An IT department that points and laughs is hardly encouraging learning and business alignment.

The piece highlights the fact that the help desk, despite the growing importance of IT/business alignment in the enterprise, remains in the “condescending gatekeeper role.”

As evidence, Wailgum includes a video that features Andy Bitterer, co-chair of Gartner Group’s BI Summit, doing Jay Leno-style “man-on-the-street” interviews in London. Among Bitterer’s questions to the masses: “Do you use a database?” “Do you know what Business Intelligence tools are?” “Do you know what OLAP is?”

Honestly, does this Gartner bloke really expect everyday people to know what these things are? As Wailgum asserts, Gartner conference attendees may find it amusing (ha, look at the stupid users!), but it really demonstrates how out of touch IT is with its customers.

This paragraph, in which Wailgum describes IT’s image problem, is particularly illustrative: “A technological arrogance that lurks behind and manifests itself in arcane techno mumbo-jumbo and smug conceit, that, for lack of a better word, really pisses off end-users and has turned them against IT departments.”

Nicely put, Wailgum.

What’s really troubling about the five-minute video, however, is the fact that a number of the interviewees seem to be lying when the say they do know what OLAP and BI are. Perhaps they feel compelled to pretend they know, even though they clearly have no idea.

Feigning knowledge to avoid appearing ignorant happens in the workplace all the time. And an IT department that points and laughs is hardly encouraging learning and business alignment. Such a help desk delivers only lost productivity, and a whole lot of errors.

I don’t find that funny at all, and neither should a CIO.

FOR THE RECORD: OLAP stands for Online Analytical Processing (Wikipedia page here); and Business Intelligence, or BI, uses technologies, processes and applications to analyze mostly internal, structured data and business processes (Wikipedia page here).

MORE INFO IN: Desktop Application Support | Contact PC Helps

When scaled across an entire company, misprinted print jobs cost a corporation dearly.

Sure, big picture savings are great. But the best way to approach recession survival is by starting small. Although an extra printout or two may seem minuscule, when scaled across an entire company, misprinted print jobs cost a corporation dearly.

In the spirit of frugality, here are two PC Helps tips published by IT World that promise printing efficiency.

1. How to Master Excel Spreadsheet Printing
2. How to Create a New Print Style in Outlook

Enjoy, and print responsibly. Got any efficiency tips? Send them our way.

MORE INFO IN: Desktop Application Support | Contact PC Helps

The papers are saying that productivity is on the rise, that the fat officially has been cut from corporate America. Good news, right?

Depends on what you do next, says Gartner Blog Network’s Mark McDonald in a recent post. Productivity gains are “… a mathematical phantom, particularly if people remain on their current course and speed,” he writes.

“It is the equivalent of losing water weight at the start of a diet.”

That current course he’s talking about is the way many companies made it through the recession – by removing the costs (employees) without changing the underlying process or operation.

Says McDonald: “It is the equivalent of losing water weight at the start of a diet.” And, as any yo-yo dieter knows, you will gain that weight back quickly if you don’t change the habits that got you fat in the first place.

Read his post here.

2. What Recession?

Then there’s that whole other realm, the business of haute couture, which seems to be a barometer of nothing really, especially considering the latest reports. Following the cue of other luxury brands like Christian Dior and Tag Heuer, Versace is jumping into the cell phone game. It will unveil its very own mobile at Paris Fashion Week.

The made-to-order (leather!) gadget will retail for more than $5,500, and will initially be sold only to Versace’s VIP customers. It will debut at Paris’ fashion week, and will be available for purchase in May. According to the gadget reviewers at ZDNet, no word yet on which operating system it will run.

Do you think IT will support it?

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Gartner group is calling the new operating system “all but inevitable.” Sounds kind of like the flu.

Here is a sampling of the words that have been used to describe Windows 7: “much better”; “less prone to unexpected delays”; its impact on PC sales “won’t be huge”; and there are “good things to be had” with the new OS.

Sheesh.

In an opinion piece in Tuesday’s New York Times, Robert Cyran and Una Galani write that “if the key to happiness is low expectations, then Microsoft’s customers and investors have it in spades.”

Despite the expectation of underachievement, Microsoft could still end up a winner. The new operating system is an improvement over Vista, and many businesses are due for hardware and OS upgrades. (According to the article, roughly four-fifths of PCs use Windows XP or older operating systems.)

Once companies upgrade and become familiar with 7 (and the new Office suite), they will want new machines, and more Windows 7. Who says losers finish last?

Over at ZDNet, Mary-Jo Foley reports that the revered Gartner group is calling the new operating system “all but inevitable.” Sounds kind of like the flu.

Recap: It’s an improvement over Vista, and it’s unavoidable.

What next?

You can begin deploying, or get ready to think about deploying. If you already migrated to Vista, your costs will not be as high for the final jump to 7. If you’ve bypassed Vista completely, you will face a potentially pricey learning curve – with the new operating system itself, and with the radically redesigned Office 2007 suite.

Don’t listen to the myths and go it alone. Call in a migration partner.

(Be sure to check back tomorrow to download our Windows 7 and Office 2007 migration readiness kit. It’s free.)

FIND MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Checklist + Tools | Migration Case Study (.pdf) | PC Helps eTraining | Desktop Application Support | Contact PC Helps

What, or whom, to cut is never easy, especially when the software for the upcoming migration has already been purchased. It’s easier to drop services than it is to lay off employees; services don’t have a face or a family. Realistically, however, opting to bring in outsourcers in cash-strapped times or during a software migration provides greater ROI. The difference is substantial. Here’s a comparison:

It’s easier to drop services than it is to lay off employees; services don’t have a face or a family.

Certification level:

• Chances are that if you opt to add full-time employees to your help desk to handle the migration, they will be generalists. For after-hours or 24-7 coverage, they will be no more than junior level employees or administrative staff.
• Adding PC Helps gives you access to certified computer consultants, 24-7.

Advanced support and number of applications supported:

• For advanced support, like working with macros and application development issues, you will have none if you hire full-timers for a migration, and your staff will only be able to support 12 applications on average.
• PC Helps has plenty of developers to go around, and we support more than 166 applications.

Cost model:

• With full-time employees, you will be paying them a fixed rate, plus benefits and overhead. That amounts to about $65,000 annually on average.
• With PC Helps, you pay only for time spent on solutions or actual use.

Response time, abandonment rate and peak hold time:

• With full-timers, the average response time varies, the abandonment rate is 5 percent, and the peak hold time during a migration is nine minutes. Doesn’t sound that bad until you consider the alternative…
• … which is a two-ring response, an abandonment rate of less than .01 percent, and no hold time, even during a migration.

Resolution time and cost:

• With full-time employees, calls take an average of 30 minutes to resolve, and cost roughly $89 per solution.
• With PC Helps or similar best-of-breed support, the average call takes six minutes to resolve and costs less than $25 per solution.

Next post: A side-by-side comparison of temp workers versus best-of-breeds.

MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Checklist + Tools | Migration Case Study | PC Helps eTraining | Desktop Application Support | Contact PC Helps