Office Automation
Office automation software and collaboration software are double edge swords. On one hand they insist they can boost productivity and efficiencies; but on the other hand, when they don't work, they can grind a company, or an individual, to a halt with wasted man-power hours and labor intensive recovery from failure.
In ChevronTexaco (CVX), we use several types of office automation and collaboration software. Several of these software solutions, such as email, have been around for years; but others have only been introduced within the last couple of years. Each time a new software solution is introduced there is an initial upswing of excitement, followed by frustration from the learning cycle that ultimately results.
The largest type of software CVX uses is electronic mail or email. Email has revolutionized business communication, it has allowed for instantaneous communications without borders or time. People are able to communicate with co-workers in different countries in milliseconds.
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English: Gadu-gadu client / instant messaging soft...They were able to send and receive documents, collaborate over issues, and electronically converse instantaneously, without paper, mail or the wait for the mail or courier services. The advantages of email are widespread; it allows people to communicate virtually anywhere. Conversely, email has been described as a productivity killer; people today seem to complete less work that yesterday because they are spending more of their time writing and responding to email instead of getting their actual work completed.
For online communication, CVX utilizes Microsoft NetMeeting. NetMeeting allows for several users to view a single document at the same time by logging onto a common server and joining the ongoing collaboration. The users can see a common document or presentation, as well as, see active changes to the shared document. The advantages are the ability for a large amount of people to...