As I have written everywhere, I am working on a large project for a corporate client. I’m embedded, as it were.

“See you in the huddle on Teams!”

It struck me that I was going to have to reacquaint myself with the world of corporate software. I waited for “IT” to get me setup. It came in a flood. E-mail, Remote Desktop, CRM, Call apps, HR app. I was inundated.

Microsoft

Muttering darkly about the superiority of Apple, I started jumping through the hoops to get connected. I downloaded Outlook with a heavy heart. This was the first thing I zapped off my computer when I sold MTI in 2014.

It’s still enormous. 5 times bigger than Mail.app, but you know what? It’s not too bad. It works, or has done so far. The bringing together of mail, calendar, tasks and notes in one app is ambitious, and, dare I say it, handy.

Excel, Word and Powerpoint are much as I remember them, not great, but not offensive. So - to Teams.

Well…

It’s alright. The chat channels are very Slack-like, and the audio and video calls have worked very well to date.

Microsoft comes across as positively Apple-friendly. Good for them.

Remote Access

The remote desktop experience remains hell. I literally shudder when the windows desktop appears on my screens. Unaccustomed to the setup, I keep trying to copy from my local machine and paste on the remote one. No matter how many times I try, it still doesn’t work. Coming across a useful document, I look for a way to download it to my local machine.

“Verboten.” The IT department insists.

“Just email it to yourself.” I’m casually advised.

“But, but, but…” I begin, before realising that not everything needs fixing.

Outlier

Somehow, the HR department got a bespoke web app past IT. It’s even got proper mobile apps. Admittedly, it’s not the most complex of services, but when you compare it to Remote Access, People HR is a joy.

Realisation

In truth, I had forgotten how complex corporate endeavours are, particularly in companies that have grown from two laptops. My own companies are small, and will remain so. I don’t have the energy to manage lots of people. I’m fascinated by the unwritten rules of communication across Teams and the like. I quickly decided that if the meeting was on Teams, then it was video. That’s the huge advantage of the technology, isn’t it? Apparently not. Most of my peers seem to prefer remaining audio only. I’m going to think about that.