Three Now-Obsolete Office Devices

Just as consumer products eventually fall out of favor, so do the obsolete office devices businesses use every day. However, a business' productivity, and thus its success, often depends on replacing these obsolete office devices with more reliable and efficient options. Business owners who haven’t updated their office equipment recently should assess their companies’ processes and evaluate their devices’ effectiveness in getting the job done.

According to Dell Computers, the PC's days may be numbered. Forbes reports that Dell's proxy statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission warns PC sales are declining as consumers and businesses turn to tablets and smartphones as preferred devices and increasingly rely on cloud storage to move files and programs off hard drives and into the ether. Operating system competition further contributes to the PC's fate as an obsolete office device as alternatives to Windows increase in number. In addition, many businesses encourage, or even require, that employees use their own technology, Forbes notes. It makes sense that the updated technology consumers use at home, where mobile is gaining popularity over desktop, and even laptop, computers, will increasingly make their way into the workplace.

The Rolodex still sits atop many a desk, but this old-school contact manager made LinkedIn's "Office Endangered Species" list. Fifty-eight percent of the professionals who responded to a LinkedIn survey considered the Rolodex to be an obsolete office device in danger of disappearing within the next five years, according to LinkedIn. In its place are numerous digital contact managers that live on even the dumbest cell phones, as well as email services and software, standalone contact management apps, and customer relationship management apps. And, of course, many employees have access to professional contacts through LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

USB thumb drives rank number 10 on LinkedIn's list of obsolete office devices. The more workers rely on cloud-based storage, the less they need the portability and small footprint that made thumb drives so popular. However, the major push that lands USB drives into the obsolete office device category comes from the security risks they pose to business data. The Symantec Corporation reports that their small size and ability to store vast amounts of data, which employees often fail to encrypt or otherwise make secure, make it easy for the drives to get lost or stolen. Thumb drives also present an easy means for hackers to spread worms, viruses and other malicious programs.

Unlike the 60 percent of consumers who, according to NBC News, feel no rush to update to newer technologies, companies hoping to thrive throughout the 21st century need modern equipment that supports their businesses. Considering the enormous variety of business products that exist today and the frequency with which updated technology becomes available, it's getting more difficult to justify keeping obsolete office devices in service.

(Photo courtesy of Exsodus / freedigitalphotos.net)