Marc Barash | August 27, 2009 | 7:09pm
Does the following scenario sound familiar? This is the first part in a multi-part series illustrating the effects on a business caused by a PC breakdown.
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8:45 am |
Maggie comes in one Tuesday morning, turns on her computer and the machine looks like it’s starting up and doing it’s normal routine. In the meantime… |
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9:00 |
Maggie has gotten her coffee, checked the morning papers, organized the stuff on her desk or chair other people left for her the night before. She suddenly looks up and sees her computer is off. She thought she turned it on like she always does, and thinks, “Huh, maybe I forgot to turn it on today? No matter and proceeds to power on her machine, yet again. The phone rings…… |
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9:10 |
Maggie has been distracted and now looks at her desk and computer screen once again and realizes the machine is still not on. “Okay, I know I turned it on”, and yet again she turns on the machine, only this time is determined not to look away or let anything distract her from watching the screen. |
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9:15 |
Maggie watches as the machine starts to boot, hits some unknown error and either shuts off, or is sitting at a prompt she has never seen before and requires some answer to it’s question that of course makes no sense to her. “Okay, what do I do now?” Of course like most users, Maggie turns the machine off and waits a minute and turns it back on again to start the cycle all over. |
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9:25 |
45 minutes to an hour after she has arrived Maggie asks Jane (the person sitting nearest to her) “have you seen this before? I think I am having computer problems?” Now Maggie has dragged Jane into her world of a non working PC. Now two people are non productive and focusing on a problem neither is equipped to handle. |
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10:00 |
Others have been brought over to look at this problem. Office productivity has now gone in the toilet. Several other staff members have been polled for their “expert opinions” on what the problem might be. Over an hour has passed; several people’s morning routines have been disrupted, time lost and the problem has yet to be addressed. Finally, someone suggests that they call the IT person. Unlike Superior Computer Services, Inc. you have to leave a voice message as no one is available to take the call. |
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10:45 |
IT calls back and now wants to work remotely with Maggie to get her machine going. |
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11:15 |
IT determines an onsite visit is necessary and will be there as soon as they can. |
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12:00 pm |
IT arrives and determines the drive is bad. IT either has a drive with them or needs to order a replacement drive. The day is gone and Maggie has now lost her machine for the balance of the day, but the saga still continues. |
| 1:00 | A spare office machine is pulled from the closet and made ready for Maggie to use, except it has been in storage for several months and is out of date. So it now needs to be brought up to speed for Maggie. |
| 3:00 | It’s now swapped on Maggie’s desk, all her papers are pushed aside, her keyboard and mouse cables re-routed and eventually she is ready to go, except it’s now 4:00 pm and Maggie is spent because the day was extremely stressful for her and now she doesn’t have her machine, she has someone else’s. |
| 4:00 | Maggie is ready to go home, exhausted from the stress and upset and really not in any condition to now do any work. But this does not end the saga as the old machine still requires repair, data recovery and now re-installation. |
Next read: The Fallout