Office Automation Began when typewriters started appearing in businesses from around 1870 onwards and were followed by a long list of devices designed to improve the efficiency of the workplace and make some of the more repetitive tasks less onerous. While most people could write faster than a document could be produced on a typewriter, the legibility and consistency of typed text was hard to beat. Equipment such as stenotype machines, duplicators, and tabulating machines were soon developed and are the forerunners of office automation.
The invention of the xerographic process, in 1938, marked a watershed in the nature and pace of office automation. The Xerox 914, the first commercially successful plain paper copier, revolutionized the document copying industry. In spite of the fact that it was complex and maintenance intensive, and it had a tendency to overheat and burst into flames, it was capable of making seven letter or A4 size black-and-white plain paper copies a minute. It became a surprising commercial success for Xerox.
The advent of the personal computer was the true enabler of modern office automation as we now know it. They absolutely dominate the business IT environment. The market penetration of personal computers was rapid and dramatic. They are used by millions of people in homes and businesses around the world and have only relatively recently been superseded by the smartphone as the most ubiquitous tech device in common use. It is difficult to imagine how businesses would function without them. Almost every business uses at least one computer-based business application. Business tools developed in the 1980s which were considered nice-to-haves have become indispensable must-haves.
What Constitutes Office Automation?
Office automation is a term used to describe the variety of devices, software, and processes used to digitally create, collect, store, manipulate, print, and relay information needed for accomplishing the commercial and administrative tasks associated with the business environment. Office automation employs tools to accomplish the routine tasks and processes of business efficiently and effectively.
Systems are aimed at optimising or automating common tasks and processes, especially repetitive and tedious ones. An office automation system (OAS) is a system that is designed to increase the productivity and efficiency of multiple levels of personnel from clerical workers to senior management while enhancing the flow of information, including communication between staff, in the business environment. Systems include desktop publishing, word processing, email, print production, video conferencing, voicemail, and customer retention management systems. Thanks to office automation systems technology, there are many tedious and time-consuming tasks that can be entirely automated, freeing up human resource to address other more important functions.
Which Functions Can be Automated?
Most business tasks can be automated, whether partially or entirely, so it often comes down to which functions will provide the most benefit from being automated. Office automation system requirements will be different from one business to another. Time audits are often required to ascertain where the bulk of office workers’ time is spent, which tasks are essential to the everyday functioning of the business, and which processes will deliver the greatest increase in efficiency by being automated.
Alternatively, office expenditures and the cost of personnel can be analysed to identify which functions and activities are the largest drain on financial and human resource. Opportunities for automation can then be identified to reduce these costs and optimise the workflows in the environment. For example, delayed response to customer emails significantly reduces the probability of a successful sale. This risk is entirely removed by employing automated email software that provides instant, intelligent, and personalised responses to customer emails while removing the burden of manually monitoring and answering the emails from the staff.
Most time-consuming administration can be automated. Even the recruitment of personnel, the issuing of quotations, and invoicing can be automated with certain office automation systems. This is particularly beneficial in large organizations with millions of transactions and thousands of employees.
What are the Benefits?
Improved accuracy comes with the elimination of human error, which typically means eliminating the human from the process. Computers do not get tired, have personal problems, get distracted, or make calculation errors. Significant cost reductions are possible as automated tasks decrease the number of staff required, or in some cases, eliminate the need for personnel entirely.
Automation often speeds up tasks by orders of magnitude, allowing more to be done in a far shorter time span.
Office automation provides metrics and data on administrative processes, functions, and activities which enable management to make more informed administrative decisions on how to improve business processes.
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