The Four Horsemen

A few years back, one of my bosses asked me to name the 3 things any computer user will complain long and loud about if they cannot do them.  I was still green back then so I only got one of them.  Ten years have passed but I can only add one item to his list. Let us see if you can guess any of them.

1. E-mail – This is the primary form of direct communications in most businesses.  The user feels cut-off from the business if they don’t have e-mail.  Never mind that the workers sit across an isle or even next to each other.  This is also the primary method for communications outside the company.  Nevermind that it is neither private or immediate, without E-mail workers don’t work.
2. Printing — In the late 70′s Xerox was extolling the vertues of the “paperless” office.  Since then our need for printed, hardcopy has grown to the point that printer paper is the biggest expense in some offices.  Nevermind saving the planet, if we cannot print a copy of the spreadsheet, in color, we have failed at our task.
3. The Internet –(this is the one I added) How many times a day do you hit the web to Bing this or Google that?  Did you check on that price?  Did you look up that electrical constant in a Wiki or a book?  It does not matter who does the work, or what the job is, if the user cannot get to the Internet then we all may as well go home for the day.
4. “My” files — (This is the one I got right) If a user cannot get to their files they have nothing to work on.  No reason to be there.  No reason to draw a paycheck.  No reason but to go home.  Although most people can keep busy while you get their files, if you lose them, then all is lost.  Valuable data, and time, are lost.

Any one of these issues will cause a call to your desk, before you’ve had your first cup of coffee.  Two or more is a disaster and causes much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  And the longer they go on the higher up the calls go and the bigger your headache.

We don’t like to see you suffer.  If you would like to know more about how to stop these issues, contact a local IT professional, like a Microsoft Small Business Specialist.  Level 2 Technology Consultants are both Registered Members of the Microsoft  Partner Network and Microsoft Small Business Specialists.  We will be happy to help you deal with these and many other IT problems.

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