5 reasons why you want PC power management over Windows energy management

As a Product Manager of PC power management software, I often get asked why would an organization want to buy this type of product when it is already baked into the operating system? Great question! After all, it’s there, it’s already paid for and it’s pretty easy to configure. Beware though; you’ll be leaving a lot of chips at the table as you make your way out the door.

Operating system energy management is pretty basic in what it delivers. Products like Faronics Power Save delivers much more than basic savings on energy consumption.  Here are the 5 advantages you need to know;

1. Reporting. Operating system energy management provides no reporting capabilities. This in turn prevents proper management of power savings initiatives. There is no way to see how you are doing if you have no idea how much you are saving.  If you are lucky enough to live in an area with energy rebates, you will need detailed reports in order to qualify. The other great thing about knowing your power savings is that you can shift exact amounts of budget from the utilities to places more interesting….
2. Flexibility. Most operating system energy management is based on the premise that if an end user does not touch the keyboard and mouse for a specific amount of time, power management occurs.  The reality is that users have different computer usage habits throughout the day.  I certainly don’t touch my computer as often at 10AM as I do at 6:00PM. Using a “one size fits all” approach means losing out on substantial power savings and infuriating users. A mature power policy takes into account the general usage patterns on computers and adapts accordingly. Do you have staff that takes their laptops home in the evening? Does your power policy mean they have to battle for control of the computer at that time?
3. IT processes. A typical Windows update can take anywhere from 5min to 2 hours to complete. Since no user is touching the mouse or keyboard at that time, what are the chances of your power management kicking in and shutting things down? Power management software allows you to take maintenance windows into account and ensures the success of whatever project is occurring by temporarily disabling power management. Faronics Power Save comes with a centralized console that allows you to centrally manage your power policies and also perform software deployments, windows updates and manage your workstations.
4. End-User Disruption. Beyond the fight over control of a computer, operating system energy management does not save open documents when shutting down computers. Nor does it sense that applications like MS Power Point are running and prevents energy savings actions. Lastly it does not let users postpone energy management when the need for that is urgent. Again, operating system energy management is a one-size-fits all solution and rarely meets the needs of most users.
5.  Learn about user behavior. One of the interesting things that PC power management gives you is in-depth insight into the usage of a computer. This provides IT  the unique ability to see if a computer is under-utilized and can provide the justification of hardware repurposing. IT can now see when a computer is typically turned on, how much it is used and at what time periods it is not used or typically shutdown. This  provides additional information about user presence and security information. It can also highlight hardware issues with activity summary reports, which are extremely helpful for IT helpdesks to troubleshoot issues.

So in the end, if you are not interested in users, energy management or IT projects, then a simple operating system energy management should do the trick for you. If you want to take your energy management to the next level, give us a call, we can help you get there.