Common knowledge is that computing has driven up productivity by 25%. This has been observed by former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, as well as by many other studies. I’m quite sure it applies to me, and even though you may take it for granted, I’ll bet it applies to you, too. How can we leverage our time even more? As much as you can influence your technology budgets, the following are paying off in productivity gains:

1. Multiple monitors – two or more that are 19” or larger are best.
2. Multiple processors – two or more that are 64 bit.
3. More memory – two or more gigabytes is good, but today even 4 or 8 GB can be helpful
4. More network speed with faster switches and better cable – most computers have 10/100/1000 network adapters built in, but many times the network switches in the closets are still running at 100 Mbps creating a performance bottleneck.
5. Faster disks – laptops should have at least 7200RPM drives, and desktops should have at least 10,000 RPM drives. Faster is generally better here, too, although different technologies can influence drive performance as well.
6. More or faster connection to the Internet – if your work regularly takes you out of the office using cellular technology such as EVDO to stay connected to the Internet can be a huge productivity gain. Personally, I used my EVDO card over three hours the day this article was written. Would you expect or even want a mobile worker to not have a cell phone today? Even if you do most of your work at a desk in an office or your home, if frequent Internet usage is part of your work style, faster connections to the Internet will pay off as well.

But won’t all of these items cost more money? Of course! But compare them to your own salary or the salaries of your team. Each of the technologies above may increase your productivity 3-5% or more. For example, studies from Utah State University have suggested 10-12% productivity gains from multiple monitors are possible even for common productivity tasks such as email and word processing. For simplicity sake, let’s assume each technology named above will make you 3% more productive. If every item produces just 3% over the course of a year, you and your team could be almost 20% more productive. Consider if the numbers are wrong by 50% or 200% and you still have a lot of productivity gain.  Consider how much 1/5 of your salary is, and you can see that an expenditure of an extra $1-2,000 per year easily pays off. A rule that is commonly applied for hardware is that there should be no limit to the amount spent because if the computer technology is used on a regular basis, all of the money plus more will come back.

We see even greater improvements as software utilizes the new hardware including operating system updates like Windows Vista or productivity updates with products like Office 2007. For example, when collaboration is used by team members with products like Groove 2007, Egnyte, SharePoint or other collaborative tools, work is often completed more rapidly with less overhead in the communication. It takes a strong hardware base to enable new generation features in software. Models can run faster, presentation quality can be improved, document control can be insured, all with a more rapid pace. Why wouldn’t you invest in the hardware needed to leverage your team’s talents?

Randolph P. Johnston
Executive Vice President, K2 Enterprises