Office Automation And Group Collaboration Software Memo

            There is a couple of office automation and group collaboration software that the organization currently uses. The main office automation software used by the company is the Microsoft Office (MS) Suite, which includes such software as MS Word (for word processing), MS Excel (electronic worksheet software), MS PowerPoint (visual presentation software), MS Outlook (personal information manager software), MS Access (database software), MS FrontPage (basic web page creator) and MS Office Tools that includes MS Clip Organizer (clip art organizing software), MS Picture Manager (basic image editing and image management software), MS Language Settings (language management software) and MS Application Recovery (data recovery software).

The software package used for group collaboration is Office Interactive (OI). This software is designed to help the firm establish effective communication channels with secure real-time access to business information. By integrating team collaboration, project collaboration and document collaboration across the web, OI collaboration software caters to all aspects of business communication and enables effective real-time group collaboration.

MS OFFICE SUITE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

            The MS Office Suite being the most commonly used office automation software worldwide, the functionality and user-friendliness of the software has risen to such level that there is virtually no need to train new recruits in using said software. It is likewise the most advanced office automation software on the market, and the developer (Microsoft) now claims that every function of every application in the Office suite is available to the developer via the application’s object mode (Riley, 2004). This software has the ability to automate many of the company’s computing chores and provides products that work in unison by sharing data among them. Being the most commonly used office automation software, it has the advantage of compatibility with what most of the rest of the world is utilizing.

            However laudable, there are still minute disadvantages to using the MS office suite within the organization. The MS Office suite is an excellent example of the 80:20 rule, where 80 percent of the firm’s users are really only using about 20% of the functionality in the suite – for the majority of the users, these added features are simply not required and subsequently not used. Additionally, the suite cannot be broken up. This causes some difficult administration problems within the networked environment of the company, and in some cases it is more sensible and cost effective to purchase individual licenses. In light of the situation, other applications may be more suitable to solve some of the firm’s problems other than the current office automation software in use. Lastly, as most suites go, significant reliance on one company, that is, Microsoft, to provide all the office automation needs of the organization is experienced.

OFFICE INTERACTIVE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES[1]

            Through OI, employees across departments can collaborate with one another easily and safely; without time or space confines. By logging into OI’s secure online group collaboration software, the company can invite managers, employees, vendors and customers and collaborate effectively across the group. Their cost-effective yet powerfully integrated application comes equipped with secure tools for web conferencing and instant messaging. Over OI’s secure virtual platform, the firm can meet, communicate and collaborate with managers, employees, colleagues, partners and customers in a seamless, cohesive manner. Employee performance can be monitored and improved, effective market policies can be framed, customer preferences can be identified and business services can be made more customer-oriented to increase end-customer satisfaction. A flip side to the OI is that it still possesses software bugs that surface from time to time, resulting in small work lags for the firm, which is crucial because time is an important organizational resource.

WORKS CITED

Group Collaboration Software. (2008). Office Interactive. Accessed April 2, 2008, from http://www.officeinteractive.com/group-collaboration-software.html.

Riley, R. (2004). The Handbook of Office Automation.  Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, Inc.

[1] Information from the Office Interactive website.