We all know that consistency in our lives is important. Consistency in your personal life is preferable to complete chaos. Consistency in business is a branding commandment. Thou shalt not confuse your customers with mixed messages.
You know what else is important? Consistency in your work computers. You need to pick either Mac or PC and stick with it throughout the office. I call this Office Computer Homogeneity or OCH for short.
Here are 5 totally justified, meticulously researched and indisputable reasons to maintain OCH in your office.
- Software snafus.
- File sharing.
- OS Troubleshooting.
- Inter-office “discussion”.
- It’s just simpler.
Imagine you have an office with half Mac and half PC. You need to purchase some software for your computer and find that there is a deal to be had to buy more than one copy. Done. There are more than one of you in the office that would use said software.
However, having purchased and spread the word for all that there is new software available, you discover that, in fact, the software was for PC only. No Mac unless you purchase a completely different package. This happens more frequently than one might think and ends up costing more for what is basically duplication.
There are times as a writer that I have had to review documents developed in Mac Pages using Microsoft Word. Formatting does not translate well between the two. Now I know that one can avoid this problem by sending text in a simpler format. However, if you need to edit formatting as well as text? Forget about it.
I resorted to sending docs in PDF and marking up the copy with highlighting and sticky notes. Possible? Yes. Convenient? Nope. Macs and PCs do not play nicely together and it causes a lot of unnecessary editing and re-editing. Better all around to have computers that share files without the creative problem solving.
Computer glitches will happen. Operating systems have hiccups and software can stymie even seasoned users. Most computer glitches are not reserved for individual computers. It’s more likely that if you are having issues, others have had these issues as well and have found a solution to the confusion.
But! If you have some seasoned Mac users and some long-time PC lovers in your office, the chances that you will be able to work together to solve problems are reduced. So while some of us might have troubleshooting secrets to share, the rest will shrug their shoulders and say ‘no dice’.
Don’t get me wrong. Inter-office discussion beyond work is constructive. Spending hours re-hashing a debate that will never be resolved? Not so much.
These discussions are unlikely to be completely eliminated with OCH. There are intense people who are willing to “discuss” the matter until the other party surrenders in exhaustion. But at least you will remove the daily reminder of the competition in your work environment.
Efficiency in business is paramount. You spend time setting up systems and processes that maximize your efficiency and make your team more productive. Why would you upset the balance, even a little bit, by adding complexity to your tools?
What do you need both for? It’s easier to purchase systems that work together, play together and promote office cohesion. Each system has now reached a point where they can handle anything the workplace can throw at them. So make a decision and stick with it. Things will go more smoothly once you do.
Note: While it amuses me tremendousl y to start “discussions” about the merits of PC vs Apple, that’s not my intent here. That’s a firestorm…..er.. “discussion” for another day.
Let the debate begin! Tell me what you think about the all Mac vs all PC question.
stealth