I know this guy who bought a $10,000 custom, password
protected Access Database to run his business.
Now the developer is out of business. Poof! Gone.

#92 The Haves and Have-nots

A simple AT&T software problem last week caused the absolute 24-hour black-out of its InterSpan frame relay network. Although AT&T's frame relay service has grown more than 100 percent in the first quarter of the year, a massive outage is not what AT&T customers wanted to hear about... or experience.

Picture if you will, the entire network of MacDonald's fast food restaurant suddenly disappearing -- for 24 hours. Your lunchtime cure for that big Mac attack takes you to an utterly empty lot. No golden arches, no fries. How many loyal customers would (without hesitation) cruise over into Burger Chef?

Industry analysts speculate that at any given time a software problem could cause a complete network shutdown. The customers of AT&T's nationwide frame relay network got a little taste of what that would be like. The 24-hour outage was caused by a simple computer command which was issued to upgrade the software code of one network switch card. The faulty communications path then trickled along to thousands of other switches which quickly became overloaded.

Within minutes the network simply stopped. Black. Void. Silence. No fries.
Then we learn Mac users are stunned when Intuit announces the death of the number one accounting package Quicken. Engineers have been reassigned to Intuit's Internet-based personal finance services. Poof... gone.

If a simple software mistake (human error?), or the demise of a single product can cause disruption in your business, what will you do?

Two things to keep in mind. One, if you're moving your business more and more to an internet-based model, beware. Do NOT break your local ties. Keep and grow your local customer base -- you might need them some day. Customers you can see are the best customers to have. Secondly, know and understand platform differences. Understand what you need and what you can achieve from both Mac and PC users. If it ceases to exist tomorrow, will it disrupt your livelihood?

The sad truth is that 90% of the business clients we have dealings with are clueless when it comes to computers. They simply don't have time, nor the interest in keeping up and keeping those options open. They rely completely on outside services to tell them what they need. What happens when the outside services go poof?

You've got to make time. In the future the differences between the "haves and the have-nots" will not be based on what you've got. The next society will be based largely on skills. What you know.


Fred

Fred Showker is director of The Design & Publishing Center on the web at http://www.graphic-design.com/, and is a co-founder of both The User Group Forum on America Online, and The User Group Network at http://www.user-groups.net/. He has been a user group activist and supporter since 1984.

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60-Second Windowô is a syndicated column by Fred Showker which appears in various monthly news services and many Macintosh User Group Newsletters around the world, and other computer, graphic arts related publications. 60-Second Window is copyright ©1986 - 1998, All Rights Reserved.

Fred Showker, nationally recognized designer author and speaker, is a 25-year veteran of the graphics industry, with his own firm Showker Graphic Arts & Design. Heís an associate editor for the Mug News Service (MNS) as well as Home & School Mac. You can see Fred in action at any of his Design & Graphics workshops around the country sponsored by Dynamic Graphics Educational Foundation, InHouse Graphics, PrintFest and others. You can chat with him directly on America OnLine, where he is ìAFA Shwkrî, a forum assistant in the User Group Forum (UGF), or in eWorld as co-host of the WORKING SOLO forum.
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