As Apple transitions into its post-Steve Jobs era, here’s a suggestion for new CEO Tim Cook: pay more attention to business customers. Consumers have already shown their love for Apple products in their private lives so it seems inevitable that at least some of them would like to see similar systems at work. Can Apple oblige, and, perhaps more importantly, does it want to? PC World offers Apple seven pieces of advice:
1. Keep Doing What You’re Doing Right “Businesses that choose Macs do so in spite of greater initial acquisition costs, potential compatibility challenges and a variety of other issues. So there’s no need for Apple to make a dramatic turn away from its current product line.”
2. Apple Store Retail--Serious Business “It’s probably a stretch to carve out dedicated ‘business hours’ for an Apple Store, but running some late evening information seminars or mid-day ‘lunch-and-learns’ for small business owners to ask their questions in a less chaotic environment would go a long way in making Macs more accessible.”
3. Embrace The Channel “Apple and independent resellers have historically had a love/hate relationship. Many local value-added resellers (VARs) continue to deal in Apple products. But most only do so because they have always done so, because they really believe in the products, or because their customers want the products.”
4. Insanely Great Software for Business “Where’s iBusiness? OK, so there’s iWork. But that’s just a basic productivity suite that offers a different take on Microsoft Office. But many businesses are already invested in Office, and will choose to remain so even if they go Mac.”
5. Make it Manageable “To really make things business friendly, a more sophisticated version of Screen Sharing and Apple Remote Desktop for businesses would be in order, preferably one that is easily hooked into the company’s (or partner’s) remote service dashboard tool of choice.”
6. Play Up Boot Camp And Virtualization “Windows remains 90-plus percent of the market. And investment in Windows-related training, applications and infrastructure can be a showstopper when it comes to introducing a Mac into the business.”
7. Ask Businesses! “Does Apple really ‘get’ small businesses? This is one area where Apple, especially under the reportedly calm, cool, and analytical Tim Cook, should be listening a lot and only opening its mouth to ask questions.” Do you embrace Apple in your business? Would you like to? Source:
PC World
