While it may be no problem for some businesses to buy new laptops and desktops when they’re due for a device refresh, it’s a real dilemma for tens of thousands of businesses with large fleets of old, slow-running PCs and Macs and no budget to replace them.
As we so often see in the news, these legacy devices can do long-term damage to business because they’re highly vulnerable to cyberattacks — and the downtime they often experience takes a huge toll on productivity.
The irony is these legacy devices are in otherwise good physical condition. Disposing them feels wasteful and bad for the environment.
That’s where ChromeOS Flex comes in. The modern, easy-to-use, easy-to-manage, cloud-based operating system gives businesses of any size the ability to quickly and securely upgrade the performance of their existing PCs and Macs, for free.
The process is simple. You or your IT administrator's (Insight’s IT experts) download ChromeOS Flex using a USB drive or network deployment. Depending on the size of your organization, this can be done in minutes, or in a day or two.
Employee settings, bookmarks and policies will automatically download from their cloud profiles — and they can seamlessly access apps across all environments and devices, in addition to integrating with industry-leading virtualization platforms.
There’s even an option to try it out first before going through with the free installation.
Once ChromeOS Flex replaces your old operating system, you can make things even easier on your business by combining it with Chrome Enterprise Upgrade (CEU). CEU allows you or your IT team to manage all your ChromeOS devices in the cloud-based admin console for a small annual fee of $50 per device, per year. (You can try it out for free first.)
This is especially good news for businesses with dispersed workers because no matter where they are, having the CEU means remote IT assistance is just a few clicks away.
“Another great advantage to having the Chrome Enterprise Upgrade is the ability to have devices drop-shipped directly to employees,” says Saj Sahni, Google’s Head of ChromeOS Presales, Engineering and Services for North America. “From there, Chrome Enterprise Upgrade allows your IT administrator(s) to unlock advanced management capabilities for a truly seamless, simplified experience.”
ChromeOS Flex and Chrome Enterprise Upgrade also deliver:
ChromeOS Flex is an industry-leading operating system when it comes to providing built-in protection against ransomware, malware and employee error — and Google Safe Browsing protects employees from phishing and malicious sites.
When it comes to sustainability, is there any better way to reduce your carbon footprint than keeping the devices you already have?
“Research shows that extending the lifespan of your devices by just three years can effectively reduce your organization’s carbon footprint by up to 40%,” says Sajed Sahni, Google’s Head of ChromeOS Presales, Engineering and Services for North America.
“ChromeOS Flex is proud to help businesses around the world combat the 40 million metric tons of e-waste that goes into global landfills every year and achieve, if not surpass, their sustainability goals,” Sajed says. “Keeping and refreshing your old devices with ChromeOS Flex and Chrome Enterprise Upgrade has never made more sense — or been more urgent.”