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This page is meant to provide a template for a Macintosh Business Case, intended to arm graphic designers and creative professionals with the hard-number evidence they need to convince Windows-centric management to give them the best tools for the job. We prefer that you cite JCR Design and Consulting as the author of this report. However, we understand that office politics sometimes makes this infeasible. If this is your situation, please contact us for permission to use this material without attribution, which we will consider on a case-by-case basis. We would appreciate it if you informed us of how you used this material, and whether you were successful in making your case. Any tips for improvement are also greatly appreciated. An Acrobat PDF version of this content is also available: Mac_business_case.pdf [96K, Acrobat PDF]
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The Graphics Department creates powerful sales materials that reinforce the value of company offerings. |
The Graphics Department combines words and images to create powerful messages that reinforce the value of the company to clients and employees. The graphics team creates imagery, graphics, and collateral material to turn technical information into creative sales and communication deliverables that reflect and reinforce the professional image of the company. This process includes the following:
The Graphics department environment is dynamic—with constantly changing deadlines and heavy workloads. At any given time, a number of proposals and presentations are in development, both on-site and off-site. These materials range from proposal presentations and brief, 20-page proposals, to documents totaling hundreds of pages. This constant activity is directly related to the following factors:
Higher customer expectations require more advanced graphics tools. |
The graphics department has noticed an increase in the amount and complexity of graphics that customers request, especially for cover graphics and Web materials. Customers expect exciting, eye-catching, professional graphics that reinforce and clarify their messages. The explosion of the Web and client familiarity with the Internet has increased the demand for graphic excellence.
These higher-level graphics require tools beyond common company platform tools like Microsoft Office. The graphics department currently uses advanced tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe ImageReady, Macromedia Director, Macromedia Flash, and Macromedia Dreamweaver to meet our clients' challenging graphic requirements.
Nearly all production vendors prefer Macintosh files because it results in higher quality output. |
In addition, Graphics department graphics personnel must coordinate with outside production vendors to meet our output needs. Nearly all of these vendors prefer the Macintosh platform for file submission because of its color controls and proven track record regarding font issues, graphic quality, and output consistency. This challenge is further complicated by tight deadlines, constant graphic changes and refinements, and simultaneous projects.
Currently, the majority of the graphics group is working on IS-department–standard IBM Intellistation machines running Windows NT, which have proven to be unreliable and ill-suited to graphics work. Several of these top-of-the-line NT machines have crashed in the one year they have been in operation, requiring complete rebuilds of the systems by the IS department, and causing several days of lost productivity. In the same time period, the few five-year-old Macintosh systems still in use within the graphics department have performed nearly flawlessly.
Advanced graphics applications are not supported by IS, so little savings is actually realized by using IS-standard Windows platform. |
In addition, internal company technical support (the IS department) has indicated that they are unable to support the graphics department's specialized needs and advanced graphics applications[1] even on the Windows platform; hence the graphics department has to provide for its own support. Thus, most technical support costs are already borne by the graphics department, and are not ameliorated by standardizing on the IS department's standard Windows-based platforms.
The graphics department needs to use the most efficient, proven, graphics development system to enable it to work at maximum efficiency, while saving time, money, and effort. This system must also improve content quality to help increase the win ratio of the company's sales materials. Acquiring Macintosh systems will enable the graphics department to decrease expenses, increase productivity, and save the company money that is currently lost in production problems, vendor integration issues, and equipment and network troubleshooting.
The Macintosh dominates the graphics industry because it is the best graphics tool. |
The Apple Macintosh platform is the recognized leader in graphics production. According to a recently published poll of 500 graphic design professionals[2], 85% use Macs versus only 35% who use Windows (20% use both platforms). Unlike competing graphics production platforms on the market today (platforms based on Windows, Windows NT, or Unix), Macintosh is the only desktop platform specifically designed for graphics production.
New Macintosh computers will provide seamless integration with existing common company software, including Windows versions of Microsoft Office applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.[3]
The Macintosh offers several key functionality discriminators that its competitors do not provide, include the following:
The Macintosh offers the best performance in high-end graphics applications. |
Macintosh workstations will provide the following benefits to the graphics department:
The Macintosh will provide improved real-world productivity and less down-time than Windows. |
Macintosh graphic workstations will provide the following cost savings and efficiency gains to the graphics department:
The Macintosh generates more profit and has a lower cost of ownership than Windows. |
The Macintosh provides a much greater return on investment. |
A PowerPC Macintosh user, on average, generates 7.14 times ROI over three years. Windows NT users achieve 2.02 times ROI in the same period.[13]
Macintosh users gain more productive working hours. |
Because of the more efficient computing environment (i.e., integrated hardware and software platform, system resources optimized for media-rich processing, and third-party software), the Power Macintosh user gains per year an average 304 more prime time authoring and composition hours than a Windows user.[14]
For the type of graphic work performed by the graphics department, we can expect investment in new Macintosh equipment to pay for itself in approximately 5 months, according to industry studies.[15] This is in sharp contrast to the typical payback time for a Windows NT machine, which averages 12.6 months—2.5 times as long.
