Microsoft Office vs Google Apps: Training is the Key

For years, small businesses only had one real choice for business productivity software: Microsoft Office. But that may change as web-based applications, delivered via the cloud, flood the market.

For many, Google Apps represents a viable alternative. However, before a firm chooses to shelve its investment in Microsoft Office there is a lot to consider.

To begin with, software packages evolve over time to accommodate the customer’s requirements. As a relatively young software solution, Google Apps is less complete than the more established Microsoft solution. It is extremely difficult for any company, even Google, to anticipate the real-world requirements for a full-featured solution right out of the gate.

The “completeness” of Google Apps may be less important because of the way its software is delivered. Google Apps is “cloud based”, allowing popular feature requests to be rapidly developed, tested and deployed without the end user having to upgrade his or her software. Once deployed, the new features just appear the next time the user logs in.

Microsoft Office has its benefits too. For example, it has been around for a very long time. A benefit best illustrated by a story I recently read in Network World about Microsoft Windows turning 25 years old. I am including a link to the full article here.

Network World also included a cool slideshow with screenshots of the different versions of Windows through years. To view the slideshow click here.

Just like Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2010 inherits all the lessons learned from the previous decades of end-user feedback, research and development. However, a large number of users do not use or need many of the more advanced features offered in Microsoft Office.

Regardless of whether your organization chooses to use Microsoft Office or Google Apps, end user training is a real key to success.

Google Apps is not a “Webified” version of Microsoft Office. It sorts and presents e-mail differently, key function buttons are positioned in different places and working within a web interface takes some getting used to.

Microsoft Office 2010 has made several user interface changes that will take some getting used to and many of the advanced features that can help business users become more productive need to be pointed out and configured. Once that is completed, end users need to be trained on how to utilize the new features.

As the technology changes and as we get more sophisticated as technology users the way we use our core productivity software will evolve. Firms that embrace this change and seek to apply it in creative ways will gain real-time savings. Time that can be refocused on finding new customers, making current customers happier and finding new ways to more efficiently operate the business.

We spend a lot of time analyzing our client’s productivity needs as part of our outsourced IT service. If you feel like it might be helpful to discuss your needs, click here and we can schedule some time to talk in person!

I am including a brief survey about productivity software. If you have the time, I hope you will complete it. We plan to publish the survey’s results in a future blog posting.

Good Process is Tasty and Delicious

Image via Wikipedia

I think I was six years old when I ordered my first Big Mac. I’d eaten one before, but this was the first time that I stepped up to the counter on my own to order and pay for one. Waiting in line patiently I mouthed the words as I thought through what I would say. “May I have a Big Mac please?” I wanted to sound like I knew what I was doing.

When it was my turn, I stepped up to the counter. The cashier, who looked like a giant, looked down at me and smiled. Then she turned her gaze to the woman behind me and said, “Welcome to McDonald’s, may I take your order?”

I was devastated. But just as all hope was lost, the nice lady behind me said, “I believe this gentleman was first.” The cashier looked down at me and said, “Excuse me sir, what can I get for you?” …..Victory!

Since then, I’ve ordered thousands (that’s right, thousands) of Big Macs. Every time I do, I feel confident that the sandwich will taste the same as the one I bought 30 years ago.

McDonald’s has a specific process that they follow to prepare a Big Mac. This process is the same in Charlotte, North Carolina as it is in Seattle, Washington. It has been honed over time into a series of steps that is teachable and repeatable. In fact, many McDonald’s employees go to Hamburger University where they learn how to make Big Macs.

When it comes to selecting an outsourced IT partner, process is very important. Most providers say they have a process that they follow, but the word “process” rarely means that they’ve developed a step-by-step series of activities that’s teachable and repeatable. They may have a general idea or approach to clearing trouble tickets, building a server or monitoring a firewall, but their approach is rarely fully documented or integrated into their information systems. The result is that each employee has his or her own way to do the work.

The impact is an inconsistent level of service. Sometimes the client gets good service and sometimes he or she gets really lousy service. This result is often compounded by Murphy’s Law. For some reason, the lousy service experience always occurs when you’re on a deadline.

One way to avoid service level inconsistency is to make sure that your potential outsourced IT partner can show you its process. It’s not enough to show you a bunch of Word documents with bullet points that read, “Promote Windows Server 2008 to Domain Controller.” A well-documented process includes flowcharts, job aids and clear tie-ins to the firm’s information systems. A true process is teachable, repeatable and, because it’s clearly documented, it can be incrementally improved over time.

The ability to incrementally improve a process, assumes that the outsourced IT provider does not outsource its core functions to someone else. Outsourced IT providers that in-turn outsource functions like Network Operations and Help Desk don’t have a lot of control over service delivery. If they don’t have control of the function in the first place they can’t really impact the process. I wrote a blog about outsourced IT providers that in-turn outsource their IT. You can read more by clicking here.

At Endsight, we include a review of our process as part of our site visit. It also includes a tour of our facility, introductions to our staff and a review of a sample strategy document (I’ll write more about documentation and strategy in another blog). If you’re looking for an Outsourced IT partner, we’d really like to host you for a visit. To schedule one, click here.

