Forrester: Intel vPro Can Give Businesses 155 Percent ROI In 3 Years

The new Intel-commissioned report from Forrester finds that Intel's vPro IT management platform can provide businesses with a total of $2.8 million in IT cost savings on an investment of $1.1 million over three years, representing a 155 percent return on investment.

Intel's vPro IT management platform can give businesses a 155 percent return on investment over three years, according to a new report.

The figure is among the findings in a new report released Monday by Intel, which commissioned research firm Forrester to independently quantify the benefits of the chipmaker's vPro platform and how those benefits address modern IT challenges.

The ROI calculation is based on a total of $2.8 million in savings related to IT costs, improved productivity and lower security risk on an investment of $1.1 million by a composite organization, which Forrester developed from 250 medium-sized organizations in a survey about vPro's benefits.

[Related: New Intel Core vPro CPUs Improve Speed, Battery For Work Laptops]

Kent Tibbils, vice president of marketing at ASI, a Fremont, Calif.-based Intel distribution partner, said the study's findings can help reseller partners quantify the benefits of Intel's vPro platform, especially as to how it could help them scale their managed services offerings.

While the study presents findings that largely point to benefits for end customers, such as improved employee productivity, things like reduced IT support hours and reduced security support hours show how Intel vPro could help managed service providers save money.

"That's a great message for the reseller," Tibbils said. "Let's say normally you can do 10 machines, but now because you can do these things remotely through vPro, you can do 30 machines or 50."

Forrester found that if the composite organization invested in desktops and laptops with Intel Core vPro processors and Microsoft Windows 10 Professional edition, the organization could save significant money over three years, thanks to reduced security and management costs and improved productivity.

With vPro and Windows 10, the composite organization could reduce the number of security support hours annually by 7,680, representing a cost savings of nearly $1.2 million over three years. Forrester said the savings comes from fewer security issues, including zero-day security events, and faster resolution time. This was made possible with Intel vPro features and technologies, such as Intel Active Management Technology, hardware-enhanced security and Intel Runtime BIOS Resilience.

Forrester found that with improved security, vPro could also save the composite organization more than $211,000 over three years by reducing the likelihood of a data breach, which the firm said can costs businesses millions of dollars per event based on findings from a Ponemon Institute study.

As for productivity benefits associated with vPro and Windows 10, the composite organization could save an estimated 28,160 hours of employee time, representing a cost savings of nearly $1.3 million over three years. Forrester said the improved productivity is enabled by better performance and battery life from Intel Core vPro processors. The firm said vPro's management tools can reduce the amount of time employees have to wait for IT issues to be resolved.

"We have many people who work remotely," Forrester quoted an IT manager at a European bioinformatics firm as saying. "Before, if they had an issue either they had to wait to come back to try to fix them with the IT team, or a person had to go to them."

Lastly, the composite organization could save IT managers and desktop operation specialists a total of 832 hours issuing computer patches and handling individual exceptions, amounting to more than $81,000 in saved costs over three years. Forrester said this comes from a reduction in IT requests and in-person support calls, as well as more efficient day-to-day management of the computer fleet. The Intel Active Management Technology's remote management capability was cited as a key enabler.

"With a mix of multiple generations of processors and OS versions, IT faces rising management costs, too many help desk calls, and IT issues that hinder end-user productivity," Intel said in a statement. "After investing in Intel Core vPro processors with Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system, organizations (interviewed and surveyed) saw significant value and benefits in greater security features, more effective management tools, and greater employee efficiency."

Tibbils said Intel's vPro platform comes with other benefits that the Forrester report didn't touch on, such as higher availability of components.

"A lot of our customers use it as value-add, not just for services but also to demonstrate to their customer, 'Hey I'm thinking about your business long term and giving you products that are more stable,'" Tibbils said.

Jason Kimrey, Intel's U.S. channel chief, previously told CRN that the company is looking at more ways to invest in the vPro ecosystem with partners.

"For example, we’ve been working over the past year with distributors and solution providers on opportunities to scale vPro as part of 'device as a service' offerings since we’re seeing early indicators that this is a valuable service to customers," he said in an April statement.