An investment in Macintosh computers will pay for itself in about 5 months. |
Not included are the potential for increased revenue and cost savings from the following:
Vendors report the company will gain quality and save money by submitting work on the Macintosh. |
According to the graphics department's highest volume vendors, nearly all output imaging is done on the Macintosh platform. This means that files submitted in Windows formats have to be converted before they are imaged, requiring more time and often causing technical issues and quality problems. Heath Press has stated that color management, font issues, and formatting problems occur much more frequently when we submit Windows files versus Macintosh native files for output[16] Heath has noted numerous font and imaging problems resulting from inconsistencies in the Windows graphic environment. E&G Printing, which provides high-quality color output for the graphics department, can provide faster turnaround and charges less if files are submitted on Mac.[17] E&G says that the company graphics department is their only customer submitting Windows PC files for output, and that Windows files always take longer for them to prepare. Meteor Photo, a large commercial service bureau that the graphics department uses for large-format printing and high-end imaging, says that 90% of their Indigo work is submitted in Macintosh format. They also report font issues and color problems with files submitted from the Windows platform, causing delays and rework. [18]
Macintosh computers integrate well with our corporate network and standard corporate business applications. |
Standard Microsoft Office applications are well-supported on the Macintosh platform, and Macintoshes integrate well with Windows computers. Microsoft Office for Macintosh applications are completely format-compatible with their Windows counterparts—no file conversion is necessary. Macintoshes are well-integrated with PC networking (using DAVE from Thurbsy software, DoubleTalk™ from Connectix, Novell clients for the MacOS, etc.). Of course, Macintoshes work flawlessly with TCP-based Intranet and Internet networking.
Many company business applications are migrating to Web-based tools such as SAP, which makes them platform independent. The Macintosh versions of the de-facto standard Web browsers, Netscape and Internet Explorer, are feature-identical to their Windows counterparts.
Migration to Web-based business applications makes desktop platform choice immaterial. |
AppleShare servers can run over IP, obviating the need for AppleTalk support on the corporate network. Apple is a financially sound company, and is one of the top ten personal computer manufacturers in terms of unit sales.
An investment in new Macintoshes will pay an excellent return due to the time, effort, and money that the graphics department will save in developing graphics for the company. Macintosh computers will be valuable tools to help the company efficiently and effectively create successful, compelling presentations and proposals that will win business and keep the company ahead of the competition. The available cost/benefit and ROI studies clearly indicate that the continuing use of Windows instead of the more cost-effective Macintosh platform for graphics production is not in keeping with fiduciary responsibility—instead it is a substantial, ongoing loss of efficiency and profit for the company.
These items are cited as sources in this business case:
The following items provide additional information related to the topic of this business case:
[1] Per conversation with company IS department representatives, IS will only support standard IS-installed software, which does not include PhotoShop or other graphics applications.
[2] Graphic Design:USA, July 1999, "Dual Platform Creative World is Emerging," page 142–147. Note that the title refers to the poll's findings that locations using PCs increased from 17% the previous year to 35%; locations using Macs actually also rose slightly from 83% to 85%.
[3] According to Microsoft and graphics department testing, Microsoft Office for Macintosh applications are completely format-compatible with their Windows counterparts—no file conversion is necessary.
[4] Pfeiffer Consulting, Strategic Technology Analysis: Macintosh and Windows as Publishing Platforms, 1999, page 8
[5] Pfeiffer Consulting, Strategic Technology Analysis: Macintosh and Windows as Publishing Platforms, 1999, page 7
[6]Pfeiffer Consulting, Strategic Technology Analysis: Macintosh and Windows as Publishing Platforms, 1999, page 10
[7] Trade-Off Analysis of Macintosh and Windows Platforms, GISTSCS ROI Technology Brief, Volume II, Issue 1, Number 1, Revision 4.8
[8] PC World magazine rated Apple best in reliability among the 15 major computer vendors (PC World, "Goodbye to Good Support," December 1996, page 144)
[9] Trade-Off Analysis of Macintosh and Windows Platforms, GISTSCS ROI Technology Brief, Volume II, Issue 1, Number 1, Revision 4.8, page 19
[10] Trade-Off Analysis of Macintosh and Windows Platforms, GISTSCS ROI Technology Brief, Volume II, Issue 1, Number 1, Revision 4.8, page 35
[11] Trade-Off Analysis of Macintosh and Windows Platforms, GISTSCS ROI Technology Brief, Volume II, Issue 1, Number 1, Revision 4.8, page 21
[12] Law Technology News, Volume 4, Issue 12, page 32, column 2, "Total Asset Administration" by Kingsley Martin, also available at http://www.ljx.com/ltpn/october97/total_p32.html
[13] Trade-Off Analysis of Macintosh and Windows Platforms, GISTSCS ROI Technology Brief, Volume II, Issue 1, Number 1, Revision 4.8, page 24
[14] Trade-Off Analysis of Macintosh and Windows Platforms, GISTSCS ROI Technology Brief, Volume II, Issue 1, Number 1, Revision 4.8, page 10
[15] Trade-Off Analysis of Macintosh and Windows Platforms, GISTSCS ROI Technology Brief, Volume II, Issue 1, Number 1, Revision 4.8, page 35
[16] Per conversation with technicians at Heath Press, the service bureau vendor that does the majority of the graphics department's production work.
[17] Per conversations with Eric Roth at E&G.
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