Only five percent of IBM staffers on a Mac need IT support

By Jonathan Keane October 15, 2015

only five percent of ibm staff using macs call the help desk for support — Patrick H/Flickr

Since offering Macs to staff, IBM has seen a drastic fall in the number of calls to its help desk from employees, with only five percent requiring support.

That’s according to Fletcher Previn, IBM’s vice president of Workplace as a Service who was speaking at the JAMF User Conference in Minneapolis this week.

In June, IBM began making Macs available for staff to work on if they wanted to make the move from Windows, and Previn reported that the response has been impressive, both in the uptake and in reduced support requirements.

Only five percent of staff using Macs make calls to the 24-hour help desk, he said, which compares to the 40 percent of Windows users that make similar calls. Currently IBM is deploying 1,900 Macs a week, and there are around 130,000 Mac and iOS devices used by employees at present.

Just 24 help desk staff members are managing these devices, according to the executive, meaning an approximate ratio of one support employee for every 5,375 employees. Previn referenced some figures from Gartner that concluded that the optimal ratio of support staff to employees is 1:70 though the average is 1:242. Compare that to IBM’s approximate ratio of 1:5,400, at least for its Mac users.

This has significantly reduced costs for the company. “Every Mac that we buy is making and saving IBM money,” said Previn. “We just need a lot fewer people to support these machines.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Jonathan is a freelance technology journalist living in Dublin, Ireland. He's previously written for publications and sites…

Computing

How to change the default apps on a Mac

Change your Mac’s default apps in three easy steps

MacOS Catalina Hands-on | Macbook Pro

Apple products come loaded with software designed to work seamlessly with the macOS operating system. For example, Safari is the default software used to load websites, Preview is used to view pictures, and Pages will open documents. But if you're not a fan of the built-in software, Apple doesn't lock you into using it. However, you'll need to know exactly where to look if you want to change the default apps on a Mac.

Thankfully, the process is largely the same whether you're running macOS Sonoma 14, Ventura 13, or other macOS versions. It's also easy to reverse the process and go back to using default apps.

Computing

The case for buying the M2 MacBook Air over the M3 model

The screen of the MacBook Air M2.

Apple's MacBook Air M2 recently stood at the top of our list of best laptops, and for good reason. It's incredibly well-built, exuding an elegance that few laptops can match. It's also plenty fast for productivity users, and its GPU is optimized for creators. Its keyboard, touchpad, and display are all top-notch.

Enter the MacBook Air M3, which (hint) took over the MacBook Air's place on that list. The upgraded chipset offers even faster performance, particularly in GPU-intensive apps, and the M3 model supports an additional external display (with the display closed). It's $100 more, but is that uptick in price justified? Let's dig in.
Specs and configurations

Computing

Why you should buy a MacBook Pro instead of a MacBook Air

The 14-inch MacBook Pro on a window sill.

There are plenty of reasons to buy a MacBook Air instead of a MacBook Pro. If you want a MacBook on a budget, you don't necessarily need the goodies that come with upgrading to the MacBook Pro.

That being said, I'm going to argue for spending a little more. In my experience, the MacBook Pro offers several distinct advantages that help justify a higher price, especially with the introduction of the more affordable MacBook Pro 14 with the base M3. If you can stretch your budget a bit, here's why I think you should buy a MacBook Pro instead of a MacBook Air.
Setting the stage: pricing