How Microsoft Surface Simplifies Your Business

One of the most frequently-asked questions that I’ve heard from Protected Trust’s customers is: “Why do you guys sell or recommend Surface devices?” There are a lot of reasons (aside from Protected Trust being a Microsoft Partner) that we chose to go all-in on selling Surface devices instead of any other brand of computer product.

Why We Sell Microsoft Surface Devices:

Why We Started Selling Hardware in the First Place

Originally, Protected Trust didn’t sell hardware. At first, the company was just about providing software and services to help other businesses create modern offices. However, as I say in the video, “we started selling hardware just to help simplify the process of getting to the modern office. It’s a [basic] component. You need a computer… and when you go to pick one out, it’s confusing.”

There are so many different manufacturers doing things in different ways with different products that it’s very difficult and time-consuming to find the right computer for each person in an organization. So, to save customers time and headaches, Protected Trust started selling computer hardware.

How Microsoft Surface Devices Make Computer Shopping Easy

There were a lot of factors behind the decision to go all-in on Microsoft’s Surface family of devices. One of the big ones was simplicity.

As I say in the video:

“The Surface line has simplified the concept of picking out the right computer. You sort of pick it out for the role that you’re in more or less [rather] than what the specifications are.”

Instead of having to spend hours comparing CPUs, RAM, hard drive sizes and types, GPUs, and dozens of other manufacturer-specific features, you can order a Surface Pro and know that you’re getting a highly capable mobile device, or a Surface Studio, and know that you’re getting a really powerful desktop that can handle 3D graphic design. You don’t have to keep guessing what parts and features you need.

Every two or three years, Microsoft refreshes the Surface line of products to have new capabilities and features. This makes it easy to keep up with the ever-increasing standards of business technology.

Avoiding Computer Problems with Microsoft Surface Devices

One of the pitfalls of buying computers—especially custom-made ones—is that you aren’t always sure the computer is going to work the way you intended.

For example, some companies would buy computers that were too weak. These computers just didn’t have the processing power, RAM, or dedicated graphics memory to do what their users needed. This created major delays in getting work done, and was frustrating for users.

On the other hand, some companies would buy computers that were way too powerful for their users’ needs to avoid the above issue. While nice for users, this would end up wasting money that might have been better spent buying more computers for the rest of the organization.

A few companies would try to either order custom-built computers or try to custom build computers themselves—a task that is massively complicated. A lot of custom-built computers, if you don’t know what you’re doing, may not work.

I talk a bit about why this is so difficult in the video:

“The problem with all that is when you build a computer, you got to know how all the parts work together. It’s like an orchestra, you have to have the right violinist or the right pianist and conductor. And it all has to work in harmony with each other to create the music. When you build a computer, you put the wrong part in, it could damage or destroy the part. In the early days, we built all the computers by hand, but then that became hard to do. And the time it took to do all those things. Eventually, manufacturers came out with pre-built specifications, and that sort of kicked off the computer industry.”

When Michael Dell started building computers for his friends in college, he kind of standardized how computers were built, which was a factor in kick-starting the custom computer industry.

Microsoft Surface devices remove the guesswork from getting a computer—you can simply choose a computer based on the role you need it for and get a computer that works.

Building a Gaming Computer for Family: An Example of Complexity

To help explain just how stress-inducing and complex the custom computer buying (and assembly) process can be, here’s an anecdote about building a gaming computer for my son:

“Last weekend, I built a gaming computer with my son. I would say it took me about a week’s worth of research to figure out the right components that go together to make a device. Then, I had to buy all of these devices and then sort of sweat it to put this thing together because I wasn’t sure it was going to work. And that’s where we came from.”

It’s a relatively simple goal: build a PC that has a good CPU, lots of RAM, and a strong dedicated graphics processor. However, there’s all of the additional factors that go with that, such as:

• Making sure the motherboard can take the CPU I’m planning on using;
• Keeping the whole thing cooled so it doesn’t burn out the first time my son stresses it with a high-spec game;
• Ensuring there’s a sufficient amount of power to keep everything running smoothly; and
• Verifying that every part has just the right length of cabling so the inside of the cabinet isn’t messy.

If it weren’t for modern conveniences like Google and YouTube to provide handy “how-to” videos, it would have been an exercise in frustration.

So, rather than having to go through that whole process for every employee in your organization, why wouldn’t you use a Surface device that you know will work for the role?

Want to learn more about Microsoft Surface devices, or have questions about Protected Trust? Reach out to the team today for answers!