Our field sales force is in for a semi-annual region meeting and I am spending my time updating laptop software. I have spent the better part of the last two weeks scripting all of the updates and fixes so that there is as little tech interaction as possible so we can work on as many laptops as possible. Here is a list of all we are doing to each laptop (nearly all of these are scripted):
- We are updating to version 6.1 service pack 2 of SalesLogix.
- We are installing the latest version of Apple QuickTime. This is a story in and of itself as our marketing department contracted out a multimedia presentation and it was delivered in QuickTime format… even though none of the sales force laptops had QuickTime installed and they also didn’t have administrative privilege to install QuickTime. Wouldn’t it be nice if martketing would talk to us first?
- We are updating our wireless drivers to include security profiles for all of our locations.
- We are removing all old “fix-it” software cobbled together to help our older SalesLogix program.
- We are installing our quick fixes directly on the laptop for our VPN client and its security profiles. The users used to have to go to our network in order to get these quick fixes, but since they couldn’t get in to our network without the quick fixes, they couldn’t get the quick fixes. Catch-22.
- Updating our dialup software’s phone book. There have been many numbers added in the past few months.
- Double checking to be certain that none of the users are local admins. This will solve most of our headaches before they happen.
So my week will be taken up by all this and the onesy-twosy hardware and software issues that inevitably occur like: “My Palm doesn’t sync with Outlook” or “Why can’t I open our product photos?” or “My system is really slow”.
Sounds like fun, huh? You just want to be me!
