Comp

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorUniversity, Master's December 2001

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Computers have been a big part of businesses since their introduction. These devices help workers to be more productive and more precise. The part that computers play in business is only going to increase due to advances in technologies.

Offices have also changed due to the advent of the computer. A typical office in the 1950's consisted of cubicle type setups for clerks and secretaries, surrounded by rows of same-sized private offices. This arrangement was an extension of the Industrial Age factory model. In the 1990's office, spaces are being refined significantly to include the information technologies that are transforming business everywhere: multimedia computers, on-line services, modems, videoconferencing, and mobile phones (Gunn and Burroughs 2-3).

Another type of computer that has shaped some of the larger businesses is the super computer. These are extremely powerful number crunchers used by government, universities, and industry to process massive amounts of information and simulate natural phenomena.

This in turn reduces the cost of designing airplanes, discovering new drugs, cracking codes, and handling a variety of other numerically intensive chores (Peters 2).

Do computers really save businesses money? In most cases yes but this technology can be misused. Like people using them to play games on or surf the Internet while they are supposed top be working. However, computers help all kinds of people do their jobs faster and more efficiently. Many expect the computer to transform the economy and society as much as the internal-combustion engine and electric power did. Erik Bronjolfsson, a professor at Massituchets Institute of Technology has done an extensive survey on what senior executives expected to get out of their investments in computer power. Their top four goals are to improve service to customers, target new customers, improve quality of products or services, and reduce total costs (Church 2-3).