An Apple-commissioned study by Forrester Consulting shows that there are cost savings and business benefits when companies use Macs. Key points from the study:
Mac and macOS benefits
° Reduced IT support costs saves $12.4 million over three years. During the three-year device lifecycle, organizations save $635 per Mac when comparing the cost of support and operation of PCs. Interviewees reported that the zero-touch deployment process and mobile device management (MDM) enrollment is just as simple on M1 Macs as it is on their legacy Macs, and it is still considerably simpler than deploying PCs. Additionally, consistent with the 2019 study, organizations can manage more Mac devices per IT FTE, and the organizations receive fewer service tickets from Mac users.
° During the three-year device lifecycle, Mac costs $207.75 less than comparable PCs when comparing hardware and software costs. Because of M1’s improved power, organizations can deploy baseline devices to more of their employees. This reduces the average device cost while giving more employees more computing power than they had before.
Additionally, there is no need to purchase an operating system license or a software maintenance contract for Mac, and the underlying architecture and included security features obviate the need for some additional endpoint security licenses.
The energy consumption of M1 Macs is even lower than that of previous Macs, which means that deploying Mac leads to more energy savings than those detailed in the original study. With M1, organizations are able to reduce the average Mac device cost by $300 in Year 3 and by $200 when looking at all devices purchased during the three-year period.
° Interviewees said they are excited to explore the full security implications of M1, and they consider their organizations’ M1 Macs to be just as secure (if not more secure) than their legacy Macs, and significantly more secure than their PC counterparts. They said built-in security features like automatic data encryption, antimalware capabilities, and the ease of enrollment into MDM technology keep their M1 Macs secure.
A head of corporate IT in the financial services industry said: “We haven’t had any malware incidents in the three years since we moved to a 100% Mac deployment. We can see the traction and retention benefits, the productivity, and the innovation that Macs enable. But, ultimately, we went with Mac for security, and it’s very strong.”
° With M1 Macs, the composite organization improves its retention rate by 20%, reduces start-up times by 80% leading to 48 hours of increased productivity over three years, and increased the productivity of all employees by 5%, leading to an additional 104 hours of additional productivity for Mac users annually. Interviewees generally reported increased employee satisfaction, and they said employees who choose Mac are less likely to leave. Additionally, the performance improvements across all tasks in the MacBook Air M1, the extended battery life, and the elimination of a fan make employees more productive and decreases the number of interruptions per day.
An IT director in the retail industry said: “Everything is just faster, and you spend less time waiting for small things on M1. By eliminating all of those pain points, it feels much more powerful, and it really improves the experience overall.”
About the study
You should note that in 2019, Apple commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic ImpactTM (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying Mac devices to their employees. In 2021, Apple commissioned Forrester Consulting to update the 2019 study to include the impact that the new M1 processers have on enterprise Mac deployments.
Forrester Consulting provides independent and objective research-based consulting to help leaders succeed in their organizations. For more information.
