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MacResolutions Success Stories
Fred Balin, principal at MacResolutions and former Apple product manager, has established a record of trust, responsiveness, and results for his MacResolutions clients and former employers. Here are some examples.
Quality Crisis at Apple Computer
Situation: In 1995 Apple was in the midst of a major quality crisis. Products had shipped with severe problems unresolved, and Apple was losing hundreds of millions of dollars in returns, additional technical-support costs, and frayed customer loyalty. In response, CEO Gil Amelio created a new quality organization under the leadership of a no-nonsense, West Point graduate, Mike Conner. No Apple product would ship unless it met Mike's rigorous standards.
Solution: My job as an Apple product manager was to create and ship software-hardware "bundles." A bundle is a series of several software titles that ships with a computer. Among my responsibilities was to ensure that all hardware and software in the bundle worked together flawlessly.
Results: All seven products I developed passed inspection and went into the marketplace without quality issues, helping to reestablish Apple's reputation for high-quality products.
Outsource Hemorrhage at Watkins-Johnson
Situation: Corporate Communications had a big problem. For several months their main production Macintosh would periodically crash. No one knew why. In-house tech support did not have the Mac expertise. A repair shop replaced the hard drive, but did not solve the problem. Their hardware vendor was stymied.
Hamstrung by a corporate cap on new equipment purchases, the department was forced to spend thousands of dollars each month on outside contractors. Even worse, the annual report deadline was fast approaching. To outsource the report would cost tens of thousands of additional dollars. We were called in.
Solution: We gathered information from all relevant sources so that the client would benefit by dealing with one expert point of contact.
We carefully evaluated all software and hardware components until we resolved the problem (a faulty logic board) so that out client's frustration would end.
We reinstalled and updated all software and reconfigured the system so that we could guarantee smooth operations.
Results: As a result, the annual report was produced in house and other unnecessary outsourcing was stopped, saving the company from tens of thousands of dollars in increased costs.
Recovery and Renewal at American Printing and Copy
Situation: A crashed hard disk was the latest and most serious assault on the Macs at American Printing and Copy in Palo Alto. The system was down, data was inaccessible, and customer jobs awaiting output to the color copier and film imagesetter were halted. Data, time, and money were lost.
Solution: We recovered the data, saving the client untold hours of work to recreate or reacquire client files. We oversaw the purchase and installation of replacement hardware components so that the client would not have to spend time on these matters. Then we restored all software, added key updates and utilities, and configured the system and network to ensure that things would run reliably.
Resulsts: After several months of smooth operations, we recommended and implemented a hardware-software raster image processing (RIP) upgrade. This enabled the client to output more complex files so that they did not have to be sent to a service bureau and incur added cost and time.
Helping Tom Peters Company Go Virtual
Situation: We had been supporting the Tom Peters Company Macintosh infrastructure through a series of problem resolutions and upgrades when the decision was made to transition out of the bricks and mortar structure and into a virtual company using home offices.
Solution: To make the transition as smooth as possible for two of their key personnel, we carefully listened to their needs, then assessed options, and provided specific recommendations. Later, we installed and configured the new home office systems, and maintained close contact to iron out any kinks in the early days of the new working environment.
Results: The new
systems run smoothly and the transition was completed in a
minimum amount of time.
3790 El Camino Real, #2005
Palo Alto, CA 94306
650-565-8120
info@macresolutions.com
©2001,
Fred Balin, MacResolutions
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