6 Advantages of Customizing Computers for Employees’ Needs

Not everyone in your organization is going to do the same work all the time, so it stands to reason not everyone will need the same set of tools available on their devices. Here are six advantages of customizing computers for employees’ needs.

By KEVIN DEVOTO

1. Appropriate Hardware and Software Tools

Allowing for customization of employees’ computers means you need to make sure your employees have access to the tools they need to perform their jobs. These tools may be hardware or software applications, depending on the employee and his or her needs. For example, software such as a desktop as a service application can provide each employee with a personally customized desktop and optimization of his or her device’s power and tools. Hardware like powerful CPUs can be reserved for those who do more programming or math modelling, as they need those tools more than, for example, a sales associate will.

2. Cost-effectiveness

The cost-effectiveness of customization stems from two different places. On one hand, customization ensures you don’t need to spend as much money on various hardware, software and accessories because only certain employees will need them. Therefore, you’ll only need to stock enough for the relevant employees. This strategy can lead to the second cost-effective advantage. The money you save can be put toward purchasing higher-end equipment for specific employees to use. Higher-end equipment tends to be more powerful and longer-lasting, so your employees can get more productivity out of them for longer periods of time.

3. Available Accessories

Computer tools extend to the types of accessories employees may need access to. Headsets and headphones, external hard drives, and other accessories may be necessary for some employees but not others. If these are available for employees to request rather than being standard-issue, then they won’t be cluttering employees’ workstations and impeding workflows. Hardware accessories such as additional monitors can help employees who need to do a lot of data entry or comparison work but likewise are not necessary for everyone, so should be reserved for those who truly need them.

4. Better Ergonomics

Everyone’s needs being different extends to the needs of their bodies. Customization likewise extends to ensuring your employees’ ergonomic needs are met. You should make sure ergonomic alternative tools such as keyboards, chairs, computer mice and adjustable desks are available for employees to request for their workstations. Having good ergonomic support improves comfort in the workplace, which in turn helps improve your employees’ productivity.

5. Improved Productivity and Efficiency

No matter how you choose to implement customization, it can be leveraged to improve the productivity and efficiency of your employees. This improvement extends to all aspects of a workflow. If employees are only trained to work on tools relevant to their jobs, they can be onboarded and gain experience more quickly. If they have access to the tools they need but not to irrelevant ones, their workspaces and hard drives won’t be cluttered with excess tools or software. This can help streamline and keep clean the workflows employees follow, causing them to feel less crowded or overwhelmed.

6. More Employee Engagement

Employees who feel less crowded and overwhelmed can feel free to be more engaged in their work and projects. Less crowding at their desks means they have more room to spread out or transfer things between their desks and meeting rooms or their home offices. Having fewer software applications installed on their computers means your employees will be able to focus on the applications relevant to their work while ignoring less relevant tools, particularly when they’re updating or upgrading hardware and software tools. They can also feel more comfortable choosing relevant career development options if they’re more certain of related tools.

Customizing employees’ computers has many benefits both for individual employees and your organization as a whole. If employees have the tools they need at their disposal and don’t have tools unnecessary to their work cluttering their assigned devices, they can perform better and more efficiently.