Redefining work environments

More and more companies today are acquiring electronic systems with multiple software capabilities to remain competitive and profitable.

Today's economy presents enormous business challenges. Information systems knowledge is essential for creating competitive firms, managing global corporations, and providing useful products and services to customers.

Companies are under heightened pressure to increase profits and strengthen vendor and customer relations while cutting costs, streamlining processes and improving efficiency. Demands for speed, accuracy and reliability in communications also turn up the pressure.

To remain competitive and profitable, companies look to create and invest in office environments that support and integrate the changing modes of business transactions. A key component of this is their IT investments, which include various workflow applications and multifunction products - to help them address these challenges and improve overall business performance.

These applications, as well as other business systems, generate huge volumes of information vital to running a high-performing, profitable and customer-focused business. Efficient, secure and cost-effective distribution of this business information can have a significant impact on overall business performance by extending process efficiencies.

The technology used in office environments for producing textual documents first evolved from manual typewriters to electric typewriters. Typing on electric typewriters required less physical force, but offered few new capabilities for creating textual documents.

Technology then advanced to electronic typewriters that could store and retrieve from memory (electronically stored records) limited amounts of information. The electronic typewriter, introduced in the early 1970s, was the first of the automated office systems.

It provided greater flexibility in creating and editing textual documents. Since the introduction of electronic typewriters, fax and printing machines, automated office systems have evolved in three major dimensions:

- from automated systems with a limited capacity for storing information toward automated systems with an increasingly greater capacity for storing information;

- from automated systems designed for single users toward automated systems designed for multiple users; and

- from automated systems with the capability of producing only textual documents toward automated systems with multiple capabilities such as producing textual documents, reports, spreadsheets, and graphics; sending and receiving mail electronically; and performing mathematical computations.

Limited capacity

In the 1970s, office automation technology consisted primarily of word processing systems in the form of text-editing electronic typewriters without screens and with limited capacity for storing information. These gave way to dedicated word processing systems with screens for viewing the text and the capacity to store unlimited information on cassettes or diskettes. These systems, however, had limited capability for manipulation of data and were used almost exclusively as a word processing tool.

With the rapid evolution of electronic technology in the 1980s, office automation systems were developed that provided for the storage, manipulation, computation, reporting and transmission of large amounts of information. These office automation systems were designed as a single piece of stand-alone equipment or as a workstation or terminal linked to a mainframe, mini-computer or local area network. They provided the capability for using more than one type of software within the same system.

In addition to word processing, these systems could provide capability for electronic spreadsheet, database management, electronic mail, desktop publishing, printing and other types of software.

Most organisations purchased these new office automation systems in place of dedicated word processors. Once purchased, however, it was logical to make fuller use of the capabilities that were available to improve office productivity. In the process, general office support duties were expanded to include use of a variety of software types and multi-tasking machines in addition to word processing software.

Today, in addition to word processing software, office support staff frequently use database management, electronic spreadsheet, electronic mail and other types of office automation software. These different office automation systems allow automation of much of the administrative work in an office.

Current trends in office automation technology indicate that many offices have recently obtained or are in the process of obtaining electronic systems with multiple software capabilities.

Also, a greater variety of functions are being included within software packages. Word processing software packages, for example, include greater capabilities for graphics, calculations, and sorting information.

At the same time, an increase in user aids such as menus and screen prompts facilitates use of the full range of functions available within software packages.

These increases in the types of software available, the functions available within software packages, and various user aids generate new opportunities for automating the administrative work of the office.

As office automation technology continues to advance, the exact capability, form, speed and combination of office automation systems may change.

Office automation employs computer networks to share equipment and data and to move information to people rather than people to information.

Basic trend

A basic trend in computer communications has been the explosive growth of packet-switched computer networks over more traditional line and message-switched communications technologies during the past decade. This trend appears to be continuing and accelerating as it feeds on the commoditisation of the personal computer and engineering workstation coupled with commercial telecommunication nets through low-cost modems.

The two most popular types of computer networks are the long-haul wide area network (WAN), which services the nation or a geographical region, and the local area network, which services a building or a campus. Like most computer technologies, basic networking depends on many other technical trends. The more significant include the low-cost, high-performance computer hardware to manage digital signal processing of modern telephony, and computer software to manage the hardware and application protocols.

Effectively integrated office automation systems may result in the restructuring of entire organisations, with the emergence of new structural configurations and the elimination of departments or entire divisions. Moreover, the workers who remain are no longer tied to a centrally located office as telecommuting has become an emerging trend in the business world.