JAMESGORBOLD/HARDWAREACCELERATED
James Gorbold has been building, tweaking and overclocking PCs ever since the 1980s. He now helps Scan Computers to develop new systems.
OPINION
S
o hereweare,anothermonthintotheongoingCOVID-
19 pandemic,andI thoughtit mightbeinteresting
tosharesomeinsideranecdotesabouthowthis
situationisaffectingthetechindustry.
A significantproportionofScan’ssalesareecommerce,andit
shouldn’tbenewstoyouthat,likemanyonlineretailers,we’ve
seena massivespikeindemandoverthelastfewweeks.The
firstwavesawcompaniesanduniversitiesbuyingupevery
webcam,headset,laptopandofficePCtheycouldfindwhile
theyrestructuredtheirteamstoworkfromhome.Remote
workingisn’tjustaboutclientcomputingthough;italso
requiresmassiveinvestmentininfrastructure,
suchasserversandVPNconfiguration,so
datacentreshavealsoseena surgeindemand.
Morerecently,a secondwavehasemerged
as a surgeindemandforgamingcomponents
and systems.Thisis anobvioussideeffectof
the lockdown,withmanyothersourcesof
leisurenotbeingaccessibleoravailablenow.
The massive demand for gaming products is challenging
for the PC hardware industry. Firstly, many tech factories and
their subcontractors are still suffering from the aftereffects
of the lockdown in parts of China. While every factory I know
of is now operational, the output of each factory is variable
- the best cases are running at around 70 per cent capacity,
and the worst cases at around 30 per cent.
This has had two knock-on effects, firstly on lead time, with
all products taking longer to source. For example, high-end
motherboards, which normally take around four weeks to
source, have now extended to around 12 weeks. The second
impact is of course on cost, not only of the components
themselves, but also on freight costs into the UK.
Thesecondmajorissueis that,evenif factorieswereworking
atfullcapacity,theysimplyaren’tgearedupforsuchhigh
demandatthistimeofyear.Normally,lateQ2isoneof the
quietesttimesforthetechindustry,butthedemandforgaming
productsis nowona parallelwithBlackFriday,andforweeks
onend.Withthebestwillintheworld,youcan’tsimplycrank
upthefabsandexpectnewGPUstoappearontheshelves
a fewdayslater.Theproductionofmosttechgearinvolves
dozensofsubcontractorsworkinglikeclockworktogether,
whichsimplyisn’thappeningrightnow.
What’smore,manydistributorsarealsoextremelyreluctant
toholdhighvolumesofstockincaseofa sudden
marketslowdown.Fortunately,Scanis large
enoughtobuymanyproductsdirectfrom
manufacturers,butmanysmallerresellers
arefarmorereliantondistributors.
WithinScan,we’vecontinuedtoevolve our
responsetocoronavirus,addinga statuspage
onthewebsitethat’supdatedseveraltimesa day.Asalready
recounted in my column last month, we implemented remote
working for the majority of our teammates very early on,
but of course, several roles simply aren’t suitable for home
working. As a result, to ensure social distancing, we’ve split
the warehouse and build teams into multiple shifts.
Since then, we’ve implemented some major changes,
including recruiting two full-time healthcare workers to
ensure we follow the best practice guidelines to mitigate
against risk. In addition, to better cope with the surge in
sales, we’ve extended the operating warehouse from its usual
11-hour cycle to a 24-hour one, and lengthened our customer
service contact hours. We’re responding to the crisis as best
we can and continuing to evolve as the situation develops.Demand for gaming
products is now on a
parallel with Black FridayKEEPING UP WITH DEMAND
James Gorbold gives some insight into how the tech industry has
been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic