Buying Office Furniture Can Be a Minefield - Quality Wins Over Price
Cost, space, quality, warranty, and delivery to name but a few. They are all very important in the general assessment procedure, but the most important criteria are often overlooked until it is too late.
There are so many online
office furniture companies with tabloid-like websites offering this
office chair and that office desk for an amazing price or super quick delivery.
It is sometimes very difficult to see the wood for the trees.
Cheapest v Cost-Effective
It is very easy to fall into the cheapest is the most cost-effective trap. Of
course sometimes you can get very good quality office
furniture at rock bottom prices, but ordinarily the cheap Chinese
imports prove to be less than reliable and the one year guarantee is an air
raid siren hint that you ignore at your peril.
The better quality office chairs
are offered with 5-year warranties or 2 years for heavy-duty 24-hour control
room chairs.
Lead times can pre-determine
which supplier you opt for but more importantly it can drive the buyer down a
precarious office furniture selection route, where availability outweighs all
other factors.
You have a new employee starting
on Monday and you need an office chair, a desk, and a computer.
Think about this for just a
moment. Which of those three items will the buyer spend most time over
selecting?
Which of the three items will the
buyer be given specifically more advice on which model to purchase?
Which item is more important to
suit the tasks that the new employee will have to undertake?
Okay, we all know the answer; the
computer. But which of the three original items will still be in that office in
5 years' time? Now that is an entirely different matter.
We all know that selecting the
right computer and software and giving your employee the right tools for the
job is paramount for your business plan. A corporate buyer wouldn't bat an
eyelid at buying a desktop PC, with software and network installed by a
professional IT engineer for around AED15000-AED25000. Now in most corporate
offices, computers are regularly upgraded and/or replaced say every two years
as a matter of course. But how many buyers would consider upgrading their
office furniture every two years. If the same care and selection thought
processes are not applied to buying an office chair and a computer desk - to
suit the new employee, then the company could well end up with an office chair
that lasts barely a year and an office
desk that is unsuitable and the employee can't even get his or her legs
under because the drawer pedestal is on the wrong side.
It's that Old Black Magic
The upshot is that the computer is by far the easiest item to buy. The majority
of office workers are computer savvy these days and they now know the
terminology that was deemed to be almost black magic just ten years ago. It was a box with a monitor and mouse, we turned it on and then, there was black magic!
There is a multitude of advice on the internet on RAM and graphics cards,
monitors, and the like. So much so that high street retailers are finding it
very difficult to compete against the big online sellers like DELL, because the
likes of you and me are feeling ever more confident these days about buying a
PC that we personally have specified. So with lower overheads, the online
computer retailer is winning the battle over its high street adversaries and
prices are at their lowest ever. Good news for the consumer then. Well, it would
be if the build quality wasn't indelibly linked to the price. The fact remains
that you get what you pay for. In general, the more expensive computers have
better build quality and more robust peripherals. Need a laptop to use on a
chemical plant? Then a ruggedized model could cost you back upwards of AED8000.
Where is all of this leading to
you may ask?
Well... Ergonomics my friend. Yes indeed, ergonomics is the new black magic in
the office furniture environment. I won't try and explain what ergonomics is
here. That is worth one or two articles on their own. Although, here is a very
good description of ergonomics if you want to read further. Selecting office
furniture is a far more difficult and trap-laden task these days. Posture and
office seating go hand in hand. Space-age technologies developed for car seats
are being applied to office
chairs and the natural 'S' shape of the spine is being replicated in
all manner of ergonomic office chairs. Modern ergonomic office chairs can be
manipulated to suit any body shape and size, but that still does not mean that
they are overly expensive. One customer said to me recently: "Ergonomic
chairs are okay but I've been quoted AED 1200!" That may be the case. You
can pay well over AED 1000 for an ergonomic office chair - but you don't have
to. There are more economically viable options out there, with the very good build
quality.
What is your priority?
The new employee should be considered first and foremost when specifying new
office furniture. Their size and physical capabilities will determine not only
the type of office chair you select but also the desk height, the hand of the
desk (is the person left-handed?), and the height of the monitor. Something
which is overlooked more often than not is the lighting. Space can often be at
a premium in modern office environments and will often dictate the only place a
new workstation can be located. Glare from lights can be a major factor in
producing headaches and eye strain in computer users.
Ideally, you should choose the
best office furniture you can afford. This will give you the best long-term
investment in your employee and office furniture in terms of your budget. And
don't forget there are deals to be had out there so don't be afraid to ask for
a discount. It is a very competitive market, but be sure you are comparing like
for like with regards to quality.
DSE (Display Screen Equipment)
A professional DSE (Display Screen Equipment) assessor will be able to assist
in selecting the correct ergonomic
office chair and office desk, and advice on
equipment placement, like monitor height and workstation position relative to
lighting. An established online office furniture supplier should be able to provide
a free DSE assessment, room layout drawing, and good quality, reasonably priced
office furniture solution.
Dearest doesn't always equate to
best, but cheapest can land you right in the middle of that minefield.
Get the latest updates
on modern
office furniture in Dubai, for detailed office
furniture, please visit our website officemaster.ae
OfficeMaster Al Quoz Branch – Office
Furniture Dubai
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