January 13, 2004

TechWeb: Growing Mobile Workforce Clamors For More IT Support

My spin: It's VERY difficult to support remote users. I've been on MANY phone calls in trying to help an end user with a computer problem - it's not easy.

Here's how it could go.

Ramon "OK - what computer program are you using"
Client "Well I'm using Microsoft"
Ramon "No I mean what specific program are you working on when the problem happens"
Client "Well when I use AOL I can't print"
Ramon "Aha, so let's check out AOL"
Client "But I can't see how to start AOL now, should I turn the computer on"

and it goes on and on and on...

Corporate workers are rapidly moving from the desktop PC to mobile computers, so IT departments need to adapt with applications and support that meet the needs of workers outside of the office, a market research group said Monday.

About 80 percent of corporate employees today depend on the desktop, with 15 percent primarily using notebooks and 5 percent using a thin-client device, such as a dumb terminal, Meta Group Inc. said. Those numbers, however, are expected to change dramatically by the end of 2006, with 45 percent of workers using desktops, 40 percent using notebooks or tablet PCs and 15 percent using thin-client or other information appliances. (full story)

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