Is there really such a thing as great IT support? 1

[bridgebuster]

Another interesting IT experience this week.IBM is our IT support and has been for the past 6 months. I requested a temporary administrator's password to install vendor software. The (Lack of) Help Desk sends an email "ticked resolved and closed: but no password. I tried again; got a password but it didn't work. Next I tried on-line chat with an agent. He said he can't access my ticket and said to request a new password. I asked him to install it, then he must have taken a brief nap but when he came back he said OK. He installed it but it didn't work. Thank you very much, good-bye. Then I requested another password to uninstall it. The (Lack of) Help Desk rejected my ticket because I didn't put the words "Host Name" in front of my computer ID.I send the ticket back with "Host Name"; their reply "computer does not exist"; I sent a screen shot with the Host Name their reply "computer does not exist". Then I emailed the in-office IT person and got the usual reply "send me the ticket and I'll take care of it" translation "don't hold you're breath waiting for me".

When the company hired IBM the management insisted employee complaints have been heard a things will be great for forward.About 5 years ago the company laid off the IT staff and outsourced it. IBM is the third company since and by far the worst. When they hired the previous company the management was playing up the fact that this company was based in North America; off course they rarely responded to tickets and when they did call it wasn't easy to understand the accent.

 

[MrHershey]

Also, I run SMath Studio off a thumb drive along with a few other small, free engineering programs that I'm not allowed to install on my work laptop (EPANET, WinTR55, Free42, etc.). That way I can use the programs I need without IT hassling me about non-approved software on the company computer.

Part-time/amateur IT guy here.

As a general comment (directed to no one in particular, for all I know every single thing you listed is freeware/open source), if you're going to bring in your own free tools, please make sure to review the licensing for them first. A lot of times tools will be free for personal or educational use but you have to pay for it for commercial or enterprise use. While you the person may have downloaded it and you the person may be the one using it, if the end result is its being used for commercial purposes then in theory someone should be paying for it.

Would be like the company hiring students to do their CAD work for them and the students using educational licenses to do it. Big no-no and if a vindictive software company finds out about it they'll go after the student’s company for it. The student has license to use it for educational purposes, but that license does not permit them to use that educational version for commercial purposes.

Something that probably only rarely is an issue, but you're potentially putting your company and perhaps yourself in legal jeopardy if you’re using software for commercial purposes when you've only been granted a personal or educational license.

 

[Sparweb]

MrHershey,
Thanks for sticking up for the software developers of the world. I've been a bit of a shameless shil for SMath Studio ever since discovering it a month ago, made a personal donation to the developer, and carefully checked the licence agreement to determine what they expect before using it at work. But for the purposes of this discussion, it's just one example of software I want to bring with my "toolbox" when I come to work. Everyone has their own favourite tools. When IT makes it difficult to install "anything" on company computers, it also creates a barrier to users installing "unlicensed/cracked" software without proper purchases being made.


STF

 

[MrHershey]

Comment wasn’t so much to stick up for the software companies. Some of those guys are blood-sucking monsters who I would lose no sleep over them losing a few license fees.

But those blood-sucking monsters also tend to employ blood-sucking attorneys. So watch your (and your company’s) back by knowing the rules and understanding the licenses for whatever tools you bring in.

(And the ones who aren’t blood-sucking monsters probably don’t employ blood-sucking attorneys but deserve your money anyways.)

 

[Agent666]

I'm surprised the software companies don't have an anonymous reporting system for licencing violations.

I worked at one place where we could install whatever we wanted as every user had admin rights, and a number of staff had installed and were using illegal versions of multiple software packages. Sometimes with the reason simply being that while we had multiple licences for some of the software they couldn't always get on it at peak times. Management were either unaware or looked the other way (more likely), and it was impossible to stamp out with the lack of control.

I liked having admin rights but there has to be rules/audits and trust to allow users this freedom.

 

[drawoh]

I'm surprised the software companies don't have an anonymous reporting system for licencing violations.

Software piracy claims can ruin your business and reward those responsible

Note how the companies lock their computers down, afterwards.

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JHG