Effect of Information Technology on Office Management

Abstract

Information technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware."[1] IT deals with the use of computers software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information. Today, the term information has ballooned to encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and the term has become very recognizable. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as the management and administration of entire systems. When computer and communications technologies are combined, the result is information technology, or “InfoTech". Information technology is a general term that describes any technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or disseminate information. Presumably, when speaking of Information Technology (IT) as a whole, it is noted that the use of computers and information are associated. (Wikipedia)

In office management Information Technology is the use of computers when storing, arranging and distribution of information or data. The impact of information technology has been felt all over the world and in all areas of life. Over the past twenty plus years it has changed the world we live in and redesigned the way we work and play. IT has definitely made a dramatic impact in the business world. Manager’s working in multinational companies has been facilitated so much by computers and their work environment has been changed to the great extent. With the aid of special software packages, many manual jobs have been made so easy to be performed. Many accounting packages summarize transactions in standard formats used by financial records and organize data in special formats employed in financial analysis. These accounting packages greatly reduce the amount of tedious manual work associated with data management and recordkeeping. Computers enable managers to be more mobile and to use their clients’ computer systems to extract information from databases and the Internet. As a result, a growing number of managers with extensive computer skills are specializing in correcting problems with software or in developing software to meet unique data management and analytical needs. (Bailyn, L. 1994)