Posted on 10/16/2015 12:08:33 AM PDT by Swordmaker
IBM's internal deployment of Mac hardware has been a resounding success, the company announced this week, with rapid adoption and very little need for employee technical support.
IBM took part in this week's JAMF Nation User Conference in Minneapolis, where the company explained how it began to integrate Apple's Mac platform into the traditionally Windows-centric organization.
Just 5% of Mac equipped employees call IBM's internal help desk for assistance, versus 40% of PC users.
Speaking to more than a thousand Apple IT administrators was Fletcher Previn, vice president of Workplace-as-a-Service at IBM. Big Blue began offering employees the ability to use a Mac at work starting on June 1, and adoption has been a tremendous success.
Previn revealed that IBM is now deploying 1,900 Macs per week, and there are currently 130,000 iOS and Mac devices at use within the company. All of these devices are supported by just 24 help desk staff members.
Further, Previn revealed that just 5 percent of Mac users call IBM's internal help desk for assistance, compared to 40 percent of PC users.
Previn said these statistics show how simple it is for IBM staff to use the Mac, and how good of a job the team has done to make for a seamless experience in setting up a new Mac in the workplace.
IBM's deployment allows for employees to receive a shrink-wrapped, brand new Mac and quickly and easily set it up on their own. Using Apple's Device Enrollment Program and JAMF Software's Casper Suite, users set up and install IT-approved apps, software and configurations.
JAMF Software's Self Service allows IBM and its employees a simple method for installing licensed software. In an example given by Previn, the employee simply needs to click install for Microsoft Office, and IT will handle the licensing on the backend without exposing any of it to the user.
Finally, regarding the higher upfront cost of buying a Mac, Previn said that IBM's adoption of Apple hardware is actually a financial benefit to the company in the long run.
Macs require less management and setup effort than PCs, he said, saving IT personnel valuable time. And fewer employees are needed to support Macs than traditional PCs, he said.
"Every Mac that we buy is making and saving IBM money," Previn said.
IBM officials said in July that they plan to deploy some 50,000 MacBooks to employees by the end of 2015. Final adoption numbers at the company are expected to be between 150,000 and 200,000 units.
Apple and IBM surprised the tech world last year by announcing a partnership in enterprise solutions dubbed "IBM MobileFirst for iOS," an initiative incorporating custom software and analytics services with iOS hardware. That proved to be just the start of a growing partnership between the two former rivals, leading to this year's deployment of Macs within the IBM ranks.
The companies also revealed in June their work on an experimental educational product called the Student Achievement App, which looks to provide teachers with real-time student data analytics. A prototype version of the service is slated for completion soon, with pilot programs scheduled to roll out at four schools in 2016.
And in August, IBM announced a program designed to help large enterprises incorporate Macs within their existing IT infrastructures. IBM's MobileFirst Managed Mobility Services utilize the company's own experiences from its Mac@IBM program.
IBM makes money through contract IT support. Apple has been trying to break into the enterprise market for decades.
Yes, it sounds great, IBM moving Mac’s into their work space, etc., etc.
The key sentence in this article is at the end:
“And in August, IBM announced a program designed to help large enterprises incorporate Macs within their existing IT infrastructures. IBM’s MobileFirst Managed Mobility Services utilize the company’s own experiences from its Mac@IBM program.”
IBM is looking for a way to expand business. Supporting Apple products in an Enterprise environment is one of them. IBM has to add Mac’s to their infrastructure in order to be able to sell their services.
It would be a bit awkward for IBM to explain why they don’t use a product they sell support services for.
This is nothing more than a press release for IBM contract services and Apple enterprise products.
Apparently it is you who doesn't understand % usage or who is having a reading comprehension problem.
5% of IBM's employees who use Macs all 100% of them. . . As opposed to 40% of those employees who use Windows PCs—all 10% of them as well—has nothing to do with the relative numbers of each. Assume equal numbers, say 1000 of each for a fifty-fifty split, then only 50 Mac users will have called IT for support services while 400 Windows PC users will have called in the same period.
ROTFLMAO!
With Microcephalic spending all its time and money obviscating the user interface and making the OS a spyware nightmare, this is not an unexpected result.
What was the version of MS Office they pimped that required a separate program to show you where once easily accessible and familiar commands were hidden ?
There is no “technical innovation” at MS, just purposely confusing UI scrambling and spyware sophistry.
They suck.
Ok....That doesn’t refute anything I said, but the attempt was obviously humorous to you.
And on top of that the article doesn’t even bother to address what the nature of those “help desk calls” even were.
How many were simple misunderstanding on the part of the user. How many were fixed in less than a minute due to the user simply clicking on one thing? How many were complete machine breakdowns? As someone that did this work, all calls to the IT are not equal.
But who cares? You got the headline you obviously wanted
“With Microcephalic spending all its time and money obviscating the user interface”
The interface is fine.
“and making the OS a spyware nightmare”
Which it is not.
Do you even use Windows 10?
Uh, yes, it did. It refuted your entire contention that Apple users don't know how to use percentages and demonstrated that instead it was YOU who did not comprehend how to use percentages.
on top of that the article doesn’t even bother to address what the nature of those “help desk calls” even were.
It doesn't matter, VanDeKoik. The fact still stand that Windows users felt the need to involve the IT Hep Desk eight times more frequently than Mac users, regardless of the complexity of their problem. I had nothing to do with the headline. You have the problem with the facts.
Sordmaker, we are currently running Windows 7 in an enterprise environment. With our 32 bit Wan/Lan we are running up against memory limitations with our PCs. Four gig for Windows in a 32 bit environment. What are the memory limitations for Macs in a Windows 32 bit environment? We use Frame Maker as publishing software and, when publishing, I have bounced up against ram memory limits with some of the larger frame maker documents. Upgrading the Wan/Lan is cost prohibitive. Thoughts?
If you are running a Windows as a 32 bit install, you will run into the same limitations. The addressability is in the Windows code. Adobe lists FrameMaker as being able to work in Windows 64bit, but in 32bit compatibility mode. . . the memory access is, unfortunately, still the 32bit 4GB. I see no plans from Adobe to bring out another version that is 64 bit. They've end-of-lifed FrameMaker back when Windows Vista came out. Sorry. Which I could have good news for you, but running it on the Mac is not going to give you any magic.
Adobe abandoned the Apple Macintosh FrameMaker in 2004 with the ending of development of FrameMaker Mac when Apple went fully OS X. . . refusing to make the simple revision to Apple OS X that other developers did. Adobe even refused to make a file conversion to other software for the FrameMaker files.
Which = Wish. . . why does a spell checker replace one perfectly good English word with another perfectly good English word? Only the computer gods know for sure. Your name just got changed to “Nun 1.1”, LOL!
Thanks my FRiend. I figured as much. There are some folks here that think frame maker is the cat’s meow. I use FM well enough but it has its little issues. Thanks again for the input.
I feel you pain. Auto correct has its idiosyncrasies shall we say? Ah the modern troubles we must suffer. Maybe you computer knows something, I attended Catholic elementary school.... So...
Dude! I’m a conservative NRA Midwestern boy, who like girls and red meat. Even raw (steak tartare).
Enough with the vegan gay stereotypes for MAC users.
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