Imagine you are the head of the sales department for a regional paper company. As part of your responsibility, you must select new hardware for your department, which consists of two administrative personnel, ten inside salespeople, six outside salespeople, and four inside sales executives. While selecting the new hardware, it is important to remember the types of employees that make up the office:

Administrative personnel who create office memos and take care of paper work

Inside salespeople who use a software as a service (SaaS) for sales and marketing software for customer contacts

Outside salespeople that need access to customer contact information on the road (through the SaaS application) and send memos, emails, etc.

Inside sales executives who are mostly internal but sometimes travel

Headquarters has allowed you to choose from the following new hardware: laptop computers, desktop computers, and tablets. Administrative personnel and inside salespeople will receive one new piece of hardware and outside salespeople and inside sales executives will receive two new pieces of hardware. In a formal purchase order proposal, determine which employees should receive what types of hardware and why. Make sure you specify why the selected hardware will fit the responsibilities of the employee you choose it for. Include the following items which would be presented to your purchasing manager. Conduct online research to determine the competing laptops, desktops, and tablets and create three tables, one for each of the three types of hardware being purchased, that shows the features and costs of the hardware. Record the cost per unit and total costs of the new hardware purchases. Include in the proposal features of the hardware that will make it beneficial for the tasks it needs to perform. Do not forget installation or transition costs if they are applicable.