Calculate the IT costs incurred per employee workstation over different useful lives. Compare the purchase costs with the corresponding costs under the IT leasing model at a glance.
A clear understanding of costs is particularly important when companies are growing steadily and need to regularly equip new employees with IT workstations. IT departments can plan IT budgets more effectively, identify the actual costs per workstation, and anticipate the expenses associated with onboarding, device replacements, or new software requirements. Finance teams gain greater transparency into the cost structure and can better compare investments, operating costs, and financing models.
It is important not to limit the analysis to just the obvious costs. While IT hardware—such as laptops, monitors, docking stations, or company cell phones —is the most visible and often the largest cost category, in practice, additional costs arise during the “operation” of an IT workstation: software licenses, setup, device management, IT support, repairs, downtime, or the eventual replacement of devices.
The Lendis IT Cost Calculator therefore takes into account the most important cost categories: hardware, software, setup, ongoing operations, operational risks, and IT financing. This provides a more realistic picture of what a workstation actually costs.
The most obvious and largest cost factor for an employee is hardware. This typically includes:
The actual costs depend heavily on the specific employee profile. A typical office workstation usually requires less powerful hardware than a workstation for developers, designers, or management. Our calculator takes this distinction into account from the outset and selects different laptop models for each profile, such as Office, Creative, Developer, and Management.
Tip: The useful life plays a key role in cost analysis. A device used for 36 months results in different monthly costs than one that is replaced after 24 or 48 months. Our IT cost calculator is designed to spread one-time hardware costs over the selected term. It also takes into account a reserve for spare parts and repairs.
In addition to hardware costs, there are ongoing software costs for each workstation. Every employee uses basic applications such as email, calendars, office suites, video conferencing tools, and security solutions. These costs can vary significantly depending on the company.
Typical software and service costs include, for example:
The calculator distinguishes between a basic software package and additional software. This allows for a realistic representation of both simple office workstations and more expensive specialized roles. The cost of software for specific job roles—such as Adobe Creative Cloud—is often underestimated.
An IT workstation is usually not ready for use simply upon delivery. Before that, mobile devices must be set up, configured, and handed over to the user in accordance with governance and compliance rules. These tasks include, among others:
The better these IT processes are, the less work the IT team has to do. With mobile device management, Autopilot, or zero-touch deployment, setup can be completed much more quickly. Without standardized processes, however, a significant amount of manual work can quickly accumulate.
Because internal IT expenses represent costs in the form of labor costs, this factor is also taken into account in the calculation.
Last but not least, an IT workstation incurs indirect costs. These arise when technology and software do not function as they should. Whenever IT hardware fails to operate or runs too slowly, costs are incurred due to the time spent by the internal IT department.
Typical items include:
In the calculator, this block is represented by the monthly support costs per workstation and the hourly rate for IT support. This illustrates how even small monthly support costs can add up significantly over the entire lifespan of the system.
Operational risks are an often-overlooked cost factor. These costs rarely appear directly on an invoice. Nevertheless, they are very real: if an employee is unable to work because of a broken laptop or regularly loses time due to slow systems, the company incurs indirect costs.
The calculator therefore takes two typical risk factors into account:
Especially with older hardware or purely reactive IT support, these indirect costs can quickly end up being higher than expected.
IT costs per workstation depend not only on hardware, software, and support, but also on how devices are procured and operated. Whether a company buys, leases, or uses IT as a service significantly affects the cost structure.
Purchasing IT equipment usually involves a significant upfront investment. In return, the equipment belongs to the company. However, procurement, setup, repairs, replacement equipment, support, and eventual disposal must be handled internally or outsourced.
With IT leasing, hardware costs are spread out over monthly payments. This helps preserve cash flow, but it is generally primarily a financing model. Services such as setup, replacement, or ongoing support are usually not automatically included.
With IT leasing or Device as a Service, devices and services are often purchased as a monthly package. This makes costs more predictable and allows operational tasks such as deployment, replacement, or lifecycle management to be partially outsourced.
That is why, when evaluating costs, it is important to look beyond the purchase price of the device. What really matters is the ongoing expenses, risks, and internal IT resources associated with each model.
