Globusz^® Publishing 

“I don’t see information technology as a stand-alone system. I see it as a great facilitator.”

- Paul O’Neill, Chairman & CEO of Alcoa

Today IT is all-pervading in its reach. Corporate communications has never been the same since the emergence of IT. The business environment has undergone a total revolution of sorts at a faster pace. IT has played a vital role in bringing about this sea change. Information technology is all about information management. Don’t get baffled by all the high-sounding techie terms. See and see sharp – SAP, WAP, C, C #, Kawa & Java or whatever it is – all these aim at doing a better job of information management. IT is a boon for the modern corporate executive. IT is a great tool to streamline operations and serves as an effective means to monitor, evaluate and control.

In the following ways IT helps:

Enhancing personal effectiveness:

• Time is money! Saves time and effort.
• Do it yourself! Self-dependence. Personal assistance has become obsolete.
• Improves decision-making – Better info. - Better decisions.
• Better quality communications. Instant and responsive.
• Geography is history – Thanks to email communication is easy across different time zones and geographic boundaries.
• Better deployment of human resources - Positional resources (such as secretaries and personal assistants) can be better utilised.
• Tele-commuting is reality - Flexible about how and where one works.

Gaining a competitive advantage

• Modern and in sync - Conveys a more professional image.
• IT literate - IT competencies enhances your employability.
• Your USP - Differentiates you from your peers.
• Career Growth - Helps you move up the career ladder.

Superior information management

• Info @ fingertips - Information is readily available, anytime, anywhere.
• Storage - Information can be more easily stored and manipulated. Ledgers are gone forever.
• Access - Provides instant access to more information from anywhere.
• Customised Reporting - Tailors information to different peoples’ need.

Achieving personal satisfaction

• Re-skilling - Learning new skills
• Self-worth feeling boosts self-esteem.

Information is the key

“As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.”

- Benjamin Disraeli

As business volume increase manifold, possessing the right information at the right time assumes criticality for taking right and timely decisions. IT plays a vital role as a facilitator in presenting up-to-the-minute (mind you, not just up-to-date) information culled from various sources.

Ask any result-oriented executive and he will agree that information is the key to succeed in business. IT is the tool that helps you to attain such success.

How to choose IT?

Well, it’s clear that we gain most by embracing IT and implementing IT at our workplaces. But many don’t know how to go about choosing the right product or rather the parameters that one must look for before zeroing on one. Here is a short guideline:

The following nine parameters serve as the deciding factors for any computer technology (software and hardware) choice.

1. Utility – Ability to computerize all your business processes, user-friendly.
2. Compatibility – Smooth integration with existing hardware/software.
3. Flexibility – Capable of upgrading, customization to suit your business needs.
4. Platform – Latest, not out-dated technology.
5. Performance – Fast, error-free and maintenance-free.
6. Price – Moderately priced, not expensive.
7. Personnel – Availability of technical personnel to maintain and coordinate s/w.
8. Support – Strong & reliable vendor support to set things right and for AMCs.
9. Security – Protecting info from external attacks (hackers via internet) & internal software crashes.

Finally, there are quite a few loose ends to be tied up. Insure to ensure peace of mind. And most important of all, see that you have the licenses to operate the software.

All said and done, the key lies in effective implementation of IT. Implementation can be a long and drawn affair. Gear up for a long haul. Entrust it to experienced professionals. Never commit the blunder of doing things through your own employees just to save a few thousand bucks.

Information Overload

It’s obvious that with effective implementation of IT information management becomes easier. However, we cannot go gung-ho over IT alone. Caution is necessary. The catch lies in our ability to obtain and use meaningful information out of the tons of data that IT helps to generate. Discrimination of what we need and needn’t is the key.

Many decision-makers soon suffer from what experts call as ‘information overload’. A bewildering array of information is presented confusing people as to the right choice they must make. Our experience must help us in performing better by successful tapping of the benefits that technology offers.

T.S. Eliot’s thoughts are poignant in this regard,

“Content is no longer scarce, but content and meaning are. Content includes data, information, knowledge and even wisdom. Data are bits of facts or elements that can be used for analysis. Information is data with context.

Knowledge is information with meaning. Wisdom is knowledge with experience and insight. Where is the wisdom that we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

IT is here to stay for the ages to come. It’s only going to get better in the years to come. The key is in how best we leverage on the potential of IT. As you have seen, IT is a great tool for staying effective at work. Harness that potential fully and win with IT at work!