In the IT Department 1 level support can feel like all level support

When the phone rings at a company help desk, the It person knows the person on the other end has a problem and needs it fixed. But that is all they know. They must be prepared for a range of emotions that could come pouring out on the other end of the phone. You will run into all types of issues on the helpdesk and people will have many different ways to express their frustration at a problem they are having.
Besides being able to quickly diagnose the issue and resolve it, a helpdesk person may also have to be empathetic to the person having the problem. They may be on the phone and be almost in tears because something they have worked on for a long time has suddenly disappeared. Now you have to keep them calm while trying to figure out where the file was and what they were doing when it vanished. Sometimes you answer the phone and are greeted with an angry question about why windows acts like a dick and won't let the person do something they have always done before. Now you have to keep them calm and rant free while you figure out what command windows does not like the person to try to run.
Sometimes you will answer a call and it is something that is totally out of your realm and has to go to the higher level of support, but they are out to lunch.... So now you have to try to keep the person calm and explain they can't speak to the person who can help them right now.... Do you try to attempt to see if you can help? What do you do to even begin to look at something you are not sure of? You have to have your good set of skills ready to have a good starting point. You always should remember to start with the simple things first. Many times that is a good place to start and will get a resolution quickly without having to go to far into the troubleshooting bag.
It is also good to pay attention to details when looking over a problem. Many times you can find something that is not being done right like good antivirus protection or they have a toolbar enabled that blocks pop ups they need. Now you resolved the initial problem and you can point this out to them and help them with what other items you find. So you help them update their antivirus or you turn their automatic updates on. Now your the best help desk person ever and that person wants you to help them every time. And the only thing you did was point out some simple things you know can help keep the computer running well for them.
When your on the help desk if you pay attention and have some empathy, you can excel at the position and your users will love getting you on the phone to help them.

Cloud computing is great, unless your have an issue with your Internet

So while at work this week we ran into a location that was having issues connecting to our cloud. After troubleshooting the issue we found that the internet provider was having issues. A technician was dispatched and then it was escalated to have other technicians work on the issue as it was affecting several places in the area. This went on for most of the week and finally got resolved today, after business closed at 5pm.
This got me thinking, cloud computing is really taking off and has a lot of benefits for companies who are taking their IT processes into the cloud. The problem is if you have a provider that has a lot of issues, it can make a very poor experience in the cloud. Your users if faced with this will complain louder than a failing ibm hard drive grinding its way into defectiveness. Some areas this can be a big issue if you don't have a lot of choice with providers. Some areas there are only one or two providers, this seems to still be an issue in areas that are more on the remote side of things.
Even if your data center has the top of the line hardware and a huge pipe coming in, the data has to go through the pipes and get to your location. If thats in a area that has only DSL connections to use, your cloud will be stormy! The cloud uses a lot of upload speed, and you need to calculate how much bandwidth per person you need. Your cloud provider can help you figure this out,
for example, our cloud provider gave us a number of 256KB of bandwidth per person. So if you have 4 users, you need at least a full 1MB of upload speed. DSL does not even go that high, and then if your cloud host is on one side of the country, and your location that needs the cloud is on the other side of the country, that will make for a difficult time.

Does your business use the cloud? Do you have a location that does not run well in the cloud? Talk back to me and let me know.
My next instalment will talk about what to do if you are at a location that cant get good internet for your cloud.

Cell phones being released as fast as bowling balls!

Samsung is trying to launch a lot of new cell phones at a clip of one per week!

This is like when bowling balls Manufactures do the same thing. They will release a new bowling ball in a span of a week or two. It gets a little difficult to try to keep up with that much change!

Why does everyone think the desktop is going away

I keep reading different sites and everyone keeps saying the desktop is dead.


I really don't see it. Yes there are hybrids coming out all the time and tablets are still very popular. But even the other day the Head of Blackberry said he thinks tablets won't survive.

“In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore,”

People keep saying Windows is dying, Windows 8 is killing Microsoft. But in fact the opposite is true. Microsoft has posted gains in both their windows software side and their Server and Enterprise software divisions.

And also as shown in here that Ed Bott published the other day, it looks like Microsoft is going up and Apple is going down.


Desktops are not dying. They are not going to go away. There are too many users that use them for things that cannot be duplicated on a tablet, or a hybrid laptop. Logging into a cloud environment from a remote desktop connection for example is much easier with a desktop. Some Graphic Design items still need to run on powerful desktops and they don't have that kind of power for laptops yet.

I am not sure that the CEO of blackberry is correct or not. Will tablets be around for a while? Will they die off? Its too soon to tell. They ars still used by a lot of people and for some uses they are great. But if you have to do a lot of inputting they are still not great. To do touch type for a short email is one thing but to put a 1000 word document together on a tablet is not very practical. They are still consumption devices first, production devices second.

I don't see Windows 8 going away very soon, if anything there will be another version made and Microsoft will edit it a bit and perhaps change some things to make users happy. I think that apple needs to do a redesign of some of their products or get some new ideas. I feel they are starting to get stale and losing some of that steam. It can be hard to keep up a performance like apple has, they have been coming up with new ideas since 1997 when Steve Job's returned. Now they are without him after his passing and the others at Apple need to start coming up with new ideas and try to work in a post Steve Jobs Era at apple. They really need to do more with the I phone. Maybe put out a 5 inch version, lots of users are enjoying bigger displays. Maybe give the keyboard in the I phone a refresh. Allow Swype input.

The desktop will be around for a long while. Tablets it is just too soon to tell.

Do you use a desktop? Do you use a tablet? Could you do your work on just a laptop or a hybrid?