Only 5% of Mac users at IBM need help desk support, compared to 40% of PC users
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.
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 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.
Comments
Most IT departments are shit. A good IT department should know how to maintain and fix both Mac and Windows PCs.
But Apple is sponsoring the Met Gala. That means they're only interested in fashion now. /s
When I made the switch to Macs back in 2008, my productivity shot up. Gone were the days where I had to babysit my Windows machine and wasting countless of hours over the years to keep it stable due to shoddy drivers, unstable Windows updates, and general all-around bugs.
My "computer" went from being something akin as being in a bad relationship, to actually become a tool that helped me get my job done.
This coming from a guy that built his own power rigs for ages. I got off that train and never looked back.
This report proves the choice was a wise one.
Certainly a great endorsement from a high profile company. I wonder if it will get much play in the media-blog-o-sphere, or is anything positive on Apple a no go zone now.
Based on my own observations at my company, one possible bias is that most folk who have macs are far more savvy than my windows colleagues, even for the simpler things. They know what they want out of a computer, and macs are their choice.
I happen to use both for work (90% MacBook Pro, 10% Lenovo). And my experience mirrors what IBM is reporting...I have very little trouble with my buttery-smooth and stable mac, but the higher-end windows machine is a nightmare.
And this is why IT departments hate Mac's.
They know their job may be on the line if Mac's are adopted because of fewer problems.
We have a network admin that is a die-hard Apple hater. In the beginning, I was the only Mac user in the company. Seeing that my workstation never had issues, the IT director decided to get his first Mac (a rMBP) against the recommendations of the admin. His problems went away.
Next, the VP of the company after suffering for years of abysmal PC issues, took a glance and inquired. The admin refused to endorse it so he went directly to us to ask about our experience. That week he brought his first rMBP and his problems went away. He continuously praises Apple for something as simple as having a sleep-mode that "actually works".
Since then, the admin bought his own MBP only because "he needs to support us in case Mac issues arise" which strangely, we never asked him since day one. Since then, many more users have went the Mac route.
The company gave iPhones as company policy. He refuses to use one to this day.
All our workstations use VMware to run Windows and the only issues we get are network issues identifying problems with the admin's network. Thanks to IBM porting their legacy development tools away from Windows-only, I don't even use Windows anymore in the office.
I would see this as a plus for admins. The less time being used to deal with client/PC issues could be better allocated to maintaining/improving infrastructure.
Apple needs to run with this. Especially considering Intel and Microsoft are doing a big advertising campaign this fall.
Basically IBM just said "the computing platform that we invented sucks".
90% of those 5% are probably "I forgot my password".
The rest are fixed by restarting the Mac.
When I made the switch to Macs back in 2008, my productivity shot up. Gone were the days where I had to babysit my Windows machine and wasting countless of hours over the years to keep it stable due to shoddy drivers, unstable Windows updates, and general all-around bugs.
My "computer" went from being something akin as being in a bad relationship, to actually become a tool that helped me get my job done.
This coming from a guy that built his own power rigs for ages. I got off that train and never looked back.
This report proves the choice was a wise one.
just out of curiosity, what do you do and what productivity tools/apps do you use for work, other than Safari web browser?
The classic pattern emerges again and again, but now on a much larger scale. Google, Springer Verlag, IBM and of course Apple itself first and foremost went that road. Some years ago Gartner published a report that told IT: "ignore Apple at your peril". The Apple tsunami is now coming in slow but unstoppable.
Still I know many in enterprise who, although they by now have heard of the other computing platform in existence, diligently ignore the huge blip on their radar screens.
To paraphrase Max Planck: “A new computing truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”
When I made the switch to Macs back in 2008, my productivity shot up. Gone were the days where I had to babysit my Windows machine and wasting countless of hours over the years to keep it stable due to shoddy drivers, unstable Windows updates, and general all-around bugs.
My "computer" went from being something akin as being in a bad relationship, to actually become a tool that helped me get my job done.
This coming from a guy that built his own power rigs for ages. I got off that train and never looked back.
This report proves the choice was a wise one.
That's basically the same story with me. I went from Gateway, Dell, then building my own machines. After I while, I got so fed up with all the constant issues I had with Windows. I eventually bought a 24" iMac and have never looked back.
This is definitely a plus for Apple and I think this is excellent news that Apple should run with. However, as is often the case, interpreting data is the challenge. For example, IBM recently began to allow users to choose their platform of choice. Therefore, I would think that virtually all of their Mac users had extensive Mac experience in their personal lives. This alone may account for the lower amount of tech support calls. I would venture to say that if they deployed Macs to all employees, the call percentage would also rise. Maybe not as high as PCs were, but certainly more than they are now. Just because not everybody would be as familiar with the system.
Windows, Android both suffer from the same conditions. Both must run on literally thousands of different hardware configurations. Both wind up being kludged by OEMs with their own agendas. Security is a nightmare, drivers are a nightmare, peripherals are a nightmare. I have watched my engineer son sit for hours investigating driver issues on Windows. My wife has a Windows/Dell laptop to use with her Bernina sewing machine because the software (until recently) is Windows only. One day the built-in DVD drive refused to read a disc that contained a software update for the sewing machine. It took my son an hour to find and install a revised driver for the DVD drive so it could read again. And this was all on Windows 7 Ultimate on a Dell laptop.
Just my personal anecdote.
Basically IBM just said "the computing platform that we invented sucks".
More like the operating system Bill Gates bought from a third party and licensed to IBM sucks to this day.
That is a very significant difference.