Keep the IT guys from hating you and your PDA

You just bought a new PDA and feel like you're on the cutting edge. So why are your company's IT guys sneering at or hiding from you? With Y2K right around the corner, the last thing they want to do is help you integrate this device into the corporate network. Chip Goines offers some tips in this article on how to keep the IT guys from hating you and your PDA.

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We don't hate you (if you own a Pilot)

Chris Swanson @ 11/22/1999 1:38:25 PM #
For the most part, Pilot users are a cut above any other PDA user. They are reasonable in their requests and have a basic understanding about what is and isn't okay for a PDA in a coorporate environment. The only thing they need our help with is setting up the desktop software because it generally requires administrative privlidges. Once that's done, they're self supporting most of the time. It's the WindowsCE people you have to watch out for. Microsoft promised them that if they paid twice as much for their PDA, it would do as much as their desktops! And these people expect us to deliver it to them! Don't come crying to me that you got suckered. By the way, that's a nice color screen. Was it worth the trade in functionality and stiff price tag if you can't use it here?

Get them their own!

Kurt Tappe @ 11/22/1999 2:30:12 PM #
Speaking as my company's "IT Guy", I welcome PDA's into our organization.
In fact, I want our employees to have them more than the employees do; they'll
help improve communications all around our enterprise.

But if you're someone in a company where the IT guys drag their heels (and
I know they exist; my sister works for a company that only last week upgraded
her 386 portable), then perhaps this strategy would work:

Invite your IT guy to lunch. The local pizza joint will do. But be prepared--
use your Palm as many times during the lunch as possible. Show him the Palm
in action and all the cool things you're doing with it. Demonstrate how it's
improving your workflow and efficiency. IT guys aren't (usually) stupid;
sometimes their reluctance stems from their belief that you are wasting their
time or are "playing games." If they see the Palm is a letigitmate business
tool, you'll move up their priority list. And, if you get really lucky,
they'll get one themselves. Once that happens, you're "In like Flynn"--
Palm users often stick together and help each other out. They'll be finding
the solutions themselves and sharing them with you!

e

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/22/1999 5:06:19 PM #
e

Just take a number...

Vinc Duran @ 11/23/1999 10:37:17 AM #
Like most IT issues I think you just need to be willing to keep your requests in context with other issues and maybe even more importantly ask the IT folks what PDA they use first. Palm is the only IT PDA in use in my office. If users ask us what PIM, etc. we use with our Palms we tell 'em. When we're busy there's no chance of getting support on apps we've never heard of but if they stick to what we know then it's no big deal to lend a hand.

PDA is not PDA

Thomas Lienhard @ 11/23/1999 11:00:44 AM #
I'm one of this IT guys. It's not the Palm we are hating, it's more Windows CE. Because of security concerns some company's do not allow network access with "unknown" devices. Since the palm does not require TCP/IP on the desktop, this is not a problem at all. With Windows CE you have to install filters on your corporate routers to keep the whole thing secure. We do not trust Microsoft! Tell your IT guy that he has nothing additional to implement on the LAN, and he will help you.
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