What is Office Automation?
The better question to ask is: “what is an office automation system (OAS)?” These are systems that are designed to increase the level of productivity of both clerical and knowledge workers and improve communication in the office environment. An office automation system will include word processing, desktop publishing, voicemail, e-mail, print production, video conferencing, customer retention management, and multimedia systems.
Modern office automation systems are computer-based information technology systems with the primary purpose of enhancing productivity through the facilitation of oral and written communication. These systems consist of a set of tools aimed at gathering, processing, storing, retrieving, and distributing information between individuals, teams, and business entities, both internally and outside the entity. A successful business is an efficient one.
This is particularly true for start-ups and smaller businesses, where resource is limited and must be employed with maximum efficiency. The costs of administering and setting up businesses are substantial, and it is imperative to have the right tools to ensure cost-effective operation.
Thanks to advances in technology, there is a vast array of costly, tedious, and time-consuming tasks that can be automated in order to better utilise scarce resources. Office automation is not an artificial intelligence running algorithms that can do your job for you, at least not yet. The system constitutes a combination of hardware and software designed to function together to streamline vital functions.
What Functions Can be Automated?
Office automation system requirements will differ from business to business. Tasks most central to everyday work activities will determine what needs to be automated. The process often requires the conducting of time audits to ascertain where the bulk of office workers time is spent and which processes will benefit most from automation.
Another approach is to examine office expenditures and identify which activities constitute the largest drain on financial resource. One can then identify opportunities for automation to reduce these costs. Many examples exist where automation software allows businesses to save time and money while reducing manpower.
Research shows that in a sales environment, responding to customer emails quickly is crucial. Delayed response decreases the probability of a sale significantly. Automated email software is available that gives intelligent, personalised, instant responses to customers, removing the burden on office staff. Virtually all forms of time-consuming administration can be automated to a lesser or greater extent. Quotations and invoicing can be automated if the right software is employed.
Gathering and processing of information about employees and customers can be done with customer retention management and office management platforms. Software exists that even automates recruitment of personnel to a high degree. This is particularly beneficial in large organizations with thousands of employees.
Office Automation and Covid-19?
The question of whether technological progress, machines, and innovation threaten employment is not new. As far back as Aristotle, people have been concerned that machines and inventions would replace workers by providing an alternative, more efficient way of performing job tasks. The industrial revolution, the first era of technology-oriented innovations in industrial production, had a positive impact on employment in the long term and only short-term negative effects.
Technological breakthroughs continue to transform work to a great extent. Short-term job losses due to new technology applications are often offset by the creation of new jobs or the further development of already existing jobs.
Starting in the 1980s, a new era of automation was introduced with the systematic introduction
of robotics and personal computers. This developed into efforts to improve the performance of these machines through the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) technologies.
The Covid-19 pandemic was an unprecedented disruption significantly affecting labour markets across the globe.
It has radically changed the working conditions in many occupations. People were confined to their homes and a large number of businesses were forced to close with a resultant increase in unemployment. It has become important for businesses to have the ability to have employees working from home to ensure their survival.
Office automation has been obliged to look at less centralised solutions with the need for improvements in communication between workers operating remotely and their colleagues increasing. Automation technology can facilitate remote work but not to the same extent for all occupations. Computer, mathematical, education, training, legal, and other managerial and professional jobs occupations can more easily be done from home than more blue-collar occupations.
Business expects the share of working days conducted from home to triple once the pandemic passes while the proportion of people working at least one day a week from home is expected to rise significantly in virtually every sector. Digital technologies and office automation have made remote work more efficient and productive.