There are a lot of abbreviations in use in IT and IT Security - it's not bad and it's not good, it's just a fact. I was thinking of introducing a new one - MTBH.
One can encounter a lot of "holy wars" between lovers of this or that operating system, and for the unprepared user it is always hard to anticipate any opinion, because there are a whole bunch of factors that are presented and being discussed. Here I propose the (yet) hypothetical factor that can help to choose a desktop operating system - Mean Time Between Helpdesk Calls (MTBH).
Besides usability (which is hard to measure, by the way), it is important for end user that his/her personal computer does not require much maintenance and does not cause much trouble. Do you remember last time you did "virus cleaning exercise" for some friend or relative? When considering corporations - they are also interested in minimizing support/operational costs and would prefer software (you can include office or other software in such evaluation as well) with big MTBH. This would result in integral factor, depending on ease of use, reliability, stability and resistance to various computer threats out of the box.
That being said, I don't argue that market share in the desktop operating systems will dramatically change anytime soon, but to be sure that you use optimal solution you need unbiased criteria when going through the selection process, and MTBH (when we manage to measure it) may become one of them.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
MTBH
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2 comments:
Choosing between usability and functionality/flexibility is always trade-off. The more flexible system the more difficulties you find in usage and, consequently, more helpdesk calls. So, I think that small MTBH can be a result of either of the following:
- users are stupid or are not well aware of system: bad training (if it’s really possible to educate users to be better at IT :-)))
- system does not fit business needs: bad OS choice for company
- what business employees are in: connected with the previous and can measure how many system options people use – the more options are used, the more helpdesk calls
- employee IT background: I know companies that does not have helpdesk and desktops are maintained by users
The statistic is that 80% helpdesk calls are made by 10% employees. Do they use another system? No. I suppose the thing is that MTBH mainly depends on people and their actions, and in much more lesser degree – on system itself.
Exactly. You just have to measure MTBH for different software for the same group of people. That is why it is "Mean" and it is the same with any integral value.
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