PC And It Support In Simple English Please
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Ken O'Brien
Apr 2, 2013, 6:20:06 AM4/2/13
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Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Ken O'Brien
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Article Title: PC And It Support In Simple English Please
Author: Ken O'Brien
Word Count: 457
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=141596&ca=Computers+and+Technology
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=141596
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With PC and IT support many small businesses often see costs and not a lot of benefit. However what can cause the biggest problem for a small business buying IT equipment is why. Why this particular PC ? Why a server? What is a server and why should I have one? The benefits are not always obvious to non-technical users. Knowing what advantage the latest technology might have really doesn�t matter if you work out taxes or you worry where your trucks are.
I think there are a number of possible reasons why this happens.
Technical people can appreciate functionality but may not always explain clearly how it can satisfy customer needs.
They can be guilty of not using simple English and pepper conversations with TLA (Three Letter Acronyms) and other IT jargon.
They tend to use IT Speak to explain IT problems they understand as simple, rather than simple English.
So how can we get from IT Speak to Simple English?
IT Speak is its own language. When a language teacher is teaching a beginner class they use a limited range of sentences or expressions to instruct the learners. If they use too many expressions students can get confused and find it harder to understand and learn the language.
IT Speak like any language also has a beginner level and a range of simple expressions that can help users understand and learn.
This is where we need to start. When I was faced with this problem some years ago I recognised it was essential for me to come up with some guidelines to help me talk to users at the right level.
Explain where they are and where the technology will bring them
Work out the basic vocabulary to use
Talk about things the customer can see
Limit talk about things they can't see, using words like "hard disk","memory","program" and "network"
Describe all actions in a step by step manner
Show users how to do things
Give them one easy way to perform an action
Encourage any kind of questions - this boosts user confidence in my experience
There is no such thing as a stupid question!
We also need to remember to stand back from the technology. By helping a customer understand the implications or benefits of a technology, trust is easier to establish and build. As a result there is more potential to develop a long-term relationship. It can also be a very rewarding learning experience.
About The Author: Ken O�Brien is the owner of Spear IT(http://www.spearitlouth.ie ), a computer services company based in Drogheda, Ireland, which offers a range of managed services, all in simple English. He also writes a blog on the same site(http://www.spearitlouth.ie/spearitblog ).
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=141596
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
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Message delivered directly to members of the group:
publish-the...@googlegroups.com
*****************************************************************
Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Ken O'Brien
*****************************
IMPORTANT - Publication/Reprint Terms
- You have permission to publish this article electronically in free-only publications such as a website or an ezine as long as the bylines are included.
- You are not allowed to use this article for commercial purposes. The article should only be reprinted in a publicly accessible website and not in a members-only commercial site.
- You are not allowed to post/reprint this article in any sites/publications that contains or supports hate, violence, porn and warez or any indecent and illegal sites/publications.
- You are not allowed to use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) or SPAM. This article MUST be distributed in an opt-in email list only.
- If you distribute this article in an ezine or newsletter, we ask that you send a copy of the newsletter or ezine that contains the article to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=141596
- If you post this article in a website/forum/blog, ALL links MUST be set to hyperlinks and we ask that you send a copy of the URL where the article is posted to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=141596
- We request that you ask permission from the author if you want to publish this article in print.
The role of iSnare.com is only to distribute this article as part of its Article Distribution feature ( http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php ). iSnare.com does NOT own this article, please respect the author's copyright and this publication/reprint terms. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please do not reprint or publish this article.
*****************************
Article Title: PC And It Support In Simple English Please
Author: Ken O'Brien
Word Count: 457
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=141596&ca=Computers+and+Technology
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=141596
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=141596
*********************** ARTICLE START ***********************
With PC and IT support many small businesses often see costs and not a lot of benefit. However what can cause the biggest problem for a small business buying IT equipment is why. Why this particular PC ? Why a server? What is a server and why should I have one? The benefits are not always obvious to non-technical users. Knowing what advantage the latest technology might have really doesn�t matter if you work out taxes or you worry where your trucks are.
I think there are a number of possible reasons why this happens.
Technical people can appreciate functionality but may not always explain clearly how it can satisfy customer needs.
They can be guilty of not using simple English and pepper conversations with TLA (Three Letter Acronyms) and other IT jargon.
They tend to use IT Speak to explain IT problems they understand as simple, rather than simple English.
So how can we get from IT Speak to Simple English?
IT Speak is its own language. When a language teacher is teaching a beginner class they use a limited range of sentences or expressions to instruct the learners. If they use too many expressions students can get confused and find it harder to understand and learn the language.
IT Speak like any language also has a beginner level and a range of simple expressions that can help users understand and learn.
This is where we need to start. When I was faced with this problem some years ago I recognised it was essential for me to come up with some guidelines to help me talk to users at the right level.
Explain where they are and where the technology will bring them
Work out the basic vocabulary to use
Talk about things the customer can see
Limit talk about things they can't see, using words like "hard disk","memory","program" and "network"
Describe all actions in a step by step manner
Show users how to do things
Give them one easy way to perform an action
Encourage any kind of questions - this boosts user confidence in my experience
There is no such thing as a stupid question!
We also need to remember to stand back from the technology. By helping a customer understand the implications or benefits of a technology, trust is easier to establish and build. As a result there is more potential to develop a long-term relationship. It can also be a very rewarding learning experience.
About The Author: Ken O�Brien is the owner of Spear IT(http://www.spearitlouth.ie ), a computer services company based in Drogheda, Ireland, which offers a range of managed services, all in simple English. He also writes a blog on the same site(http://www.spearitlouth.ie/spearitblog ).
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=141596
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
- For more free-reprint articles go to http://www.isnare.com
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