat when converting operating systems. Users are also able to add applications to the operating system which are free that can improve functionality of the operating system. By switching over to Ubuntu we will easily safe the costs for software licenses which we currently spend that amounts to $250 per work station.

In order to make a move to switch over we will need to create training videos and programs for our staff. We will also need to train our current IT staff on Ubuntu so that they are able to troubleshoot any issues that may arise. The great thing about Virtualization is that we can currently “beta-test” in our own office free of charge with our associates. We can load the Virtualization Player onto our current desktops and have it run the Ubuntu Operating System. We can do this right away and have users periodically test out the conversion before we go live with the switch when our lease on the computers is up. Our IT staff can come up with simple training exercises to do “normal” functions on the Ubuntu OS as they currently do now. By familiarizing the staff as soon as possible, it will make the conversion less stressful on our users. While this will take away from some of our associate’s current productivity, the investment in the long run of having this cost-saving operating system with a thin client will help save the company a lot of money. We anticipate all training and conversion costs to total $50,000.

We are currently spending $800 per work station here in our offices every three years with our lease. The technology that exists out there can help benefit us from a cost perspective and also productivity. By switching to a thin client and using the Ubuntu Operating System we can be paying $250 per work station and have the cost be constant instead of having to renew leases every three years as the Ubuntu Operating System is refreshed every day as the system is open-sourced. With the 200 work stations that we currently have and also with plans for future expansion to another 150 stations to support our growing work force we would be spending $280,000 on hard ware and software. By making the switch to Ubuntu and a thin Client we would be spending $87,500. Factoring in conversion costs we are looking on spending $137,000 in a one-time charge saving the company $147,000 in one year. Having to not renew leases and pay licensing fees for software will only help this company in the long run as we do not anticipate paying those fees with switching to Ubuntu.

I believe this exciting conversion will help company in the long run as it will be an expense reducing measure that will not interrupt the daily processes of our associates. In fact, its user-friendly nature will make creating and sharing reports just as easy as they are now at more than half the price. We can currently test out this conversion and I am sure the associates will adapt nicely to its inviting interface. The thought of having to buy expensive equipment and software are a thing of the past, and as we as an organization look to become more innovative, I believe we have found a good starting point which will drastically cut our computing costs and we can reallocate those funds into some much needed programs.