Whether building a house, designing a bridge, or mixing live sound, having the correct tools in your tool box is essential. Having the right tools not only allows you to do the job to the best of your ability, but it also can decrease the amount of time it takes to do a task. For example, framing a house with a hammer and a box of nails will work, but it will be much slower than using a pneumatic air hammer. This same principle applies in any office today where workers are often plagued with slow computers, small monitors and cheep peripherals.
Many companies, faced with the larger up front cost of more expensive equipment opt for equipment which is smaller, has less features, or preforms sub-par. In the long run though, larger equipment with more features can actually increase productivity to the point where the better equipment would rapidly pay for itself. One example of this is computer monitors. NEC in conjunction with the University of Utah preformed a study in which they tested worker productivity on a number of different display solutions. The findings? A single 24″ monitor could provide a 52% productivity increase from an 18″ monitor while preforming certain tasks. This increase in productivity is by no means insignificant and can result in millions of dollars in savings. I realize this study may have some bias since it was funded by a display manufacturer but the examples don’t stop here. How many of us have been forced to limp along with slow computers? Yeah, the computers that take ten minutes to start, 5 minutes to open the web browser and 3 more minutes just to get to your online destination. Most new computers will accomplish the previous set of tasks in under a minute and a half. That’s about a 92% difference in time. Adding this time up through the year can result in hundreds, thousands or even millions in unrealized worker productivity. Examples of frustrations such as these are unfortunately plentiful.
I believe that tools are an investment, not simply a purchase. Having correct, well working tools can save time, energy and money in the long run. I encourage you, spend the money up front and realize the savings later. It’s worth it.