Through almost all of my career I have worked in mixed Microsoft/Apple environments. It has become a challenge for me in the past three years like never before. I'll try and deconstruct why:
Consumerized (not commoditized)
My time at Imagination has coincided with the blossoming of Apple as a fully fledged consumer product manufacturer (rather than mere computer company). There is a lot of talk in the IT industry about the impact of consumerisation on provision of IT in organisations, but much seems to assume that it is accompanied by commoditization (cheaper prices from mass production of things as commodity). Apple are wonderful at producing consumer goods for the end customer, but they have an exclusivity that means that their products are charged at a premium.
Moreover, the effectiveness of consumer experience is achieved through the aggressive control that Apple exert over their products once they have reached the hands of the customer. That is great when Joe Bloggs is buying a product from Tesco, but causes real problems when Joe is given that product by his company's IT department and expects them to support it in the way that they have for other services in the past.
The power of the sole supplier
Last year, we had some serious issues with Lenovo. Ultimately, getting no satisfaction from their service operation I took the ultimate sanction and moved our business to HP. Problem (in a consumerized and commoditized market) solved.
I have no such power as a customer over Apple, and as a business manager that makes me unable to effectively manage a key supplier.
Idolatry
Now the issues of sole supplier wouldn't be an issue if my clients weren't so single-mindedly obsessed with Apple. Speaking as an IT professional with nearly two decades experience of seeing and helping people use IT, their just isn't anything that special about MacOS over its competition these days. The argument ended maybe ten years ago, although one of the common misconceptions is that borne of comparing Windows XP (nearly 10 years old, but still the most common OS in the corporate world) with MacOS 10.6 (earlier versions than that just don't run on new Macs). Windows 7 is a great OS, but as I wrote recently it is only Apple geeks who talk about Operating Systems these days anyway.
Apple make pretty boxes, and have a cachet about the brand that means that people in the creative industries love them. That in turn means that the brand is amplified by those very people who are in positions of creative power in the media and marketing, further reinforcing Apple as a brand. It is a stroke of genius, whether planned or through creative serendipity, and makes it a complete pain in the arse to manage in a grown up, business way.
So, what have I learned through all of this? Well, firstly that trying to take Apple kit away from people tends to make them very grumpy. And secondly, that Apple are probably going to hasten the drive to employees being asked to self-fund the computing kit they take to work. If an IT department provides everything through a browser, you can use whatever you want to access it. So if you insist on bringing your own iPad to work every day and stop using your laptop, the CFO will work it out one day, and start asking why we are paying for all this stuff that no one uses any more…
mmitII 