How SMBs Can Build a Peripheral Upgrade Strategy Before Costs Force Their Hand

Prioritize Refresh According to Role-Based Usage Patterns

With the proliferation of devices in recent years, refresh strategy has evolved from the way IT teams used to manage it. “IT thought about computers and workers more homogenously: Everybody gets the big ugly black box,” says Linn Huang, research vice president for devices and displays at IDC. Today, peripherals require a different approach.

It makes sense for an SMB to organize the refresh according to who is using the tools and what jobs they’re being used for. For any given worker, Huang suggests looking at “how hardware dependent they are, and then how impactful that work is.”

Prioritize upgrades for the data analysts, graphic designers, video editors and software engineers — the people whose workloads rely on the performance of their hardware, he says.

DISCOVER: The benefits of centralized management of peripheral devices.

Build a Rolling Budget Model

Rather than pay for everything all at once, it makes sense to build a rolling budget model that smooths out the amount of capital expense. One way to do that is to alternate peripheral upgrades with PC refresh efforts.

Peripherals typically last twice as long as PCs. “If you have a PC refresh cycle, you can do almost two times that for your peripheral cycle,” says Bob O’Donnell, president, founder and chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research.

That allows the business to budget for higher-quality peripherals. “Because you know you’re going to get two PC lifetimes out of them, it makes sense to spend a bit more to get something you know you’re going to be happy with,” he says.

Start Planning for Emerging AI-Ready Peripherals

There’s also an emerging generation of AI-ready accessories to consider: webcams, mice, keyboards and headsets equipped with built-in processors designed to run smart, adaptive features.

SMBs should start thinking now about the possible benefits of AI-enabled peripherals. With the rise of agentic AI, “we’re headed toward a future in which humans will be interacting with AI that resides locally on their machines,” Huang says.

“Sit down and have a discussion, build a steering committee and decide how you want to fold in these new AI-embedded workloads,” he says. After those steps, look at how smarter peripherals will support that, Huang suggests.

If AI devices look promising, “run a controlled pilot with teams that have defined workloads,” Brue says. That might be marketing and content or software development — teams that need capable offline tools. “Then set the technical and business success criteria before purchasing.”

READ MORE: How your small business can plan for an AI-ready endpoint strategy.

Sequence Upgrades To Maximize Both Productivity and ROI

SMBs can maximize the impact of their peripheral refresh in terms of both productivity and return on investment by sequencing their refresh thoughtfully. First, fix what’s broken, whether that’s a failing printer or a Wi-Fi bottleneck, Brue says.

Then, look at replacing devices that are revenue-critical or customer-facing. Planning is key here. “For a more advanced SMB, you want to create a refresh roadmap,” she says.

In almost every case, the refresh will start with a bigger monitor. “That extra screen size is going to make a difference,” O’Donnell says. For people who work on multiple applications simultaneously, “it just dramatically improves the speed at which you can get stuff done.”