Total Cost of Ownership - TCO

The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is an annual cost representing the actual 'all in' cost of 'end user computing'. The issue has been pioneered by the respected business technology research company, Gartner Group Inc which currently estimates that a networked PC 'costs about $13,200 per node annually for hardware, software, support and administrative services and end-user operations'.

Such costs are often greeted with disbelief; especially as the cost of the hardware continues to drop so appreciably. However, the material costs are found in 'end user operations' where the end users try to perform Systems Administration functions on their PCs or where they are simply trying to resolve a problem due to the ability to configure the operating system and desktop environments how they please. Many professionals in IT continue to rue the day when the computer became 'Personal'!

Managing TCO is consequently a substantial challenge to many large organisations.