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• Not all outsourced IT options are the same (bayareaitmanagement.com)

Not all outsourced IT options are the same

I thought the linked article below was interesting because it draws attention to the fact that not all cloud computing environments are the same.

http://infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/the-rise-and-risk-the-composite-clouds-954?source=rss_infoworld_top_stories_

In fact, as the author (David Linthicum)  illustrates it is becoming more and more common for a provider to cobble together several different cloud computing environments to provide the customer a complete solution.

On the surface it’s not a bad idea, many of the business books that I’ve read support the notion that outsourcing non-core functions can free up people time and money that can be refocused on activities that contribute to an organization’s competitive advantage.

But it overlooks a fundamental risk. Outsourcing an application to a cloud operator cedes control. If the operator in-turn outsources part of the required infrastructure, it will also cedes some of its control. The net result is multiple points for performance issues and the potential for lots of finger pointing.

Outsourced IT doesn’t have the hype of Cloud Computing right now, but just like the cloud computing vendors in this article, many of the local outsourced IT providers in the Bay Area have sought out partnerships that allow them to offload functions such as help desk or routine server maintenance to other outsourced firms. Sometimes they even send the work off-shore to India or the Philippines.

And just like the cloud operators in this article, they are also creating multiple points in their delivery model that are ripe for error. It’s not a question of ability or capabilities; it’s a flaw in the delivery model that’s best illustrated by the saying, “Too many cooks in the kitchen.”

A leveraged approach forfeits one of the key benefits of an outsourced IT firm, namely is its ability to aggregate services such as help desk & network operations and then to take on sole responsibility for providing those services . Having complete control of the people, process and delivery technology eliminates the potential for finger pointing between software vendors, integrators and technology partners.

If an outsourced IT firm “partners” to provide reactive support, that means that some other firm has ultimate control over service delivery and it opens the door wide open to confusion and finger pointing. That’s why Endsight chose to keep help desk and network operations in-house. Its core to what we provide and it’s what our clients count on us to do for them.

The disposition of an Outsourced IT firm’s service organization is only one of the criteria that should be considered when evaluating a partner. I’ve included a link to a good article that list 14 questions to ask a potential technology partner.

http://www.managedservicesdirectory.com/information-technology-outsourcing/14-questions-to-ask-a-potential-technology-partner/

If you’re considering your options for computer system support, we’d very much like to hear from you. The best way to evaluate Endsight would be to set up an on-site visit. To set up an appointment click here.

Proactive Support: The Unsung Hero

When supporting a Windows network, there are really two main components that have to be addressed: proactive and reactive Information Technology support.

Many companies in our service area - San Francisco Bay Area and East Bay Area - may not realize the importance of proactive support. It provides the base level that allows reactive support to be productive. For a network to be reliable, both elements need to be in place and focusing on the reactive will only delay problems, not stop them.

Granted, some companies don’t have the resources allocated to provide both elements and simply react when things inevitably go wrong. Many IT consulting companies focus on reactive support which is cost-ineffective because the IT companies bill so many hours trying to fix problems that weren’t handled proactively.

Proactive Bay Area IT Support Will Save You Money

For example, a hard-drive fails on RAID 5 (with redundancy) but because there are still two more drives that are working, the problem goes unnoticed. So when then next hard-drive fails and the network goes down, the IT consulting company then gets to bill tons and tons of hours to ‘fix’ the network because they didn’t proactively support their network. This situation works out great for the IT provider because they make a lot of money, but really poorly for the client because they have to spend more than they budgeted for and their network is down.

That is the exact reason why my employer, Endsight, in Berkeley, CA, developed a division that is solely dedicated to providing proactive support on month-to-month rather than an hourly basis. In this way engineers aren’t bogged down with handling reactive issues and can take the time and care to adequately analyze our clients systems to prevent as many common problems from materializing. They also don’t have to worry about how many hours our clients have “approved” and thus they can actually do thorough and complete work.

While our Bay Area IT System Administrators are handling our clients’ in the proactive support, we also have a Bay Area Response Center that is situated to respond to any immediate calls. In this way Endsight has been able to clearly define the difference between proactive and reactive support and delegate tasks to either group to provide an extremely cost-efficient model that allows our clients to have enterprise level IT support and a lower total cost than those focused on reactive only.

Being Invisible is Good for Bay Area IT Management Clients

Unfortunately, the very nature of the proactive support is preventative and thus it tends to go unnoticed. This means that the better job someone does, the less likely anyone recognizes and appreciates those efforts. Companies don’t spend any part of their day thinking about their network unless they have to, so naturally if everything is going well, they won’t think about the proactive support that is being done which leads to complacency.

It takes continual involvement on our part to educate our clients in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area on the implementation and upkeep that is occurring and the active care that is being provided. Proactive support is not only great for our clients but also good for us as the outsourced IT provider because the more issues we can handle proactively, there are fewer issues we have to handle reactively.