From hungary-online-owner Tue Mar 28 00:54:51 1995 Return-Path: owner-Hungary-Online-announce Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id AAA09825 for hungary-online-announce-out31415; Tue, 28 Mar 1995 00:54:51 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id AAA09815; Tue, 28 Mar 1995 00:54:34 -0800 Received: from carlson@odin.net () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-online-announce@hungary.yak.net (9813) Received: from odin.net (root@omega.odin.net [193.130.116.3]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id AAA09794 for ; Tue, 28 Mar 1995 00:53:28 -0800 Received: from [193.130.116.13] by odin.net with SMTP (8.6.10/1.2-btv) id KAA05973; Tue, 28 Mar 1995 10:53:36 GMT Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 10:48:29 +0100 To: hungary-online-announce@hungary.yak.net From: carlson@odin.net (Steven Carlson) Subject: (HOL-A) HOL> casualities of the information revolution Sender: owner-Hungary-Online-announce@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Another column about the steamy underside of the info-hype. Many people come to me with their computer problems, and some of them are really desperate by the time they see me. Crazy isn't it - computers are a billion dollar industry, and yet these giants can't satisfy the market's need for troubleshooting and hand holding. Does anyone remember the Luddite revolt in early industrial England, when people went around smashing cotton mills because they were a tool of the devil? It's food for thought. Anyway this feeds right into the next column, which is about the recent waves of newbie immigration to the Net. I welcome any anecdotes by personal mail. =steve= --- casualities behind the barricades of the information revolution hungary-online By Steven Carlson I don't usually get freaked out by technology, but today I blew it. I couldn't get the danged machine to work. All those colored buttons and flashing lights - nothing made sense. Hell I couldn't even figure out where to stick the paper. In desperation, I broke down. How humiliating - I had to ask a secretary for help. I couldn't send my fax. There - I've admitted it. I was humbled by a simple fax machine. But it was one of those big flashy jobs I've never used before. I'm used to faxing from my computer, or better yet - sending email. It took a retrograde technology to kick my butt. Anyway I'm in good company. It's common to see someone swearing at a contrary computer, or wrestling scraps of paper from a sulky LaserWriter. If this is an information revolution there are a lot of folks behind the barricades taking bullets. As I wrote last week, with all the hype about infotech there's bound to be some kind of bashlash. Well, this backlash is taking place, and it's more like a counter-offensive. The bullet-catchers on the opposite side are the lowly minions of tech support, and it's not a pretty sight. The cover story of this month's _Forbes_ tells how the computer industry is freaking out over a tidal wave of consumer questions. At Word Perfect they've just increased phone-in support from 800 staff to 1,000. The folks at Microsoft will let you pay $2 per minute to jump to the front of the telephone queue. So many people are spending so much time on hold that some companies have hired hold line DJs - and even sell advertising time. Meanwhile the stress is so high in the tech support trenches that some departments have punching bags for the staff to thrash. What does this tell us about customer satisfaction? "Will consumers stop buying PCs?" Forbes asks rhetorically. The answer of course - don't be crazy. PCs outsold televisions last year and the trend shows no sign of slacking. The revolution has built up too much steam. Hitech gadgery may be sexy, but that's not what this revolution is all about. Information technology means slashing costs. Just-in-time production means you manufacture what the customer wants, when he wants it. Stop making product you might not sell; stop paying money to store it. Buy your office a PC network, fax and photocopy machines and you can trim your administrative budget. This equation is fine when the technology works, and your staff knows how to use it. But that's often not the case. I-tech saves you money, but it also introduces new costs of training and maintainance. Yet these costs are rarely ever accounted for. Once a PC is sitting on the desk, goes the thinking, that's that. But what happens when things go wrong? Who do you call when it's quarter to five on a Friday, you've just finishing your report, and you discover the latest version of your word processor has trouble saving documents with too many embedded PICT files? In direst need you can always call the software company and camp out on hold. That is if you're in the US or maybe Western Europe. If you're in Central Europe then you're "Other Countries" and you're welcome to call long distance for assistance. Forget it. No, more likely you'll ask someone at the office who has a reputation as the local computer whiz. Or you might even (God forbid) phone me. I get so many calls about computer problems from friends and friends of friends I wish I could set up a 900 number. It's getting ridiculous. But I guess that comes with the turf. Anyway, there's no way I or anyone else could possible keep track of every new software, not to mention the crazy things that happen when you combine them. So what's the solution? If all else fails, take your problem online. CompuServe and the other online services all run support forums where you can post your questions to the industry experts. Some companies, like Microsoft, also run support bulletin boards where you can download help files and software patches. Very progressive companies, like Qualcomm which publishes an email browser called Eudora, offer you tech support by email. Sadly, not all companies watch their online forums as closely as they should. Just as with phone-in support, computer companies see tech support as secondary to their main mission of producing hardware or software. Some industry pundits say tech support will be a service you subscribe to. Already a few third-party support companies have sprung up to fill the gap, mostly notably Corporate Software, which rang up nearly $700 million in revenues in 1994. Clearly all this confusion is an opportunity for someone to make a buck. Tune in next week to check out the madness as millions of newbies "surf the net" [blurb] Steven Carlson is an Internet trainer and technology writer who rarely has to fax ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 1995. Permission granted to redistribute this article in electronic form for non-profit purposes only. My byline and this message must remain intact. 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