Often Mac users at enterprises still encounter several nuisances due to their platform of choice, as most IT departments aren’t prepared to support these devices equally. These employees often face issues like the lack of managed upgrades, unsolved support tickets and access to necessary applications.
It seems that using Mac as a workstation is still problematic to many enterprises, despite the rapidly increasing popularity of “platform of choice” and the new employees’ desire for Apple devices as their workstation. The issue really is the lack of support. Without the proper support, Mac users are at a disadvantage to Windows users, which could lead to them leaving for another company if they provide better prospects. Cisco, on the other hand, recognized this issue and decided to work with Apple on the Mac@Cisco project in order to supply their employees with a free choice of platform, including the proper support for those devices.
To express how they value their employees’ satisfaction and experience, Cisco did a survey that showed employee satisfaction was significantly lower if they weren’t allowed to choose the platform they liked as their work laptop. Since the launch of the project, 59% of new hires and 65% of employees eligible for refreshing their laptop chose Macs instead of Windows-based devices. Also, 24% of previous Windows users would switch to Macs if they were given the chance. These numbers clearly indicate that Mac’s popularity as a workstation is truly significant, and it is essential to recognize the urgent need for proper support for them. Cisco’s Mac@Cisco project had two key elements from the beginning; allowing all employees or departments of the enterprise to choose the platform they prefer as their work laptop, and providing equal support for those, who use Apple devices and for Windows users.
In order to preserve talent and increase productivity, Cisco employed a full Mac campaign, providing a satisfactory support system for their Mac users, creating a Mac Admin team and the Mac@Cisco Helpdesk. The enterprise has tracked the key performance indicators since the launch of the project to observe the performance of their Mac@Cisco Helpdesk. Their findings show that the time for a support ticket response decreased to an average of fewer than 90 seconds! Employees also seemed to be much more satisfied with the new implementations.
Committing to such an enormous change and development at a huge enterprise like Cisco is definitely not an easy step. However, the demand for Macs in the workplace and generally, the choice of platform is growing even higher each year to a point where it can’t be ignored by organizations anymore. In order to preserve talent and innovation they need to give the freedom to their employees to choose their own workstations, thus benefiting the company with their increased performance and loyalty. This change can’t be implemented without an immersive support system. Cisco’s example shows how successful this change can become if that factor is provided, as their dedicated Mac admin team and their streamlined Helpdesk focused on Mac users and contributed heavily to the great success of the project. Thus, Apple indeed has a continuously growing place at enterprises.
