Re: [SAGE] Help! Multiple platforms in a Dell Shop

["Richard Johnson" <rdump@river.com>]

At 22:12 +0000 on 2006-01-09, Martin Jackson wrote:
> I've been accused of abusing using my power by the Exec's by trying to
> enforce the corporate policy of Dell and maybe their right, I attempted
> to enforce the policy in order to minimise the support burden and
> standardise on a supportable base for hardware support and software
> deployment.
>
> What can I do to mitigate this situation?


Say yes, and attach a realistic support cost.  It will necessarily involve
a modest increase in your team's budget, perhaps even including additional
staff, to keep the users working as efficiently.  But that cost may well be
worth the benefit to those who sign the checks.

Most times I've done that (I had somehow ended up IS director, etc.), it's
been well received by CXXs.  They usually elected to pay the higher cost
for the increased flexibility and the hope of improved user morale +
productivity.

However, you should probably be prepared for them to not pay the higher
cost while telling the users that you're to blame for alternative "cooler"
laptops being forbidden...

To put it in some perspective, my experience back in System 7 & 8 days on
Macs was one support person required per 80 Macs.  Meanwhile, we needed to
staff a 2 person help desk for only 40 MS Windows NT systems in order to
keep the grumbling to the same level.  Those numbers were unwelcome news to
the new vulture-funded overload of Vice Presidents, so they naturally
forbade purchases of new Macs, and boosted the help desk staff. ;-)


Richard