Re: [Fed-Talk] "User" v. "Consumer" v. "Enterprise"
Re: [Fed-Talk] "User" v. "Consumer" v. "Enterprise"
- Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] "User" v. "Consumer" v. "Enterprise"
- From: "Timothy J. Miller" <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:35:41 -0600
Amanda Walker wrote:
On Dec 29, 2008, at 5:13 PM, Shawn A. Geddis wrote:
It may not be fair for folks to consider Apple "Tone Deaf" simply
because a specific feature or capability is not there right now
directly from Apple.
That's not really what I was driving at with the tone deaf
description. Rather, there are recurring aspects of the *business*
relationship with Apple that have caused this every time I've been
wearing my "enterprise customer" hat, and these are not things that
3rd parties can solve. Examples:
> - Developer Relations: Initially, every iPhone developer could
> authorize 5 devices for development, no matter how large or small the
> organization. This contributed to delays in getting high-visibility
> applications up and running on the iPhone, even in cases where Apple
> marketing was begging the vendor for them. Similarly, there is no
> "enterprise" tier for ADC memberships--there's free, Select, and
> Premium, that's it. It gets tedious to explain that no, even though
> we're a premium ADC member, only 10 people at a 10,000+ person company
> can download OS seed releases ;-). Answers like "well, each project
> team can buy their own ADC membership on a separate PO" makes
> accounting departments cry.
Let me amplify on this example:
Enterprises (for the most part) plan new OS rollouts in excruciating
detail. There's all kinds of regression testing with line-of-business
applications that need to be done, not to mention validating vendor
claims of improvement and working out bugs specific to that enterprise.
This takes time--a lot of time; several quarters to a year is not an
unusual timeframe.
Because of pressure from multiple sectors within the enterprise, there's
pressure to roll new OS versions as soon as possible after release. The
only way to do that realistically is to begin the process while the new
version is still in beta--or better, alpha--stages. This also allows
customer feedback earlier in the system design stage and gets specific
needs addressed more efficiently.
But Apple doesn't grant wide access to early versions. Appleseed and
developer previews come late in the process; usually a middle or late
beta. In addition, those programs are limited in the numbers available;
there's no provision for deploying beta versions in internal pilots in
numbers beyond a few dozen. What enterprises need is the ability to
pilot and test with a few *hundred* or even *thousand*. Some issues
only come to the fore when you're scaling beyond the workgroup, after all.
Also, Apple's famous secrecy makes this whole process even more
difficult. New features are kept under wraps, sometimes not even
included in the developer previews. This is not helpful to an
enterprise IT manager trying to decide whether or not to pull the
trigger on a new OS.
IMHO, Apple should take a clue from Microsoft's Early Adopter Programs
(EAP) (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/isv/bb190411.aspx), particularly
the Technology Adoption Program (TAP). Most EAP agreements
(particularly TAP agreements) include the *requirement* that each
participant place a minimum number of pre-release systems *in
line-of-business production* after certain development milestones have
been met. If you want to know why the big enterprises are so locked in
to MS, the EAPs (particularly the TAP) are a big, big reason.
This would be a major change to Apple's culture, to be sure. It will be
impossible to keep new features secret. So what? Apple can't keep
things truly secret *now*; the rumor mill usually gets it pretty close
to right, especially on the software side.
But if Apple wants a slice of the enterprise, that's what it's going to
take.
-- Tim
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