Mac Office environment.

Mac in the Office environment.

When I started out in I.T. almost 30 years ago, just about all corporate networks were monolithic, mainframe environments. As time progressed we had an almost total windows domination of the server and power-pc networks in corporate businesses. Today, that’s just no longer true. A lot of businesses are finding out that a mixed or even all Mac office really is a viable solution.

Several years ago, Macs were barely tolerated in corporate networks because it was the platform of choice for creatives. If a company had an in-house creative department, it was stocked with Macs. These Mac users got very little support from generic IT support staff. Most corporate IT support guys knew very little about Macs in the workplace, and they often tried to shoehorn Windows solutions into Macs without much if any success. Windows servers were setup to offer some “services for Macintosh”. If the company used Exchange, Mac users were stuck with only the most basic of these services. While the company’s Windows PCs were upgraded and replaced frequently, Mac hardware was left to languish because of the perceived higher cost in ownership. A lot of this began to change starting with the introduction of Mac OS X in early 2001, but the real change started to happen a few years later as Mac OS X gained support from major players such as Adobe, and even Microsoft. The iPod also helped introduce a new generation of customers to Apple. When the Mac began shipping with Intel processors in January 2006, it provided Windows users with a bit of a “security blanket” that allowed a Windows operating system to be installed (if necessary). Most never did.

With the introduction of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in August of 2009 there was a major turning point for Macs in the workplace. Starting with Snow Leopard, the Mac gained "built-in" native support for Exchange. Before this, Mac users had to use Microsoft Entourage, which was part of the Office 2004 and Office 2008 suites. Basically then Entourage just sucked, which meant that Mac users were still left out in the cold. However this changed with Snow Leopard. Apple’s own mail, calendar, and contacts clients were now able to connect to Exchange. In addition to this the iPhone gained full Exchange support as well. Snow Leopard and the iPhone helped push Apple technology further into corporate networks much to the annoyance of Windows loving IT guys.

With the exception of some very specific packages, there are almost no computing tasks that cannot be performed on a Mac system environment. After many years of lukewarm Mac support, most major software developers have produced really great Mac versions of their software. Most printers just work out of the box and many other devices need little configuration. Email, calendars, and contacts solutions work great too. The Mac software environment embraces many open standards such as CalDAV for calendar synching and sharing, CardDAV for contacts synching, and supports all of the industry standard email protocols such as IMAP, and POP.

Communicate and Collaborate

One perceived barrier to switching to Mac is that you will lose the ability to communicate and collaborate with Windows users who are still in the majority. That’s just not true. For a lot of us, our business lives revolve around Microsoft’s Office software suite. Microsoft Office for Mac has been around for a very long time. In fact, the first versions of Excel and Word existed on the Mac before Windows was released for the first time. If you decide not to purchase the Mac version of Microsoft Office, there are a number of alternatives. Apple’s own Pages, Numbers, and Keynote can replace Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. They are actually much easier to use, and they are now free on every new Mac computer purchase. But even if you do need to purchase these apps, the cost is far less than licensing Microsoft Office for Mac. Each of these apps can open edit and save files in all of the MS Office file formats. And as an added bonus, you can install Pages, Numbers, and Keynote on all of your other client Macs including iPad and iPhone. No restrictions. Just connect them all to your company’s Apple ID.

Connected

Do you want to ditch that expensive Exchange server in your office? There are now very good alternatives to Exchange. Many of these include all of the major features of Exchange at a fraction of the cost. Some are truly cross platform and can runs on Mac and Linux servers as well as the traditional Windows server platforms. Many embraces open standards, working with a wide variety of email clients, contacts apps, calendar software, and can be used with iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. With the rise in popularity of tablets and mobile devices many companies are investing in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) as an alternative solution to the issues of keeping connected in the workplace. For those interested in this area I will be providing more on connectivity and BYOD in another article.

Accounting

What about accounting software? For many years, Mac versions of software like Quickbooks were sorely lacking the features of the Windows versions. That’s not true anymore. But what if your accountant still wants to use the Windows version? That’s easy. Parallels Desktop, and VMware Fusion are great solutions for running Windows on the Mac without having to leave the Mac environment. You can install and run Windows applications within a virtual Windows PC. A more advanced accounting solution is to deploy a Windows server with the accounting software installed. Users can login via Microsoft Remote Desktop to access their accounting software easily, both in office and from remote locations. This is a great way to repurpose the Exchange server that you replaced...

Cost

Despite what most people believe, owning a Mac is not more expensive than owning a Windows PC. Sure, the initial cost of an Apple computer is higher, but what about the long term cost? If you’re a Windows user, think about how many times your PC (work or home) has had a slow down, a lock up, blue screen of death, or a virus. I bet it’s often. In business, the lost productivity can cost a lot of money. At home, it can be maddening. I am writing this post from a Mac that has never crashed. Ever. It has been sitting on my desk for two years. No problems, except for a random error from an application, but OS X has been rock solid. This is not to say that Macs never crash. They do. They just do it a lot less often. In most corporate settings, the I.T. guys only know Windows. They might own an iPhone or an iPad (Why not? They’re the best!), but their knowledge of Apple technology overall is very low. This presents a barrier to a business switching to Mac. But a change has been going on for a few years now. We call it Bring Your Own Device - BYOD. More and more business users are bringing their personal Macs to work. These users expect to be able to send and receive email, work with documents, connect to servers, and do all of the things they need to do in a business setting. Who will they turn to for help?

That’s where I have found my role as a business transformation and change specialist has come in quite handy. I have run Mac computers and supported Mac based office environments for well over 15 years. During this time I have delivered Mac based alternatives to management and IT support, including email and web hosting, cloud backup services, and have partnered with some great Mac based companies to provide many other offerings. Even bridging into specialist areas like VOIP (voice over IP) services to provide virtual meetings and collaboration areas for Mac and mixed system environments. There are, all be it a little niche, now very good offerings on the market for competitive outsourced Mac support. Personally I am happy to consult on any of these services or assist in defining complete IT strategy and solutions. Do not hesitate in contacting me for further information...

About the Author

My name is Mike Davis and I have been managing and supporting transformational change within major corporates for over 20 years. I am a keen contributor to the digital agenda and would be very interested in supporting and advising on successfully delivering business transformation change programs. Feel free to review my LinkedIn profile and should you wish to have a brief confidential discussion, a project or program review or engagement for a bid or program delivery please do not hesitate in contacting me.

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