Answer Guy Central

Yesterday I received an email from my sister. She had come across this video from CBS News:

(if you don’t want to watch the video you can read the accompanying story here)

The point of the story is simple: almost every copy machine in service today has a hard drive in it, and every copy that gets made gets saved to that hard drive. This means that when you take personal documents to a copy center to reproduce them you’re leaving a copy behind, and it also means (for example) that when your personal information is used in completely normal and legal ways at insurance companies they are leaving copies behind unless they take steps to do something about it.

And they aren’t always doing that.

To be fair, the people who use these machines don’t know what’s happening, but  it wouldn’t matter if they did know, since they have no way to control the machines’ actions. So the issue lies with the owners of the machines knowing enough about the machines. Good luck with that one.

Is the solution legislation aimed at users? In the case of insurance companies and others who can handle the burden and have existing privacy obligations, probably so, and if this piece creates enough outrage to create some action on that point, then great. But relative to self-service machines in who-knows-where . . . I’m afraid the only realistic choices are for those places to stop providing their services or people to stop using them. And both are bad choices.

What follows could sound like a pitch for what we do at PC-VIP and The Computer Answer Guy, and I suppose it is that if you’re running a business and reading this makes you realize that you can use help with your computers. But I have two points to make that will matter to anyone:

First, CBS News ran a story that could cause out-and-out hysteria, and failed to temper it in any way. This is irresponsible. And before you jump to their defense consider: there wasn’t news being reported; the story was about an ongoing problem. Be it for news, business, or anything else, it’s vitally important to remember that pointing out a problem without offering a solution is worse than keeping your mouth shut. It actually creates an extra problem.

Second: there are solutions to problems like this, and whether you hire us, another company, or handle your problems internally you must have plans. It’s like data backup; you are doing it, right? And you have redundancy and disaster recover plans in place at your business?

Business Change comes in many forms, and some are no more complicated than keeping your eyes open. Shame on CBS News, though, for thinking they can create change by pointing out a problem but offering no solution.

Where do you get your business computer support? You should get it from either PC-VIP or The Computer Answer Guy, but because our two stellar support options—great as they are—each serve specific groups, you’re forgiven if you use someone else.

If you use Barrister Global Services, though, this blogger doesn’t forgive you at all. And maybe he has a point. Or maybe not. Consider:

It’s a longstanding practice in the business world to offer customers a discount to pay their bills early. Actually, it was a longstanding practice, but if you’re under 35 years old you may never have seen an invoice that said “2/10 Net 30“. By offering customers a 2% discount if they pay their bills in 10 days, you’re really trying to avoid the other end of the spectrum; some customers take way longer than the 30 days you’re actually asking to be paid in.

It seems Barrister has initiated a new scheme to hold onto their money, and it’s the reverse of what I’ve described: they offer their contractors a price to do work, and then tell them that they’ll pay them faster if they take less. And at 20% it’s a lot less, especially considering that the hurry-up being offered is only a few days.

But is there anything wrong with this?

Frankly, I don’t think so. It preys on Barrister’s less-educated contractors, of course, in exactly the same way that H&R Block offering you an instant tax refund so you don’t have to wait a couple of weeks for IRS processing preys on people who need cash fast at almost any cost.

And really, it raises the question of how smart the people Barrister hires are if they’ll take such a deal.

But if you can offer customers a discount to pay on time, why not also offer contractors faster payment in exchange for a discount?

Happy New Year. There’s some real business change to start the year off right.

Oh, yeah. I went there.

• Point #1: I don’t really believe that
• Point #2: Unless I do

And I don’t. At all. But here’s the thing: your clients hired you because you have some sort of expertise that they need. You’re the expert on something. So why do you speak to them as though they understand the things that are second-nature to you?

I’m not for a moment suggesting that you treat your clients like children or speak to them that way. For that matter, I’m not suggesting you speak to your children “like children”. But when you have a multi-step process to explain and you start with “A”, go through “C”, and then skip to “R”, people who don’t know what you know won’t know what you’re talking about.

This doesn’t always matter, of course. You don’t care how your computer works, only that it works. You know, unless you’re Nick Burns, Your Company’s Computer Guy:

Now, here’s where it gets complicated:

1. If clients don’t care, don’t teach
2. If They do care don’t do it like Nick Burns; do it like The Computer Answer Guy.
3. If they really don’t care, try something even cleaner, like PC-VIP.

But remember that as the expert it’s your job to know what your clients want to know, teach them, and then stop.

Not an easy tightrope to walk. And one you must master. Now . . . mooooooove.

I hate textbooks. I hate pedagoguery. And I’m having a hard time finding a way through that in a world where computers and the Internet play such a large role.

Actually, I’m having an incredibly easy time of it, but the models aren’t changing fast enough.

I’m now in my personal ‘year four’ of watching children go to college and be told that old models still apply. Textbooks are mandatory, and not only cost too much, but cost WAY too much. Professors want their feet kissed.

So here’s a business change: outlaw textbooks. Then, outlaw people who tell you how to do things and instead create relationships that run both ways (PC-VIP’s Computer Care is an example). Then, look at your business models, and enact the same kind of business change that what I’ve just suggested would force upon schools and textbook manufacturers.

I haven’t seen a good reason for break/fix services in a long time. No one fixes radios or much of anything that’s designed for consumer consumption any more; they just throw them away and start again. Break/fix computer care? How quaint. Buy a new one.

But is it that simple? No; you need to have you data backed up and you need to have a way to restore everything about the way your computer works to the new computer, or you may as well stay with break/fix computer care.

MANAGE your resources, though, and moving on to a more productive world works, whether you’re talking about computers, human resources, or pretty much anything else.

The Internet makes managing your resources easier. Now, if I only had someone to manage my use of the Internet.

Imagine someone asked you to completely change the way you do business. Then they offered you insurance to make sure that the business changes you were taking on would work. Would you do it?

Your answer is probably “yes”, if only because of the insurance component. Or maybe it’s still no because change scares you, but the insurance part at least made you consider the idea.

There’s a fascinating article in TIME magazine this week, about how in poor countries where insurance is a new idea it’s viewed with suspicion. The very idea that you are protecting against bad things happening makes insurance a tough sell, even if the ‘price’ is free. Even when, as in the case of poor people receiving micro-loans, it clearly improves their lives! Look; it’s universal: change is hard. Change needs to be managed. But how can you manage something that’s new to you? Seems hard, right?

One part of our company offers managed computer care for small business. Another does traditional break/fix computer care in New York City. The managed computer care option is almost always a lot cheaper and keeps them running better, yet we find that when New York City businesses hire us to handle their computer care they almost always opt for the break/fix model.

Why? Because change is hard to accept, even when it makes sense . . . even when the change is good for you. Even when the change saves you lots of money.

But change is coming. More and more. Embrace change; it’s way better than having change squeeze you.