Rynne Spin

Posts Tagged ‘mcafee’

I am fascinated by the developing story where the latest update to McAfee anti-virus software crippled Windows XP users across the globe.  McAfee has committed massive errors on two fronts: (1) failure to adhere to strict quality control procedures and (2) horrible PR following the event.

In the software industry, rigorous testing is vital.  There is nothing more frustrating to users than buggy software.  Even worse, when you produce mission-critical software (anti-virus, firewalls, CRM, ERP) which is faulty, you risk causing significant financial harm to your customers as well.

McAfee recently owned up to “inadequate quality control” as the root cause of the bad update which wreaked havoc on IT departments world-wide this week.  This mea culpa is great in theory, but it’s the anti-virus equivalent of recklessly destroying everything in an antique shop and then telling the owner, “My bad.”

The fact that McAfee posting nothing about this massive problem (or how to resolve it) on its Enterprise homepage is appalling.  Wouldn’t that be the first place a user would go for assistance?  And where is the accountability from senior leadership?  The famous Tylenol tampering case is the prime example of a company executing a swift and effective response, and it all started from the top of the org chart.  A recent General Motors television ad features CEO Ed Whitacre explaining how GM has revamped its image and paid back its federal bailout loan in full with interest.  Whether you think this is good or bad, these are the types of mea culpa that customers expect nowadays.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of this McAfee story plays out.  Hopefully someone from the top will take responsibility for this blunder and attempt to restore customer’s faith in McAfee’s products.  Because even though buggy software is bad, losing all your customers because of it is even worse.

Update (4/26/2010):  It seems McAfee is taking steps to reimburse Home and Home Office users for “reasonable expenses” incurred by this faulty DAT file.  That’s nice, but what about your Business customers?  The response page for business customers merely points them to the traditional support channels such as the online knowledge base.  It stands to reason that McAfee receives a majority of its revenue from its Enterprise customers.  While it may be costly in the short-term to rectify the situation financially (i.e., reimburse them or offer free subscriptions), McAfee is really shooting themselves in the foot by not responding more decisively to help its most valuable customers.